Wafer-thin plot

Matthew Vaughn stylishly handles the vague subject of
X-Men: First Class with technical brilliance

FOR a 130-minute-long movie to be first rate, it has to be really enthralling and X-Men: First Class surely isn’t. Full marks for its technical brilliance with those mutants vanishing and reappearing at will, igniting fires and dousing them with equal aplomb, you name it and it’s done, but the plot is unduly stretched and somehow the whole fare lacks soul.

Also, going for a prequel when you’re already four films (and not the best entertainers) down isn’t quite a bright idea. Yet, one has to give credit to director Matthew Vaughn for his stylish handling of this rather vague subject.

It begins with Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) bullying young Erik in a Nazi camp by shooting his mother to ignite his rage (too, too much). The boy grows up to become Magneto (Michael Fassbender), who later on meets Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), a telepath who collects other "freaks" with superpowers.

The army fights the nuclear-absorbent Shaw bent on starting World War III and for that he chooses a historical incident, the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 during US President John F. Kennedy’s rule and does well to show both the Americans and Russians in combat formation. The clash between Magneto and Xavier is well charted, also delving in their psychological past as it tackles the good versus evil theme. It also tilts between artistic licence and the direct homage to the Marvel comics.

Xavier has an assortment of freaks, the most notable being the blue-skinned Raven/ Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), who could change form at will but always had a complex because of the complexion of her skin. Then, there’s January Jones as Shaw’s sidekick, whose only job is to look good, which she manages with ease. James McAvoy has an arresting screen presence but the same cannot be said of Kevin Bacon, who in the first place is miscast. The cameos help but if only its duration was reduced by at least 30 minutes.

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