X-Men: First Class came out this weekend and everyone’s been asking me what I thought of it and I haven’t quite found the appropriate response. On one hand I was pretty entertained throughout and felt it had strong performances by both Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy, but on the other hand I found myself really irritated at all the direct references to the previous films, and then certain situations and plot points that don’t line up in any way shape or form to the same films. This was my issue with the film, and maybe my issue with prequels in general.
Prequels are meant to be an earlier story of familiar characters that show them how they were before and how they came to be the characters we’ve come to know and love. That pretty much means that a prequel has to end in a very specific way or it doesn’t work. You can start a lot of different ways, but you have to end the film in a way that allows the original films to pick up after and make sense. If you don’t line it up that way, then what’s the point of doing a prequel? If you want to change everything, why not reboot it from scratch. That’s what Christopher Nolan did with Batman Begins and it worked great. It’s a little sad that I can honestly say that the best made prequel movie in terms of continuity is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.
X-Men: First Class suffered from these issues of being a prequel. The writers and director had an entertaining and interesting story of the early years of several X-Men characters but I felt like they weren’t too concerned with lining up their film with the others and being one continuous story unless it was for a quick chuckle or point for nerds to freak out. I say if you aren’t concerned with lining up, then don’t, that’s great but make your own movie and do your own thing, but don’t throw in settings, situations, and cameos that say you are part of the same universe ‘cause then it just doesn’t make any sense, and it kinda ruins it for nerds like me.
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