King Kong Meets Magneto (X-Men First Class)

X-Men First Class Review: King Kong Meets Magneto

I had the chance to see this movie in the theaters when I was in Alaska. I was living in my apartment in downtown and the guy who found it for me was supposed to meet me for dinner. He was a black guy that I’d met at the Backpackers Inn. I think his name might have been Cody and he had a major crush on me. We had dinner planned and then a movie at the theater over by Fireweed Ave. He never showed. I can still remember him then showing up late at night, asking to go and how utterly awkward it was.

When I went into this movie last night, I kept thinking about King Kong. (No, wait, it will make sense) When people sit down to watch King Kong, they don’t wonder if Kong will be released into the wild or if the girl will get to visit him in a zoo. Every audience knows the ending. It is inevitable. Going into X-Men First Class, I already knew that Magneto would end up the villain. How could he not? Even people who don’t like superheroes know that Magneto is evil, irredeemable, lost. That actually made the movie better, more painful.

The relationship between Erik and Charles, (Magneto and Professor X) was done phenomenally. Their friendship had to be built up in order to be torn down, right? I think this process was perfect. Charles saved Erik beneath the water and then gave Erik his single good memory of his mother back. Both of them were intellects, a match in powers, but entirely different in temperament. Charles was, from the very first, the only thing that kept Erik in check, the only thing that could bring him back when he started to slip.

In the very end, Charles was still the only thing that could influence Erik when he was at the height of his power, of his anger….but it’d be the last time he did it.

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE ENDING OF THE MOVIE:

I have one very big complaint about this movie and one very big favorite.

Complaint:

While any viewer could see the changes in Erik throughout the movie, his abrupt shift in position at the end was WAY too abrupt. It was obvious that he felt apart from humanity due to what Kevin Bacon had inflicted on him in the camps. It was also incredibly obvious, at least to me, that his philosophy regarding mutant and human relations leaned far closer to that of Shaw (Kevin Bacon’s character) than they did that of Charles. Once again, if not for Charles influence on him and his hunger for vengeance, it was clear that Erik would have become Magneto far earlier.

When Erik walked into the submarine, per Charles’ plan, he was still mostly on their side. He went in INTENDING to come back out to the jet. People might differ with me on this, but he’d just been hanging outside of the jet over the ocean. He’d JUST grabbed hold of Charles’ hand to avoid ripping free of the landing gear and finally, he’d just used his powers to keep Charles from being bashed to death within the rolling jet. In my eyes, this shows that he did NOT walk into the submarine intending to come out an enemy.

This is my complaint: He switched too fast. He came out angry, but Erik was always angry. He’d just killed Shaw, but I would think that would have given him a seconds peace. (While Charles DID tell him that vengeance would not bring him peace, it can bring a fleeting moment of it) I need more, a CRUX or a DECISION or hell, even a TWIST on Shaw’s last words, which would then spiral Erik into doing what he did on the beach.

My Favorite Scene:

While I may not agree with how they got to this point, I do agree that the entire scene on the beach was fantastic. It was a perfect depiction of Erik losing control, which we as the audience knew was coming and Charles as his friend (and who had been trusted into Erik’s mind) must have known. Erik believed the humans would want to kill them and was proven right when they were fired upon. He held off the missiles, turned them around and every person in every theater everywhere knew where he was going to send them, just as we knew there was only person who could stop him.

When I watched this scene, with Erik trying to concentrate and Charles yelling at him, I kept yelling, “Distract him! Distract him! Break his concentration!”

Charles did, but not in the way I was expecting.

He bowled Erik over and they exchanged their first set of blows. When the woman comes forward, gun firing, Erik defends himself, just as Charles would have defended himself, as ANY mutant or human would have. He deflected the bullets, one to the right, one to the left, BANG, BANG, BANG…..and BANG into Charles’ back.

And the highlight of the movie is Charles hitting the sand and Erik forgetting everything for just one instant as he rushes to his side. The missiles do not hit their targets, as Erik has finally been distracted. Erik, only minutes away from truly becoming Magneto, is full of panic as he draws the bullet of Charles. I really do believe that when he attempted to strangle the girl who’d fired the shot; it was out of an enraged desire to protect his friend.

“Stop Erik! She didn’t do this. You did.”

That sentence was an accusation, a truth and it hurt both of them. It drove them into the last conversation they’d have as friends. As Erik implored Charles to join him, that they were brothers, their friendship was ending and they both knew it.

“We want the same thing Charles.”

Laughing hoarsely, painfully. “No, my friend, we do not.”

I knew this was where the story would end up, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Unfortunately, I can’t turn off X-Men First Class when they hit the beach the same as I turn off King Kong when he begins to climb the building, not when my favorite scene is the final one.

This is a ruby, a painful one I won’t be watching very often, but a ruby indeed.