If you didn’t see it this weekend, you are lame. I saw it twice! Yes! Twice!
The plot is basic. We open inPolandduring the height of Nazi control, where Erik Lensherr (Magneto) is being torn away by his parents. In his anger, he manages to bend the iron gates, trying to get to them. He is being watched by a Dr. Sebastian Shaw who takes a keen interest in him. He brings Erik up, and tries to make him use his powers. The only way to get his powers to activate is by shooting his mother in front of him. Over in a surprisingly peaceful England (which by all means should be getting the shit bombed out of them if this is roughly the same time), Charles Xavier thinks he hears a robber in the house. Armed with a baseball bat, he comes across his mother in the kitchen. Turns out it isn’t his mother; it’s a young blue girl named Raved. The two become friends. Some years go by, and Erik and Raven are out at a pub living a normal life, while Erik is going around the globe trying to locate Shaw in order to kill him. After some really intense scenes by Erik, Charles is named Professor Charles Xavier. While drinking to celebrate, a lovely young CIA agent approaches him, asking him for his help.
Yes, I glossed over the plot and ignored some rather key points (such as Emma Frost being involved with Shaw), but you get the idea. The cast was perfect, with the only weak link being January Jones, whom was basically acting like Betty Draper (Mad Men) through the film, which leads me to believe she is a terrible actress. The most compelling actor in the whole film is Michael Fessbender, who plays the very torn Erik. I honestly feel bad for him, and can even understand why he became Magneto. James McAvoy plays a very adorable Charles, who grows from trying to use a mutation line as a pick up, to really being concerned for the whole world, mutants and humans alike.
The dynamic between Charles and Erik is very real, and very powerful in this movie. While they claim to be like brothers, the love they have for each other (especially the love Erik has for Charles) is clearly much deeper, as you can see in the last 20 minutes of the film. While their sub plot is very prominent, the other sub plot of acceptance in the human world is also dominating. Raven is really a blue skinned, red haired, and gold eyed shape shifter, but she stays in her human form (blonde hair brown eyes) in order to fit in. When she meets Hank, who has beast like feet, they find common ground in wanting to fit in. All of these characters save for Charles and Erik, just want to fit in. The other characters, such as Angel and Darwin, are not given ample time to grow as a character; Angel joins the “bad guys” andDarwinis killed off quickly. The only thing this movie might suffer from is having too many characters with too little time, but you won’t really notice, nor care. You will be wrapped up in the Charles/Erik and Raven/Hank plots to care.
The building blocks are all put in place for what could be a great franchise. If they keep the two main sub plots in tact for future films, they will have a very complex set of characters, especially with Erik. For now I guess we have to wait and see. Also, the cameos are really funny and well done, and don’t bother sitting through the credits: There is nothing at the end of them.
-Lauren
Girls With Comics 