Related Articles
Who doesn’t know the name X-Men? The group of superheroes who are mutants were first known through the comics released by Marvel. In the decade of the 2000s, the story of the mutants under the leadership of Charles Xavier was made into live action . So, we can watch the action of mutants like Wolverine, Mystique, Beast to Riptide, not only in animation.
In the X-Men movies, Xavier usually immediately becomes the leader of the mutants to uphold justice. In X-Men: First Class, the story will be pulled back in time about how the team consisting of mutants was formed. In a way, this film provides a solid foundation for the next X-men films.
Synopsis
In 1944, a Nazi guarding a concentration camp, Klaus Schmidt, witnessed a young prisoner named Erik Lehnsherr bend an iron gate. Schmidt takes Erik to headquarters. Erik uses his powers to kill two guards and destroy the room.
In New York, a boy who has telepathic abilities named Charles Xavier meets Raven. Raven is a mutant who can change her shape. His true form is that his entire body is blue. Feeling that he has found someone else in common with himself, Xavier invites Raven to live with his family and considers Raven as his foster sister.
In 1962, Erik, who managed to escape a Nazi concentration camp, began looking for Schmidt’s whereabouts to take revenge for Schmidt’s actions that killed his mother. Meanwhile, Xavier successfully completed his studies and earned a degree as Professor of Genetics at Oxford University.
In Las Vegas, CIA officer Moira MacTaggert follows Colonel Hendry to the Hellfire Club. Moira sees Schmidt with several mutants namely Emma Frost, Riptide and Azazel. Schmidt changes his name to Sebastian Shaw, threatens Hendry and teleports him to the Joint War Room.
In the Joint War Room, Shaw who has turned into a mutant uses Hendry to absorb nuclear power and then kills Hendry. Moira goes to Xavier to find out about Shaw. Xavier states that Shaw is a mutant who can threaten human existence.
Feeling the need to stop Shaw, the CIA cooperates with Xavier and takes him to a secret facility called Division X. Moira and Xavier manage to find Shaw’s whereabouts. At that time, Shaw was being attacked by Erik but Shaw was too tough for his opponent. Moira and Xavier also save Erik who almost died, while Shaw managed to escape.
Xavier takes Erik to Division X and meets Hank McCoy, a mutant who is also a scientist. With a McCoy-made device that can track the location of the mutants, Xavier intends to form a team to fight Shaw and his mutant followers. They managed to recruit several mutants with extraordinary powers.
When Frost meets the Russian general, Xavier and Eric manage to capture Frost. They find out from Frost that Shaw intends to start the Third World War. Shaw intends to dominate the world. Shaw and his men managed to attack Division X and left the mutants. Shaw offered them to be his men. The mutants who refused were killed.
Shaw forces Russia to launch nuclear missiles from Cuba to destroy America and a world war begins. So that his mind can’t be traced by telepathy, Shaw wears a helmet. The mutants must start moving in order to thwart Shaw’s mission. Can they save the world from the third World War?
Solid Story
X-Men: First Class is the beginning of the entire story of the X-Men films. This film tells how from the beginning the mutants formed into teams and were divided into two sides, good and evil. The center of the story is Erik who will later become Magneto and Charles Xavier who will later become Professor X. Both of them have complete backgrounds, so the story feels solid.
Erik’s past is vividly depicted in this film with his childhood full of suffering. So did Xavier who for the first time felt he had a fellow mutant friend, Raven. Then Xavier uses his telepathic abilities to save humans from Shaw’s evil plan, which is also hunted by Erik so that Xavier and Erik work together.
With the main focus on the two most influential figures in the X-Men, some of the other mutants are not given enough character depth. But that doesn’t reduce the excitement of the film, which focuses more on the history of how the X-Men were formed. With great cinematography, the change in time in the story and drama between action scenes is an exciting combination.
James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender performances
Before X-Men: First Class, there have been several X-Men film titles released. The tapered characters of Professor X and Magneto are described as having different beginning stages in First Class. The two of them had just realized that their power as mutants, could be used to form a great power.
As the characters of Xavier and Erik are still young, the actors chosen are also different from other X-Men films. James McAvoy is lined up as Xavier while Michael Fassbender plays Erik. The two of them performed well playing two opposite characters but then became friends in order to stop one name, Sebastian Shaw.
Violent Villain
The greatness of X-Men: First Class is the ability to compose a magnificent and fun superhero story complemented by its villain character. Schmidt, who used to be a Nazi concentration camp guard, turns into a mutant named Sebastian Shaw. The purpose of his actions was only revealed in 2/3 of the film, namely starting the Third World War in order to dominate the world.
As a villain , Shaw is given extraordinary abilities so that his character as the leader of the evil mutants feels believable . It also makes Xavier and Eric have equal enemies.
