How to fix 'X-Men'

Fox announced yesterday that Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn is officially locked to helm X-Men: First Class, a film set for release in just 13 months: June 3, 2011.

What's it about, and what should it be about? More after the jump!

X-Men: First Class (2007)

First Class is named after a recent comic book series re-imagining the early adventures of the 'first class' of X-Men shown in X-Men #1: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Angel, and Iceman. (pictured right)

Fox has been developing a film adaptation of this idea for a while, laying the earliest seeds in the offensively-thoughtless spin-off film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

The big question seems to be whether an X-Men: First Class movie would be a prequel to the current X-Men film franchise, or a quasi-reboot of the franchise. Much of the development history leans toward the idea that it's a prequel. However, what is now clear is that Fox intends for this to be the first part of a new trilogy of films - which means it's possible Fox may be open to rebooting the series, or at least relaunching some of the ideas. So which is better? Prequel or Reboot?

First off, I think Fox is going to do a prequel series. The original X-Men films are loved by many, and there are likely enough fans of the Wolverine spin-off movie that expect to see Hugh Jackman in every iteration of the X-Men from now to kingdom come. The prequel idea was supported Bryan Singer, the director of the first two X-films and currently attached as a producer for First Class. 

There are plenty of reasons why a reboot makes more sense. Here are the three crucial ones:

• Another shot at old characters: The current X-Men film franchise succeeded in going through a lot of the popular mutant characters. Unfortunately, a lot of them were handled very poorly, or were simply not given the opportunity for development. Basically, everyone but Wolverine and Rogue. By doing a prequel instead of a full reboot, you wouldn't be able to bring in a lot of the characters that were introduced in later films - including two traditional 'First Class'-mates, Angel and Iceman. Rebooting also allows you to correctly introduce characters that were utterly ruined in their portrayals, such as Gambit and Cyclops (who had three whole movies to become interesting, and still couldn't pull it off)
• Another shot at key X-Men elements: There are a lot of great bits that made it into the X-Men films - but many of them didn't really make it into the movies: Sentinels, anti-mutant legislation, longstanding character rivalries/relationships, and much of the rich social commentary surrounding the mutant problem (the last of which was an ambition of the first X-Men film that the later films failed to capitalize on). 
• Recasting: To be fair, most of the casting decisions in the current X-Men film franchise have been pretty spot-on. Find one science fiction geek who didn't have a nerdgasm when Captain Picard was announced to play Professor X. Picking Kelsey Grammer as Beast conveyed an incredible understanding of the character. But an X-Men: First Class would need to set up the pivotal Xavier-Magneto dynamic, and these characters would need to be fundamentally younger than they were in the current films. If they were to do a prequel, the filmmakers would be burdened with the task of finding characters who look like younger versions of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. Or worse, they might choose to bring back Stewart and McKellen and use CGI to give them the Benjamin Button once-over.

The thing is, a reboot isn't a walk through the park either. In order to truly succeed, a reboot has to find a way to tackle the X-Men property in a wholly new way that separates itself from the old films, and persuades the viewer that this new vision is at least as valid as the old films, if not more so. Here are my current thoughts:

• Harry Potter the sucker. Calm down. This isn't about bottling something successful and slapping the X-Men brand on it. Think for a second. If you were telling the first story of the X-Men, what would it have to be about?  It would be a story of teenagers around the world discovering that they have amazing, horrifying abilities. It would be a story about the feeling of not fitting in. It would be a story of a kind, wise man travelling the world to find these children and tell them that he has a place where they can learn and feel accepted. THIS is what I mean when I say 'Harry Potter the sucker'; J.K. Rowling accidentally stumbled upon a story that was always a part of the X-Men mythology. A sanctuary-school for the gifted and rejected. Leave out the corniness and the talking hat. Actually, Cerebro (Xavier's helmet) does talk.

• Take liberties where necessary. I am absolutely of the belief that comic book film adaptations should try to stay true to the source material, but sometimes there are opportunities to preserve the ideas and present them in a new way. For example, Magneto's origin would need to become more contemporary. Unless Magneto's going to be eighty years old at the start of this new movie, he can't be a survivor of the holocaust. But he can still be a survivor of human genocide. In fact, it would be an opportunity to spotlight the obvious (but often overlooked) reality that genocide didn't end with the holocaust. 

• Leave out Wolverine. I know. Blasphemy! An X-Men movie WITHOUT its most popular character? Yes. Because he isn't necessary to this story. This is the first story, and no unjustifiable love of Wolverine is enough to warrant sticking him in a story he doesn't need to be in. The problem with inserting Wolverine in this reboot is that it's far too easy for him to overshadow every other character. There have been four X-Men movies to date, and all of them were focused on Wolverine, despite having incredibly enormous casts of characters played by some excellent acting talent. A reboot is a chance to let other crucial characters take their rightful places in the center stage. Cyclops CAN be interesting. Colossus CAN have more lines than Darth Maul. But much of this wouldn't be possible if we have to sit through another movie where Wolverine sniffs the air and starts fighting Sabertooth for no reason. 

There you have it. Your move, Fox. Prove to me that you can do something beyond a two-hour action figure commercial starring Hugh Jackman. And please pick an A-list composer to score it. 

-Aaron-