It's Just Movies

— by ADAM POYNTER —

“X-Men: First Class” shows the epic beginning of the X-Men saga, the tale of secret global events that changed history. As mutants began to emerge from mankind and before Professor Xavier was enemies with Magneto, they were just two young men, the best of friends discovering their powers and how they fit into the world. With characters we have seen in the original X-Men trilogy and many new to the screen, 20th Century Fox is releasing more personal and revealing character trailers that show us more about each mutant than we have learned from the previous TV spots and videos.

The fourth and final character trailer released this week focuses on Raven Darkhölme (aka Mystique) played by Oscar-nominated actress Jennifer Lawrence. This will be the first time Mystique has ever been shown as a “good guy,” although I have as inclination that by the end of the film she will have aligned herself with Magneto, because her role in the “Brotherhood of Evil Mutants” is destined to come to fruition.

Mystique is one of the more complex characters in the X-Men universe, her powers of shape-shifting are just the beginning of what this femme fatale is capable of. A brilliant strategist, a covert operative and skilled in hand-to-hand combat, she is a threat to whoever she is up against.

In this spot, we see a young Mystique in her true mutant form; it is obvious that to fit into society, she must keep herself looking normal. The idea of showing her when she’s young is brilliant on the part of the writers and studios, because a lot of the trauma and hardships she goes through when she is young is what develops into her mentality towards humans and mutants. The attraction she shows towards Hank McCoy (played by Nicholas Hoult) — who eventually turns into Beast — is quite interesting as they both are blue in their full mutant form, except she can change herself to look human.

I have to admit that the thought of Jennifer Lawrence portraying an iconic character that was already played by Rebecca Romijn in the previous X-Men trilogy seemed unappealing to me, as she isn’t that seasoned an actress. However, after seeing her in this trailer and pulling together all of the bits of information I have heard about the film, I see where they are going with the role and it is very intriguing. By letting her take center stage in this film, they can really delve into the psyche of the character so then it is possible to bring out a fuller and more evolved Mystique.

There is some odd chemistry happening between Mystique and Magneto (played by Michael Fassbender) in the final scene and it makes it possible to believe that she would become involved emotionally with Magneto and eventually follow him away from the X-Men. Before you go and get grossed out by the massive age difference, another part of Mystique’s abilities is to erase any signs of aging and — at least in the comics — it is unknown when she was actually born or how old she truly is.

Did anything you see in this clip bring to light any interesting or previously unknown character qualities that Mystique has? Do you like the idea of a “good” Mystique or do you prefer the vicious and manipulative assassin shown in the previous films?

Also starring Michael Fassbender, January Jones, Kevin Bacon, Lucas Till, Rose Byrne, Nicolas Hoult and Zoё Kravitz, “X-Men: First Class” opens everywhere June 3. and Lucas Till.

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