Ludicrous.
Absolutely ludicrous, if an expanded comment is needed to describe “X-Men: First Class,” another absurdity disguised as an action movie,opening today.
From Auschwitz during World War II to the Cuban Missle Crisis of 1962 and on to a series of establishing shots of various secret service headquarters, we follow the variety of actors and characters right off the comic book pages and about as weighty.
There have been an interminable number of X-men films, from the first one 11 years ago (my, how time flies when you’re not having fun) with Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier and Ian McKellan as Magneto. Today’s version showcases James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, respectively. They’re not bad, but they’re not as good.
Kevin Bacon is a properly villainous Sebastian Shaw, and Oliver Platt adds his recently less-portly presence to an anonymous role as a Man in Black.
And then there are the girls, all of whom display large amounts of alluring cleavage. The men do not wear equally revealing trousers, but if we were playing charades, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence), Angel (Zoe Kravitz) and Emma (January Jones) are obviously portraying “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over,” from the Rodgers and Hammerstein song from “Carousel.” When Lawrence turns blue, as she does from time to time, she looks good, but not quite as. . . .
Ashley Miller and Zack Stantz overwrote the screenplay, using lots of references to the earlier versions, and Matthew Vaughn directed pleasantly, and he managed to pay attention for most of its far-too-long silliness.
X-Men: First Class opens today at numerous venues
—Joe