XMen First Class

[Reality]

bring it.

[Reality]

meh, maybe you geeks will like it.

Average at best for me.   Will add more later.

[Wolverine]

How would you rank it compared to the other four X-movies (if you've seen them, of course)?

[Reality]

Well, it's all kind of jumbled for me.  I think I have now seen 3 of them.

Captain Picard is a wayy better Professor X then James McAvoy.  Tough to fill Picards shoes but McAvoy, just wasn't buying his "emotional" scenes.

Ditto Kevin Bacon as villian Sebastian Shaw.  One wants to see him die as a fabricated overexposed Hollywood celeb, not as the villian.  To me this villian in a previous X was much more creepy-believable:


Back to the emotion thing, while Michael Fassbender as Magneto is getting all kinds of press, i thought he was very good as the tough guy part of Magneto.  But as the emotional Magneto, like where he allegedly is crying, not buying at all.  The emo interchanges with British Guy above (Prof X) just seemed way forced, contrived.

Character development/lack of.  The young Mutants, you'll get a bunch of them.  And yet its like the producers cannot make up their mind how much to develop/not develop them.  Granted, it's only a 2 hour show but case in point.  The cutesy Raven (played by Jennifer Lawrence good cast) is shown to have a thing for nerdy young Dr Hank McCoy and he for her.  Several times they interact but shy Hank cannot initiate his true feelings.  Finally when he presents her with his long worked on antivirus potion, she initiates what is going to be a little kiss.  (it's a romantic kiss not some sleasy sex scene).  Anywho at this point Magneto wanders by, could just politely decide to pass by quietly but instead he makes some crude remark and ruins the moment for them.

Later, Raven is shown throwing herself at the creepy Magneto, who tells her he is uninterested.  What is up with that?

Same with FBI chick.  Her attempts to be emo just seem to fall flat, forced.  It's like typical comic book movie.  Spend gazillions on sets and FX, not much on acting/script.

Your views may vary.

p.s. the previews to Green Lantern will have geeks frothing i think.  Too creepy looking for my tastes.  And it's still impossible for me to seperate Ryan Reynolds from Van Wilder.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes also looks like maybe too much of a creeper for me.  Might go, but predict i still will say the original with Chuck Heston, Maurice Evans as Dr Zaius, Kim Hunter as Dr Zira etc has not been touched since.

[Skandery]

I saw it, I liked it.  But its the sort of like that can grow into love.  Where does it stand --- its a good margin better than X-Men (which was muted by a low budget and spotty acting), a large margin better than X-Men: The Last Stand (a victim of a Michael Bay type director with too big a budget and not quite the same talent), but falls short of X2: United (which really had some artistic moments -- Nightcrawler scene and Magneto break-out -- two hallmark scene's for comic movies).

I was worried about Professor X casting (McAvoy), and was really pleasantly surprised.  He did a great job of pulling off the teaching aspect of Professor X. 

Magneto by all indications and reviews was spot on and when I saw him, YEAH it was pretty spot on.  He is a touch more preachy but the Fassbender and supporting cast managed to even get through the Messianic aura of Magneto this is just beneath the surface in comics.

The Black King done by Kevin Bacon --- a different take than the comic character (who really just cared about world domination moreso because it would mean him ruling, not mutants per se).  Still few make a really sleazy, LOVE-TO-HATE bad guy like Bacon.  If you disagree watch the movie Sleepers.

White Queen --- DEAD ON!!  The costume also DEAD ON.  Good job January Jones.

Don't know much about Riptide and Azazel to make a comment (Riptide had a different power though, so they just thought the name was cool).

With Havok, they got the unstable nature of his power right (if anything its actually more dangerous than shown).

Angel, the inspiration was a little used mutant created by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely when they released the New X-Men in 2002.  She was ethnic with wasp wings but did NOT have Fireball Spit (also if you called this first class--Why not use the REAL Angel, Warren Worthington III)

Darwin was an extremely little used mutant in the late 70's beginning Claremont run, they pretty much stayed true to his power.

<Continued>
 

[Skandery]

Don't like the fact it scrolls when you enter off screen. Anyways . . .

Beat done to a tea, especially how he got the blue fur.  Excellent job on his origin and capabilites.  Slight niggle, he did NOT build Cerebro.  He did build the X-Jet.  Prof X and Magneto built Cerebro.

Moira Mactaggert is not a CIA agent, nor is she American.  She is a world renowned geneticist and Scottish.  I know you have to work with the limitations of a script and a story and what not but I don't understand how her role in the film would have greatly changed had you just stuck with her ORIGINAL character.  I think it would have enhanced the film and definitely made the love-hint with Prof X more believeable. 

Banshee.  First of all, Sean Cassidy is a (SCOTTISH) adult who works for Interpol who was tabbed by Professor X to join the team to rescue the original X-men.  Not a neophyte undergoing puberty.  Yet they did such a great job with his power manifestation (with the CGI) and costume that I'll let it go.

The greatest blunder in my opinion was Mystique.  Now I'll overlook the fact that she is way OLDER than Professor Xavier (she is rumored to be at least a century old in the comics), I'll overlook the fact they give her scales, and I'll even overlook that they mess with her main motivation (looking different).  I will not OVERLOOK the fact that they give the audience a reason to be sympathetic towards her.  Plainly and bluntly, Mystique is a BAD GUY.  A super villain.  There is VERY LITTLE that is any good about Mystique.  In the comics she cared by Two and HALF things: 1) Her best friend/lover/partner Destiny 2) World Domination and the Half is Rogue who still holds a special place in her heart.  That is IT.  The rest can burn.  She sells her services in the cause of war, chaos, mischief, all that is EVIL.  This is a lady that willfully abandoned 2 children (Graydon Creed -- fathered by psychopathic murderer Victor Creed -- because he had no power to manipulate) and Nightcrawler (for really no reason).  THere is a reason that IGN named her 19th best villain in comic history because she is JUST PLAIN BAD NEWS. PERIOD. 

And will someone get this right, she DOES NOT have scales.  She wears clothes and carries a sidearm that she is very proficient with.  End rant.

All in all though, I really did like the movie in spite of itself. 

[Wolverine]

I saw it, and I really liked it.

There are many continuity errors with the trilogy which makes me think this is a reboot, rather than a prequel (although I guess FOX has been saying that all along).

I'm pretty much with Skander, in that I'd go 1) X2 2) First Class 3) X-Men and 4) Last Stand.  If I threw Wolverine's solo movie in there, it'd probably fit between X-Men and Last Stand.

To get off on a slight tangent, I can't WAIT for the 2nd Wolvie solo film.  I'm very disappointed Aronofsky left the project, but that's life.  Hopefully, they get a talented director who can make the movie come to life.  Jackman is apparently pumped about the script, and I know he's read the original four-issue miniseries (the Japan storyline) and loves it, so if he's pumped about it, that must mean they're staying faithful to that storyline.  And they should.  It's the best Wolvie story ever.  (If any of the preceding tangent surprises you, you haven't noticed my forum handle.)

Anywho, First Class also features a tremendous cameo (which I won't spoil).  And said cameo probably features the greatest use of a certain word in a PG-13 movie.  'Nuff said.

[Reality]

If one who had never viewed was going to watch XMen in genealogical order, would the viewership be?:

First Class (duh)
Origins 
Wolverine 
1 
2 
3
----------------------------------------

Future XMen movies said to be:
The Wolverine
X-Men: First Class sequels
X-Men Origins: Deadpool
X-Men 4

[Skandery]

Wolverine may precede First Class but I'm not sure that it really matters.  You definitely watch those 2 first then the trilogy. 

Here's the thing, the Execs said in an interview they are not sure it won't be 2 side-by-side universes.  The First Class universe takes off in one direction while the original trilogy goes on in its own direction.  Of course if they do that, it would be supremely stupid.  I wish they would have made up their mind whether First Class was a REBOOT or a PREQUEL.  As it is, its really neither.  It pays homage to the trilogy and did not double use characters that would have screwed up the timeline (Cyclops show to in his 20s in the year 2000 can't have around in 1961).  At the same time there are so many glaring holes in continuity (Xavier and Lensherr visiting Jean Grey's home TOGETHER, no recognition b/w Logan/Prof X/Mags, Xavier and Lensherr building Cerebro--not Hank) between First Class and the previous trilogy.

They would have done themselves a huge favor had they just treated it as a hard reboot.  Bring in Iceman, Angel, Cyclops, and keep Beast has the founding members rather than Havok, Banshee, Darwin, etc.   

[Randy]

Sorry, Wolvie -- just had to reply to this thread.  Enjoyed the movie even though they refuse to get things right (true original xmen) and then totally screw up with the timeline they originally set in the previous movies (like when Prof X and Magneto enlist Jean Grey).  I just don't get it.  And then they involve some characters who are minor players in the realms of Xmen.  Just makes me go "huh?"  I'm a little boggled why they have to destroy the previous -- I know they did it with Star Trek but they resorted to the whole "changing the timeline" -- they didn't have that in this movie.  Why do they acknowledge the previous movies at one point and destroy the whole timeline an another point. 

As for Angel -- she did have the power to spew acid (although not in a fireball) and she certainly didn't have the speed to keep up with Banshee, who I believe could reach supersonic speeds.

By-the-way, did you know that Nightcrawler was the son of Mystique and Azazel.  For the life of me, I couldn't remember Azazel in any of the Xmen -- I'm looking forward to checking on that when I have some time on the marvel.com digital comics.

I really did enjoy the movie -- just don't really understand why they changed things around so much -- again, if they would have made it a "reboot" but they kept billing it to some degree as a prequel and it just doesn't fit. 

Anyway, I had some of the same problems with Thor -- they decided to rewrite the storyline and totally do away with Donald Blake.  I guess I just have to separate the movies from the comics and just enjoy them.

Great feed on the timelines though -- very impressed.  My daughter has grown up into a huge Marvel fan -- she will surprise some boy some day (hopefully in like 10 years or so).

[Derek Bodner]

If they were going to reboot it, I have to assume they wouldn't have made the character decisions they did.  The characters (outside of Mystique, which was a huge continuity flaw) weren't major characters in the original trilogy, and seemed like they were picked because they wouldn't need to explain the time difference.  As someone mentioned, explaining a 20'ish cyclops in 2000 and him joining the team in 1960 is tough to do. 

The obvious exceptions to this are Mystique (which they explained away by her slowed aging) and Beast, who can easily hide his age based on his deformed look.

It also worked because this was a story about Magneto and Xavier, and more or less (outside of Beast and Mystique), the other characters were filler.  Had you put major players like Cyclops, Angel, or Iceman in, and you would have either skimped on their origins/character development or not successfully developed Xavier/Magneto.  Even if it's a reboot, I'm glad they went with the characters they did.  I wanted a good young Magneto/Xavier story, and I think they succeeded.

I spent the first half of the film bitching internally that it wasn't the same as the comics.  Mystique bothered me (both because they didn't mention her being Xavier's adopted sister in the original trilogy and because that's not how it was in the comics), as did showing Havoc as a founding member but not mentioning his brother(s).  Then I stopped looking at it as telling the story in the comics and as a fresh look at a familiar story.  Whether or not the details are the same, this was an exceptionally told X-men story that captured what the comics were about.

I went back and watched the original X-men, and what I noticed was how close the scene in the Nazi camp where he was separated from his mother was to the scene in first class.  IMO it was a prequel.

[Randy]

Derek,

I agree -- once I got over the agitation of not synching with the comic books I really enjoyed this movie.  Almost as good as the Wolvie movie.

Does anyone else think that they enhanced Shaws abilities in this movie?  I always had the opinion in the comic books that Shaw was nothing more than a level 3 mutant where Prof X and Magneto were level 4s.  What was interesting to me, is that most of the mutants they chose to use in this movie were low level mutants (Emma Frost and perhaps Havok are the only ones who could be seen as level 3s).  After watching the previous movies with so many mutant superpowers (Magneto, Juggernaut, Sabretooth, Prof X, Jean Grey (Phoenix), Storm, Cyclops, Ice Man, Collosus, etc.), it was kind of interesting to see this movie use mutants with so little power. 

I did enjoy the movie but I had to just step back and quit analyzing it in order to do so.

[WayOutWest]

I have not read any of the comics but I did nit pick a few things based on seeing the previous movies.  I enjoyed the movie very much, I think it's second only to the Wolverine movie. I thought the backstory, prequel if you prefer, was extreemly entertaining, especially since I did not read the comics so I did'nt get all geek-butt-hurt that it didn't stay true to the original story. I did not like the tertiary mutants in the movie at all, very boring except for the diamond chick. Love the cameo and the way they got, and remained at, a PG-13 rating.

I would highly recommend this movie. A-

Kung Fu Panda 2 was a huge let down, not because it was a bad movie but because the original was fantastic. On its own I would give it an A-, but as a sequel I give it a solid B.