This Week on DVD: The “Failure” of ‘X-Men: First Class’
When "X-Men: First Class" came out at the beginning of June, it was looked at as a possible savior of the summer -- at least for critics. After "Fast Five," "Thor," "The Hangover Part II" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Long Subtitle," blockbuster fatigue was already starting to set in, but here was a well-reviewed action-thriller that was smarter and more thoughtful than everything around it. But it was still a comic book movie, so it was sure to make a lot of money, right? A critical and commercial smash: the best of both worlds! Turns out it wasn't quite enough of either.
Directed by Matthew Vaughn, who had previously helmed "Kick-Ass" and "Stardust," "X-Men: First Class" was a prequel that showed how our favorite mutants came to start their good-guy and bad-guy organizations. It was a project filled with promising up-and-comers: Beyond Vaughn, it starred James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence. And while it definitely felt like a summer movie, it certainly was a classier version of one -- not just because of its Cuban Missile Crisis setting, but because it focused on the differing temperaments of the serene, optimistic Charles Xavier (McAvoy) and the moody, tormented Erik Lehnsherr (Fassbender).
But although it focused on character drama rather than just explosions, "X-Men: First Class" very much feels like a movie sticking its toe into the water rather than diving in headfirst. Like a lot of prequels and reboots, "First Class" has to spend a certain amount of its running time simply laying out everything so that we understand who's who and what's what. As accomplished as it is in some regards, the movie largely comes across as a history lesson; you're too wrapped up in all the logistics to draw much of an emotional connection from it.
Interestingly, "X-Men: First Class" was one of two Fox summer prequels -- the other being "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" -- and they have the similar problem of having to set the table for more exciting things that will be happening later. (Really, they're dramas that build to an ending tragedy.) Ironically, these were the two best summer studio movies as well, although both have obvious limitations. But where the success of "Apes" has been a pleasant surprise, "First Class" seems to be dogged by charges that it was a financial disappointment, "only" making $352 million worldwide. Plus, it made less than any other "X-Men" movie in the U.S. This isn't the best way to restart a franchise, so nobody remembers that it's actually a decent summer film. Actually, that's part of the film's problem. It got decent reviews, it did decent business, it's all in all a decent movie. In the world of blockbusters, nobody's got time for stuff that's just decent.
