Thank Xavier for midnight screenings! As a long time X-whore I have been anticipating the release of First Class for months, I needed my X-movie fix. And all I can say is that this film delivered the goods. Will I call it the best of the series, Hells yes I will! The bad taste that was Wolverine Origins has been washed away (love you Hugh, but that movie was shit, just keeping it real).
Now, this film is labeled as a reboot/revision of the X universe, I personally took this film as a stand alone starting point clearing out the history we were given by the original trilogy. With that said, as a starting point for new X lore the foundation that Matthew Vaughn and crew created is rich and complex.
The film follows the "Bromance" (God, I love that word) between James McAvoy's Charles Xavier and Michael Fassbender's Erik Lehnsherr. Both men are at two different points in their lives and are forced together based on a combination of their genetic makeup and Sebastian Shaw (played perfectly by Kevin Bacon). Since this is the 1960's mutants are "in the closet" and are not publicly known. With the help of the CIA's Moria MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) and the Man in Black (Oliver Platt) Xavier & Erik gather the first group of potential X-Men to halt Shaw's plans of coordinating a Nuclear War between the US and Russia.
Death, betrayal, love triangles, and acceptance (by the general public and ones self) all play a role in shaping these characters into what will become the first versions of the X-Men and the Brotherhood. The final 40 minutes or so are among the best moments of the film. Stand out performance goes to Michael Fassbender, his Magneto was brilliant, complex, and true to the source material. For me, the weak link was January Jone's Emma Frost. Yes, she looked the part, but her delivery wasn't there, truthfully she needed to be a bigger bitch.
The films comes in at around 2 hours and 11 minutes and I loved every second of it, the setup for more stories set in the 1960's is there, but I do hope that the rumors of the next "First Class" film being set in the 1970's is true; just to have a Disco dancing Dazzler on screen would be pure nerd joy.
Overall, this X-Men film had what I need, a compelling story, mutant on mutant fight scenes, character development (Mystique's arc is heartfelt and one of the films highlight's), uniforms that resembled the comic versions, and a cast that was fun to watch.
Lastly, there is no bonus scene after the credits but the films does have a few special cameo's that made my fan boy heart go a flutter. Now, go see this movie!
~Harry Envy
I saw this movie yesterday and I didn't like it as much as you (which doesn't imply I hated it).
ReplyDeleteIt is a pretty decent movie, but I wasn't able to fully believe in the new universe Vaughn proposed (and I tried). It didn't feel real for me despite some really good scenes (Mystique's story), they weren't good enough for me.
I don't think I have been too picky (I enjoyed X-3 to death despite its many failures, oh those effects <3). It's just that the style of the movie itself wasn't appealing enough for what I was looking for (even when I LOVED Kick-Ass).
I missed Old Magneto and Old Charles, but I must admit Vaughn's point of view of the x-men universe has demonstrated to be pretty interesting and I will definitly watch the next movie.
Altogether a good movie. Still:
ReplyDelete1) What they did to Darwin was Fucked. Up. Sitting the camera directly on his face the second Shaw said the word "slavery." Then he dies horribly ten seconds into his first fight. That's fucking it up, dude.
2) I'm sick of goddamned teams being created and sponsored by the CIA. Whatever happened to superhero teams who weren't glorified military goons?
well truth be told i actually didn't like the movie quite as much as i thought i would based on the hype it got. but it over all still wasn't bad and i just loved how they did the Magneto character most of all. i think i'll have to see it again to really give a more thorough critique. James Macavoey was a great young Xavier as well. he's a great actor he was amazing in The Last King of Scotland although i didn't much care for Wanted. Kevin Bacon was surprisingly good too.
ReplyDeleteone of the problems i had with the movie was that Xavier was scene in X-Men 3 being able to walk in a flash back sequence in which he was older then he is in first class so that didn't really make sense. also i didn't like the way beast looked after he transformed. he looked too bestial. i'm still not sure Pixie was a good pick for being one of the mutants to be used in the movie but the jury's still out on that. also, i didn't really like the way they handled Havoc's powers with how he had to wear that harness and his hand waving routine before he discharged his energy. although i liked in general the way the writers inter weaved actual historical events with that of the movie it some how did go quite as smoothly through out as it did in Forest Gump. in that movie they fit this fictional character into history brilliantly. the movie had a lot going for it too and in general a lot going on so i think it'll be a little bit of a different experience seeing it a second time. but i just want to say as far as Mystique goes i'd tap that blue business.