1:17 - 4:14 (2:57)
So, if you're making a movie about mutants with superpowers you can do it in one of exactly two ways:
1) Spend a good chunk of the film not showing the viewers mutants using their powers in order to heighten the impact when you finally do show the goods.
2) Give it to them right away. In the first fucking scene. Because its a goddamn movie about mutants. Fuck restraint.
The filmmakers mercifully went with option number 2 and we get magneto bending a gate here in the first scene but part of me wonders if they made Jaws in the 21st century if we wouldn't get a full on shot of the shark in all his CGI glory in the first 5 minutes.
The scene takes place in 1944 Poland and a young Magneto watches his mother taken away by Nazi's. He's able to bend the gate but a solider knocks him out and we fade to white as young Magneto goes unconscious. It's a little weird that our superhero action movie starts with a sympathetic introduction to the villain but I like it. It's efficient storytelling; in just under 3 minutes and with no dialogue we establish our antagonist is a complicated character with strong and relatable motivations who can manipulate metal. I mean fuck Nazis, amirite? Also the Holocaust setting nicely sets up the themes for the rest of the movie. Does anything evoke racism and genocide more than the Holocaust?
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