X-Men: First Class (2011)

*MODERATE SPOILERS*

Rotten Tomatoes: 86%

Box Office: 353.6 million USD

My Rating: 7/10

Description: Both Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) and Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) discover their mutant abilities as children; Erik when he bends a metal gate with his mind after being separated from his family by Nazi officer Klaus Schmidt (Kevin Bacon) at Auschwitz, and Charles when he telepathically realizes that Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) has broken into his home and has shapeshifted into his mother. Eighteen years later, the CIA is trying to take actions to separate mutants from the rest of civilization in an attempt to protect humanity. After discovering other mutants, Charles teaches them to both accept and harness their powers; while Erik realizes that he must defeat Klaus Schmidt, now going by the name Sebastian Shaw, who is trying to start WWIII. Soon enough, the two friends realize that their opinions on themselves and their fellow mutants differ greatly.

Description as Told By My 12-Year-Old Sister: "After baby Magneto bends the gate, the evil mutant Nazi guy was like, 'Hey, bro! Wanna move this Nazi coin? No? What if I hold your mom at gunpoint?' So then [Magneto] gets angry and does things. Anyways, he grew up and him and Charles (and his hair) have to stop [Shaw] from destroying the world. They track down some mutants to help them and kill the Nazi. But then the Soviet and US armies try to kill them, and Magneto was like, 'Oh, no thank you.' So he sends the missiles back but Charles stops him and says something dumb (you'll know). Then they go their separate ways. The end."

My Thoughts: I've never liked superhero movies, but this one is definitely an exception. Although, once again it's hard to tell if I actually enjoyed it or if my standards for representation are just really low. There were some aspects of Erik's backstory that I felt could have been treated with a little more sensitivity, but other than that, the story was lovely and was an excellent allegory for queerness (especially when Hank's boss confronts him about never coming clean about being a mutant). I never really cry at movies, but there were several moments when I nearly teared up. When Charles is trying to access Erik's happiest memory, the one he finds is of Erik as a young child lighting a Hanukkah menorah with his mother. At that part, I gasped and then had to get up and walk around the room before sitting back down and continuing. The only other aspect of the movie that felt weird was Raven's feelings toward Charles. They had known each other since childhood and he took care of her for most of her life (almost like she was his sister), and yet she's in love with him? All that aside, it was a great movie; one definitely worth rewatching.

Best Line: "You didn't ask, so I didn't tell."