WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
I mentioned previously about actors that have doubled up on Marvel characters (Chris Evans) and those that have made the transition from DC to Marvel (Ryan Reynolds). Well, Zoe Kravitz chose to go in the opposite direction – starting her superhero career as Angel in X-Men: First Class. I realise something each time I watch that film, she doesn’t really have much impact. Yeah, she chooses to side with Magento without a second thought but Havok takes her out, pretty quickly!
The Assassination
OK, I shortened the title a little bit as its original title was The Assassination of a High School President but I think that would have taken up too much space. The crazy part about this is, I didn’t expect Zoe Kravitz and Mischa Barton to have only a 2 year age gap! For a film with such a simple plot, it really has a weird delivery! I think it’s trying to play on the whole detective/noir style of films. It’s probably been a bit of a bad choice in the end as Zoe isn’t actually in this for very long and her character of Valerie doesn’t appear until half way into the film. I was honestly starting to think I had blinked and missed her. It’s only one scene and it actually confused me a little bit. Valerie is referred to as being Paul Moore’s girlfriend but as far as we’re aware – he’d been dating Barton’s character of Francesca. I get that it’s a scene that is supposed to shed some light on the fact that Paul Moore didn’t steal the SATs but it just feels like a useless scene.
The Greatest
This film was originally considered for Aaron Taylor Johnson however, I am glad I chose not to – he’s only in it for a couple of minutes here and there. I guess the same could be said for Zoe’s character of Ashley, as she only has a couple of scenes even though I feel like she is supposed to be the one to help Ryan deal with his grief over losing his brother. It’s actually quite a heartbreaking film to watch for a character that seems to be in it so little, however it is an increase from The Assassination. I guess this is because the focus is on those most affected by Bennett’s death – his parents, brother and the mother of his unborn baby – and the ways they handle their grief both together and separately. It turns out her character is more messed up than you would expect. What’s strange, is that Zoe looks younger in this film than she does in The Assassination even though she was older when this was made.
Beware The Gonzo
This film reminded me a little bit of The Assassination in the fact that it based around the student paper however while Bobby Funke, our lead character in the afore mentioned film, is trying to prove Paul Moore’s innocence – it seems that Eddie “Gonzo” Gilman deliberately sets himself on the course to take down the popular kids in school. This is Zoe’s biggest role in the whole article, and she only made it a couple of years prior to X-men: First Class. What I love about her character of Eve in this film is that she uses everyone’s perception of her in a way to take down the boys of the school, proving that what they have said about her is untrue – freeing herself from the derogatory image they had created of her. You see this change not just in her behaviour but also in the way she dresses and how vulnerable she becomes with Gonzo. So much so that she tells the awful story about her experience with Gavin and the reason for the rumours. The relationship between Gonzo and Evie is set up like they are eventually going to get together. The film even opens with him saying The one girl I ever cared about will probably never talk to me again which you naturally assume is Evie.
Honorary Mentions
Like a few of the actors in X-Men: First Class, I assumed there would be very little on Zoe credits prior to her role as Angel. Well, let’s just say I was wrong. Along with the films above, her first ever role was in No Reservations with Aaron Eckhart and Catherine Zeta Jones. She even took on a lead role just before being cast in the X-Men franchise, as Sweetness O’Hara in Yelling at the Sky. In total, she starred in nine films before landing the role of Angel Salvadore.
