Friday 11 February 2011

X-MEN FIRST CLASS trailer breakdown

The first official look at the new installment in the X-Men franchise has just been released.
Check it out and read my breakdown of what it reveals, next...




This new reboot of the X-Men franchise is very much linked in with the original trilogy. The first images we see are of Professor X's vacant wheelchair, followed by Magneto's unused helmet; remnants of the first three X-Men films. These images are swiftly followed by our introduction to James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender in the roles originated by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.
If the sight of the youthful Professor X and Magneto wasn't enough, the trailer uses a television broadcast from JFK to reveal its time setting. We're in the early 60's during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The world is at war with itself, and the mutants face multiple dangers.
The next images show us brief introductions to the young mutants that comprise the first intake at Xavier's academy; some familiar, some new. Not all of them display their powers, but it's worth noting that the transformation of young Mystique (Winter's Bone's Jennifer Lawrence) is identical to how it was in the first series of films.
The next reassuringly familiar image is of the X-Men jet, the Blackbird, albeit in an unpolished form. This also introduces us to what resembles the classic yellow X-Men costuming, and the promise of a Charles Xavier/Erik Lehnsher action sequence.
In a confusing piece of trailer cutting, the Blackbird was being piloted by Beast, before his introduction proper. It's in the next sequence where the young Hank McCoy is revealed (played by Nicholas Hoult), undergoing some changes.
As the trailer approaches the end, it's an amalgam of shots that offer brief shots of the other main characters, including the first appearance of Kevin Bacon's villain, January Jones' diamond clad Emma Frost, Hank McCoy displaying his acrobatic skills and Mystique looking pretty. We also get a brief look at an early version of Professor X's Cerebro computer.
To end the trailer we get a closer look at Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy's conflicting characters, arguing their separate ideologies that will one day end their friendship. The showstopper is the shot of Erik showing his full potential, lifting a submarine straight out of the ocean.
It's a great first look at the reboot of the X-Men franchise, and despite some reservations as to how the 'retro' feel would affect the film it looks like an interesting addition to the universe. X-Men: First Class is clearly influenced by the three films that already exist in the franchise (discounting the Wolverine spin-off), and I look forward to seeing how the characters evolve into the ones we know.


X-Men: First Class hits our screens on June 3rd.

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