X-Men: First ClassFollow

Just got back from an advance preview screening of this (again), and...
Believe the reviews coming out of the gate, this is not just the best X-Men film to date it's also the closest contender of the "best comic book adaption" title to date - right up there with The Dark Knight and Iron Man. Like the case was with Thor, i have never read any of the old X-Men comics so keep this in mind when reading the following.

Review: X-Men First Class
Everything that all previous X-Men films have gotten wrong (Script, Characters, Pacing) this gets right and while some parts do feel a bit rushed it keeps everything coherent thanks largely to an extremely solid script and strong acting. I was never bored, never found myself uninterested in the plot, and found myself both recoiling and unexpectedly laughing really damn hard at some parts. The CG effects are just breathtaking as well.

Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) were PERFECTLY cast as their respective characters, a fantastic feeling of comradeship develops as the two get to know each other, something that makes the ending all the more tragic. Raven Xavier/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) gives a good performance as do all of the team, but they do feel a bit overshadowed by the two main characters - They're not bad actors here... it's just McAvoy and Fassbender are so good they stand out so much amongst the cast.

The movie sets the tone of the story as being EXTREMELY dark right from the first scenes with the young Erik being held in a **** concentration camp, what happens there made me lean back in my seat almost and i am pretty sure i heard some in the audience whispering "No... oh god no..". This part of the film i felt borrowed a bit from the Star Trek reboot as it compares the early lives of Erik and Charles and the results of said upbringings. It's here where Fassbender's Erik really steals the show: SpoilerThe film goes from 1944 to 1964 where a 30 year old Erik, who now has a grasp of his mutant powers, has made it his life's goal to hunt down and exact revenge on the ****'s that wronged him. You see everything he does in all it's bloody glory.. I felt at this point the film really shakes the audience, almost saying "This is what you're in for, get ready".
Charles Xavier has a much easier time throughout his story in comparison but that does not mean his story is any less interesting; his character is clearly conflicted and tragically arrogant despite having good intentions. SpoilerSeeing his character finally realizing how completely wrong he is for once towards the end of the film and the price he pays for it is a very powerful scene.

The story has a surprising amount of humor in it despite it's overly dark and serious themes based in a Cold War setting (Vaughn really did his homework here). A fair amount of the comedy comes from Charles Xavier, forget the wheelchair bound sage from previous films, this character is one full of swagger and enough charm to woo any woman he wants (and he does). Erik has a handful of funny scenes as well which feels good and odd at the same time given his character's back story.
There was a freakin' hilarious part that had EVERYONE in the screening laughing their asses off for a good minute, BIG SPOILER >>> SpoilerBEST... CAMEO... EVER....
You'll know it when you see it...

The fights are intense, they make very good use of the CG effects and they don't use close up shots to an extreme like other films have done. Watching Azazel rip through a squadron of soldiers with close to no effort was a "Wow" moment for me. Nothing is done to be so insanely over the top it becomes laughable, which is incredible to say about an X-Men film. The pacing is spot on, never going too slow but never zooming along so fast it leaves half the audience in the dust but still the 2 hours and 15 minutes running time just flies by, left me a bit let down when it ended... i sort of wanted it to keep going.

I'm not sure if Vaughn intends to continue his own take on the X-Men universe, the ending is open to interupritation as far as i saw it, but suffice to say he's got the winning formula down just like J.J Abrams did with Star Trek and I'd be thrilled if he went and did Wolverine's story some justice if he goes there.
See this film ASAP even if you don't think you'd like an X-Men film, you won't be let down.

Rating: 9.8/10.0


Edited, Jun 1st 2011 7:48pm by Tatham

I'll believe the first half, as the X-Men films haven't exactly been amazing motion pictures, but somehow I'm not holding my breath on the second half. Just the commercials alone make me doubt the film follows the established lore.

While I understand why they do it, what bothers (a bit anyway) is how they take characters that have evolved significantly over time and use the current evolution of said character when writing a story that took place in the past. A classic example of this is the use of a young Emma Frost using her diamond-skin powers. Obviously, it's intended to identify the character to people who know her as she is now, but that's not how she was originally. I get it, but at the same time it would be nice for the writers to allow for the audience who is familiar with the character to also know that she didn't always have that power and actually appreciate that the writers recognized this too.

They're basically catering to the relatively small portion of comic book fans who will recognize the character but not know enough about his/her history to understand why said character is different in the film. But IMO that's just the wrong way to do it. Those fans, when they ask why a character they know isn't the same as in the comics today will be told that he/she had different powers back in the past. Simple answer and someone learns something. You do the reverse, and there's no good answer.

I'm sure some market study showed them they'd get better character recognition or action figure sales doing it the other way though, so whatever. I get it. It does bug me a bit though.

Edited, Jun 1st 2011 6:07pm by gbaji

If anything gets me to NERDRAGE its going to be Darwin. Not to sound racist, but ... his real name is Armondo Munoz. Is the Mormon doctor from House really the right choice?

Actually, not WWII but the Cold war afterwards. SpoilerIt's then that she had their loving son who later tried to kill them all. Granted, old news and hardly spoiler worthy I suppose

As for Darwin, sort of ironic as it's Xavier that gets Moira's first team all killed. Well, I say almost yet two survived I suppose, although I've stopped reading the series when Xavier went to space to stop Scott's second brother.

I'm not holding my breath for this movie, although it just cannot be worse than X-Men III, which was the worst comic book adaptation ever, even worse than the David Hasselhof Shield movie. Heck, the very old Hulk movies were truly superior to that one.

It sounds more like an Ultimate X-Men version, a twist on the canon tales of the X-Men. Which is a shame, because in the very long and repetitive history of the X-Men, there are a heck of a lot of good stories to be told and televised. Perhaps one day they'll get some done.

As someone who was unaware of the source material, I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. I'd give it 8/10. Acting was good for most of the main characters, but some of the supporting characters were kinda eh. Mystique was hit or miss as well imo.



I'm 90% sure she didn't.

SpoilerAnd he stole Mr. Sinister's shtick.

I didn't find the "original" X-Men movies that bad, to be honest. Sure, they were a bit cheesy, but nowhere near the disastrous failure a lot of people apparently see them as.

Granted, I haven't read many X-Men comics in my life, either, so I can't comment on whether or not Singer's movies were true to the lore or not, but considering the amount of twists the X-Men story has taken in the comics, does it really matter?

Looking forward to watching First Class. Not expecting more than Thor, which was a good movie, by the way, but not expecting less either.

All in all, I'm pretty happy I was born in time for these recent movie adaptations of comics. Special effects, action and a twist of humor/drama is alright in my book.

More like buying a hooker and finding she is a virgin. I didn't pay who knows how much for someone that doesn't know what she's doing. I'll still enjoy the experience, but not nearly as much as with someone that knew what was going on, and I'll probably feel even dirtier afterwards for enjoying said experience.

This wasn't a retcon; Retcons tend to leave some resemblance of canon in place. This is full on alternative dimension.

But yes, best of the X-Movies. In fact, arguably first of the X-Movies, considering the other three were more Wolverine Guest Starring some X-Men

Edited, Jun 13th 2011 8:23pm by lolgaxe

That was the central part of my Nerdrage.

They weren't made for the movie, they're both throwaway obscure characters that were altered for the movie, but they did exist. Riptide was part of the Reavers Mauraders that killed most of the Morlocks in the mid-80s, and Azazel was from the biblical times and fathered Nightcrawler (and like a million other Nightcrawler-like mutants ...) in the early 2000s.

Comic Nerd Powers ... ACTIVATE!

Edited, Jun 19th 2011 1:54pm by lolgaxe

Fair enough. J told me that Beast was Nightcrawler's father though. Do you know where he might have gotten that idea if Azazel was actually his father?

Comic book plot.

SpoilerAzazel is really, really old. In the Biblical times a bunch of angels banished him to another dimension. Azazel figured out how to come back to the regular dimension for brief periods of time, and each time he did he'd sire a child. Eventually, Nightcrawler met another person who had similar abilities, like to teleport and a bamf of hellfire and brimstone. Then it turns out that there are thousands of brothers and sisters who can teleport like that, and the reason they can do that is so Azazel can come back to the regular universe on a more permanent basis and conquer the world. A little before the nefarious plot is discovered, we learn that Mystique and Azazel had a thing together, hence Nightcrawler's birth.

Like I said, comic book plot.