Johnny 'Sam' Marble

21 May 2012

Forget continuity and accents and this is very enjoyable.

I'll keep this brief.Pros Excellent setup/style and overall 60's feel right down to a youngMcAvoy Charles saying "Groovy :P when hitting on the ladies in anEnglish pub. The action was great the effects were 90% good. The comedyand tragedy were both there and delivered well.Cons The thing that lets this down is the sounds most importantly thevoices in relation to their characters. Emma Frost, Moira and Bansheesounded very wrong and the blue versions of mystique and beast did nothave the trademark un-natural voices.Very good reboot nonetheless. THis does not tie into any of the other Xfilms well.

Bryan Duke

21 May 2012

Enjoyable despite plot holes

These are the plot problems I had:Despite Xavier admitting to seeing everything in magnetos mind/historyhe says the one thing do the least to change his mind in turning themissiles against the fleet; "They're only following orders" Comeon..talk about pressing his buttons!Raven tricks Azazel by morphing into Shaw with his helmet but she hadnever seen that before and he's still in the sub.Xavier pleading with Magneto not to kill Shaw despite the fact thathe's the one incapacitating him?!The random mutations/evolution resulted in a mutant that looks Exactlylike a storybook devil?A Nazi became a mutant by irradiating himself? Never explained pastthis assumption yet they want us to suspend our disbelief of commonmedical fact?It was still pretty cool though :)

malcoms-flicks

21 May 2012

Another great installment. But where to rank it!?

I almost want to say 'hands down, best X-Men movie thus far' but I justcant decide. First class did have it all. The writing was prettyclever, the way they wrote the main story around the Cuban missilecrisis. The actors portrayed every character flawlessly. There werebeautiful women; beautiful men for that matter, and plenty of actionand momentum to keep you pumped throughout the film. Even a cameo thatmade a few hairs stand up, from sheer BAD- ASS. We are inducting this movie into the franchise; and with honor I'd say.Its not a reboot or a sequel or even a prequel. Just another story linein the creative world of X-MEN. We started with the first 3 filmsfollowed by the epic spin off 'Origins: Wolverine' and now we get towitness how it all started with 'First Class'. These first four filmssuccess are greatly thanks to Wolverine. Played by, in every film, HughJackman. Geniusly I am definitely gonna add. I think we can all agree,for sure, that Jackman cannot be out played for the role of everyonesfavorite X man. Not just the almost freakish way he physically lookslike the character but the way he becomes Wolverine is what reallytakes you away. This is where the conflict comes in as far as where torank the new installment, critically. Taking the franchise in a newdirection, first class introduces characters not as popular asWolverine. An X-Men movie without him!? This may be a disappointment tomovie goers. Despite these new characters, you most definitely will notbe disappointed.First off, I have to say excellent job to Michael Fassbender playingErik Lehnsherr/Magneto. Right away, his performance makes the absenceof wolverine extraneous and makes way for a character even morepowerful and just as conflicted. Fassbender Plays magneto brilliantlyas well. Before this film, Magneto was arguably, the top super villaincreated. Post film, I will say with confidence "thee number one" supervillain. As its told in this film, Erik Lehnsherr is a Jewish Germanwhose family is taken to concentration camps in 1944 Nazi Germany. Butis emancipated by Sebastian Shaw played; wonderfully evil by KevinBacon, to be an apprentice slash lab rat. As Lehnsherr grows up, he isfueled by hate for what had happened to him and his family and sets outfor revenge. He advances his powers with rage and anger, becoming anextremely powerful and deadly weapon. Within his campaign he meets aman named Charles Xavier, played by James McAvoy. Who for the firsttime in his life, gives Lehnsherr some sort of vision and feelingsbesides his tunneled focus for revenge charged by hate.McAvoy brings into being, a Professor X with a bit more spice then Iwould have expected, compared to his older self played perfectly byPatrick Stewart in the first three installments. Despite his early mildfrat boy style we still see Xavier compose the authentic trait ofcompassion we all know to be Charles Xavier. It was a nice surprise tosee a young, newly deemed professor, with other things on his mind,like girls and having fun rather then his life devoted focus forhelping mutants and man kind alike. As we see the professor start todevelop that life long devotion, James gives us a benevolent, yetthrilling ride into those big shoes Xavier will have to fill to becomeProfessor X.With a mutual compassion for the discovery of new mutants, TogetherErik and Xavior become a team, finding and offering mutants a chancefor something great. We get to see mutants like Havok, and Beast playedby Lucas Till and Nicholas Hoult and other familiars like the youngMystique played by Jennifer Lawrence. These young group of kidsstruggle to harness and control their great gifts, with the first ofmany lessons taught by Professor X. With common enemies, the team helpsagent Moira MacTaggert, played by Rose Byrne, and the CIA find theextremely dangerous Sebastian Shaw. A mutant powerful enough to turnhumans against each other using nuclear war, with the intention of theextinction of homo sapien and the rise of mutants. This is an epic adaptation and one of many possible story lines in theX-Men universe. Its a story of coming of age and fulfilling yourresponsibility for who you are meant to be. A tale of a two sided coinwhere on one side a man raised by hate and fear believes our species tobe an ignorant race and will only fear what they do not understand.Which will lead to a violent vindication towards mutants, and a war tothe death. While on the other side, another man believes that eventhough this may be true, there is good in everyone and this war will befought to educate the world to result in peace and unity. No matter theside, war is inevitable and both sides will fight for their beliefs, atall costs. As a Marvel fan boy, keep um coming! There are so many characters andso many ways Marvel studios can take them. Maybe there are some thingsthat didn't exactly happen in the very first comic book. Or maybe thetime line is a bit off here or there. So what, these stories arewonderful cinematic adventures! We can rate these movies all day, andeach film will see every spot on the rank line, but no doubt, each oneare incredibly entertaining and totally fun to watch. If you're like meand these Marvel films bring you back to when you were Wolverinefighting Magneto on the playground at lunch, or if you have never evenheard of the X-men you will enjoy them all. As far as rank goes 'Handsdown best X-Men movie thus far' Why don't you guys see it, and let meknow.

james_c9110

20 May 2012

X-Men First Class – The pre-boot of a dying franchise, directed by Matthew Vaughn (director of Kick Ass) and produced by Bryan Singer (directed X1 and 2), recipe for success?

Two years have gone by since the release of the last X film; X-MenOrigins: Wolverine. This being the origin story of the franchise's mostpopular character, so naturally expectations were high. However, whenthe film turned out to be nothing more than an action flick lackingcharacter development, story and general attention to detail many fans,including myself, felt cheated. Rumors of other Origin projects, thistime focused on Magneto and Deadpool, took off and fizzled out as soonas X-Men First Class was announced. This at first seemed like a wildstab in the dark for the studio after Wolverine failed to deliver.However, it eventually became clear that it would fill in the historyfor several main characters at once; Professor X, Magneto, Mystique andBeast, as well as introducing several new heroes and villains to thescreen. Sounds too good to be true right? Well fortunately, it isn't!This film may well be the best X-Men movie to date, rivaling only withX-Men 2. Finally there's something in this film that's been absent fromthe franchise for far too long: the ability to make us care about thecharacters. The majority of the film's characters are relatable andhave their own personal conflicts such as insecurity, anger andloyalty. These are especially noticeable with James McAvoy's ProfessorX and Michael Fassbender's Magneto. Both actors have a brilliant freshtake on the characters. Professor X is far less serious than hisprevious portrayal. Yes he lectures students and advises the FBI, asyou'd expect, but he's also out in the field fighting the bad guys withthe rest of the team and is out drinking in bars when he's not on thejob. He's young and it shows. Magneto here is vengeful, powerful butclearly human. He's been through some pretty dark stuff so has a rightto be angry and Professor X knows this. These two together have greatchemistry and their friendship feels real, even though we know thatultimately their views will separate them. The rest of the X-Men do gettheir time to shine, Mystique and Beast also deserve a mention forcharacter chemistry, but they're all ultimately shadowed by Magneto andProfessor X who seem to steal the show slightly. Although not all ofFirst Class's villains are convincing, Kevin Bacon's Sebastian Shaw iscasually brutal which really works for a threatening bad guy, and thebright red teleporting Azazel (yes, he is pretty much a redNightcrawler) is pure ninja in a fight.Moving on to the action, the fights between the X-Men and the HellfireClub are brilliant and even the training is great to watch. First Classreally does have some great jaw dropper moments. Sadly the film doeshave a weakness, well, depending on how you look at it. First classdoesn't quite seem to know where it stands with the other X-Men filmsin terms of continuity. Hence the term coined at the start of thisreview; pre-boot. I'm not going to list all the things that stop itfrom linking up with Origins: Wolverine or X3, but you might just haveto pretend those films didn't happen for it to all make sense. Some ofus already were anyway…

zeke67

18 May 2012

First Class all around!!!

I went to see X-Men: First Class on Saturday afternoon with my lovelywife. As the end credits rolled a sense of real satisfaction fromwatching an incredibly solid film washed over me. I liked the movie aton but would my wife feel the same? She hasn't read many comics anddoesn't follow the exploits of most superheroes. In other words, sherepresents the general audience when it comes to superhero fare. Thefilm was able to garner high praise from her with the epic statement,"If you see the guy in our building who sells bootleg DVDs and if he'sgot X-Men: First Class, buy it. I want to see it again." Now kiddies, I by no means condone or comply with the purchasing ofpirated videos. I categorically do not! But if that is your cup of teawho am I to judge. But the fact that my wife a non-comic book fan wastotally enthralled and entertained by this film is no small feat. Iknow I annoy the hell out of her with my fan boy rants and ravings, butshe tolerates it because she loves me. Aw! But I digress. X-Men: First Class hit so many nails on the head it should apply for acarpentry license. The casting of James McAvoy as Professor X andMichael Fassbender as Magneto originally drew some skepticism from thishumble reviewer. Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian MacKellen seemed to beborn to play the roles they made even more famous in the previous threeX-Men films. How could McAvoy and Fassbender top these fine thespians?They didn't top them but they definitely matched them. McAvoy, who wastold not to do a Stewart impersonation, gave the role of youngProfessor X a sense of joy, wonderment and hope that Stewart'sportrayal lacked; which isn't knocking Stewart, by no means. X-men:First Class portrays a Charles Xavier before he becamewheelchair-bound, so of course his world would seem a little brighterand rose-colored. McAvoy pulls off this Pollyanna portrayal withperfect aplomb. McAvoy is one of the best young actors of our time. Heis solid in everything he does. See Wanted, Atonement and The Last Kingof Scotland to see how good he is.Michael Fassbender's portrayal as Magneto, Master of Magnetism, is spoton. While Sir Ian played Magneto as a man full of pi$$ and vinegar thathas seen it all, Fassbender meanwhile plays the future villain exactlythe same but with a little bit more gravitas and pathos. Fassbender'sportrayal is so human you can't help but like his Erik. Even asMagneto's quest for revenge begins to take permanent root, gut-wrenchingly you begin to actually root for the man even though you knowhe will become the murderously human-hating purveyor of Superiority. Director Matthew Vaughn masterfully weaves a tapestry of swinging1960's James Bond-like intrigue, Munich-style man-hunting and MarvelComics mayhem with pitch perfect plot and pacing. Together, thisbecomes a crazy quilt of must-see appeal. Vaughn shows us threedimensional characters that we want to know even more about. Because ofhis direction and assist with the script, Vaughn gives us a Mystique wenever saw in the first three films. She goes from partially- clad setpiece to full-fledged character as portrayed by Oscar-nominee JenniferLawrence. When I first heard about Kevin Bacon playing Sebastian Shaw, I mustadmit it gave me pause. I was like, "Mr. Footloose himself playing oneof the nastiest X-Men villains of all time? No way"! But after seeingX- Men: First Class, my world view was a little shaken. Now Bacon is agreat actor, we all know this, but sometimes folks are miscast; JessicaAlba's Invisible Woman anyone? After seeing Bacon do his version of aBond villain I had to admit it; he did his thing! That's a term used inaround the neighborhood. With his mutant ability to absorb energy,Bacon's Shaw absorbed our attention with his slick oiliness every timehe was on screen. Honorable mentions go out to Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggert, NicholasHoult as Beast and January Jones (wooden acting didn't bother me here)as Emma Frost for their performances. It was cool to see Moira finallyfleshed out by a capable actress in Byrne. And Hoult was nerdy-fun ashairy Hank McCoy. Hopefully we'll see more of this actor in the future.Other X-Men, Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones) and Havok (Lucas Till) aregiven appropriate screen time and give the film much needed comedyrelief. Make sure you see the mutant gathering montage in the middle of themovie. There are some mutant cameos not to be missed; one in particularis laugh out loud funny.X-Men: First Class is definitely on the level of X2 and easilysurpasses the miss that was X-3. Although X-Men: First Class, playsfast and loose with not only the comics' continuity but the previousmovies as well, I suggest checking that simple fact at the door whenseeing this film. I know there will be Hardcore fans who won't be ableto get past that but please get over yourself otherwise you will bemissing one of the better superhero films ever made.

Gavin-Capelle

18 May 2012

X-men First Class is definitely a first pick

I saw this movie last weekend and i am still thinking about. The actingwas great they all played their parts to the very best. The wholestoryline was very clever and well put together. We get to see thegreat and mysterious past between Charles Xavier aka Professor X (JamesMcAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr aka Magneto (Michael Fassbender). It alsozoomed in on the lives of Raven Darkholme aka Mystique (JenniferLawrence) and Hank McCoy aka Beast (Nicholas Hoult). It was great fromthe beginning, to the climax, right down to the final scene. This moviein my opinion is a 10 out of 10, all the way. Lets see if this can stayon the top 250 list.

Wala_Lang

17 May 2012

First Class is a First Rate Movie

This is a prequel or a "flashback" movie coming from all X-Men movies made to date. You will have a better understanding of the characters like Magneto and Professor X and even Mystique. Definitely, you will be glued in the big screen as the story unfolds. Visuals are great. And it is one movie you certainly want to watch now if you are an X-Men fan.

newyears1978

16 May 2012

Compelling

I spent a bit of time reading reviews on this one before even watchingit. I hate prequels because I relate it to watching a recorded sportsgame. It just doesn't feel the same to me.However after all the reviews I decided to give this ago since I was abig X-men fan growing up.I won't say much since it has all been said already, but I will clearlysay, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It is far superior to the otherthree X-Men movies in every way.I only wish now that they would continue on in this style with moreX-Men movies, trumping the old movies.To the few reviewers who posted bad reviews...what a joke.

melgarcia40

16 May 2012

Just a blockbuster summer action movie, but what a blast!

For all people complaining about X-Men: First Class, one must notforget that, first and foremost, it's supposed to be a summer movie,not an art-house one. As Mr McAvoy says it himself, it's not supposedto change the world, it's supposed to be fun and entertaining. And forthis, X-Men First Class completely achieves its goal.I'll start with the quibbles: a few crappy lines, characters underused(Havok, Banshee, Darwin...), and some really bad CGI at times (Beast isparticularly botched), and some hardcore fans will complain about (veryminor) inconsistencies, etc ;but in comparison to the overall greatnessof the movie, I can easily close my eyes.The directing is nice, could have been a little more audacious, butfine nonetheless. The script is good, and the setting of the action inthe sixties, intertwining mutants and history during the Cold War was afantastic idea. It gave the opportunity to the set and costumedesigners to have fun to recreate a James Bond-alike atmosphere, andvisuals that are just delicious.The movie cleverly mimics X-Men opening scene, with the young Magneto iAUschwitz, and provides a great back story as well as some wittyanswers to some of the questions that arose from the first movies (itis important to note that this movies doesn't take the 3rd and 4thones, which is great since they were both horrendous movies).Now, discussing First Class without mentioning the cast is impossible,since this is really where the movie surpasses all the previous four.Kevin Bacon as a villain is, unsurprisingly, an epic win. As usual, heis a master when it comes to portraying evil sly characters, and he wasalso great speaking German and Russian in this one (not pitch perfect,OF COURSE, but still, it was great to have him ACTUALLY say the linesand not being dubbed).Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult did a very good job in portrayingteenage angst, insecurity and self-loath, they made their subplotreally engaging.But it is obviously the two leads, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbenderthat shine during the whole movie, they are just stellar, even if,considering the focus put on the characters, Fassbender is the one thesteals most of the show. He is impeccable as Magneto, conveying hisanger, sorrow, darkness and desire for revenge with sheer perfection.However, MvAvoy's part was a much subtler one, less showier, but all innuances, and it's simply a delight to watch his dashing, rubbish-flirt,yet empathic version of the young Xavier. Therefore, when the two sharethe screen, it's just dynamite: their chemistry and talent irradiateand lift up the whole movie.All in all: this is not a "great movie" on a philosophical point ofview, but it's a real great moment of entertainment supported by anoutstanding cast.

Lloyd Bayer

15 May 2012

X Men :First Class ushers in the 2011 summer action mania.

Every year, a highly anticipated movie officially launches the summeraction fiesta. For 2011, this is it! Look no further, X-men: FirstClass has thrown the gates open…wide open.In almost unaltered history, the film dates back to the early 1960s eraof suspense and dread. John F Kennedy is the president of the UnitedStates of America and the whole world braces for what is sure to benuclear Armageddon. If you are thinking 'Cuban Missile Crisis', then Ihave your attention. However, before the world got to this predicament,we need to go back to the European theatre of World War II. In aconcentration camp at Auschwitz, Occupied Poland, young Erik Lehnsherrwitnesses his mother's brutal murder. During this traumatic event andfuelled by anger, Erik unleashes his secret power-much to the amazementof the perpetrator, Doctor Sebastian Shaw. Across the Atlantic, a youngCharles Xavier discovers powers of his own. Before long, Xavier is adistinguished academic living with the shape-shifting Raven (who wouldlater renegade and be called Mystique). Dedicating his life to avenginghis mother's death, Erik Lehnsherr bumps into Charles Xavier, spawningan instant friendship and powerful bond. Together, and with theirmutant friends, they are the CIA's last hope in averting a nuclearcrisis that culminates into a spectacular face-off between American andSoviet naval forces.With all due respect, Mathew Vaughn does a phenomenal job as thedirector of this prequel. But fans of the Marvel comic book and theX-Men franchise will always look back to Bryan Singer for giving us thefirst two titles: X-Men (2000) and X2: X-Men United (2003). In fact,this installment is almost entirely the handy work of Singer, who notonly co-wrote the script, but also produced the film. What he did notdo was direct the movie, and that was a last moment decision due topre-committed schedules for filming Jack the Giant Killer. So, havingreceived the raw materials on a silver platter, all Vaughn had to dowas execute it, take for take. In doing so, Vaughn has successfullyre-vamped the X-Men franchise with such grandeur, a spin-off trilogyhas already found its way to the drawing boards. On the whole,everything works here; from a captivating and intelligent screenplay toexceptional character development to fantastic action sequences.Whether you are a Marvel comic-book fan, X-Men movie fan or an actionmovie junkie, right from the start, through the 130 minutes to the end,you are sure to be entertained. Visuals are top notch, oozing CGI inmany scenes. And to think, Vaughn has pulled this off without the needof those cumbersome 3D Spectacles. As a prequel, the script is pure ingenuity and takes us back to a timebefore Erik and Charles became the archenemies we know them to be. Itis also a time when mutants are discovering and practicing their powersin secret. Aside from the mutant origins, embedded in the script is aparallel history relating to the Cuban Missile Crisis and birth of theCivil Rights Movement. The ingenuity of this is grafting history withfiction and having the audience accept its plausibility without havingto state it as based on actual events. Forrest Gump was the first filmto have pulled that off. First Class builds on this concept in such aclever way, that the script is studded with historical events. Anotheraspect of the screenplay also brings to mind a distinct James Bondtheme. Maybe it is just the opinion of this reviewer, butchronologically, Bond's cinematic debut (1960s) is around the same timeframe scripted for this movie. It is left to be seen if Vaughn intendedfor this as a mild undertone. Onto star performance, and most notable for his role as the youngdoctor in The last King of Scotland, James McAvoy is nothing like theProfessor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) we have seen before.McAvoy's Xavier is drastically different, egotistical, brash, and aflirt on the loose. On the other hand, Michael Fassbender dons Sir IanMcKellan's suit as Erik Lehnsherr. Like McAvoy, he too "paints a freshcanvas" for the character who would go on to become the ruthless'Magneto'. Although McAvoy and Fassbender are perfectly cast, I have tosay the latter has the edge in terms of drawing you in. In doing so, henever steps on McKellan's toes, but brings out an unseen side of ErikLehnsherr. When I mentioned James Bond earlier, I was referring toFassbender; for some reason, his character carries a distinctive MI-6persona. Another worthy mention should go to Kevin Bacon as thevillainous Shaw. I don't want to spoil the surprise, but Bacon's Shawplays a key role in bringing the world to the brink of war. For thetime period portrayed, Kevin Bacon is the only actor whose characterdons an accent. In doing so, he almost gets his German and Russianaccents to a believable level. Perhaps, Vaughn did not feel the actorsneeded to work on their accent and that could be why none of the otheractors actually bothered with an accent suiting the setting. Aside fromMcAvoy, Fassbender and Bacon, watch out for a plethora of goodcontributions from January Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, Zoë kravitz andloads more as newly discovered mutants along with cameos from OliverPlat, Michael Ironside and you guessed it, Hugh Jackman. For a summer opener, X-Men: First Class does not disappoint. As aprequel, it pushes boundaries, raises the bar and broadens the scope ofexpanding this franchise. At a time when all we see are sequels and 3Dgimmicks, this film is a surefire summer winner. If you have beenfollowing the series, you will love First Class. If you haven't, don'tworry, Vaughn and Singer have successfully re-booted a dying franchise;there will be more to come.

15 May 2012

Finally an X-Men film I can truly enjoy!

This review is from: X-Men: First Class (DVD) I was never really a fan of the first 3 films....so I was skeptical in going to see this one. And I LOVED it! I went to see it twice and bought the film the first day it came out. The acting was phenomenal especially by McAvoy and Fassbender! The story actually makes sense without it being too over the top. I hope they continue with a sequel!

123456789

14 May 2012

Not too bad, not too bad.

First off, I am a diehard fan of X-men I actually do read the comics! So up until watching the movie I had in my mind already that it was going to SUCK because of all the inaccuracies. While watching, the first half of the movie I devoted all my energy focused on how bad they messed it up AGAIN...However, once I was able to just let it go, relax, and just enjoy the movie, I actually LIKED IT! Definitely could have been better, but it was still pretty damn good!!!Advice to X-men fanboys, just shutup and watch it!

14 May 2012

First rate

Just finished watching First Class and my impressions are positive overall, though at the same time a little mixed seeing that the filmmakers took quite a few liberties with the source material. I was born in '67 and grew up in the 70's and late 80's in what was, arguably, the heyday of the X-men, just before the title took off under Chris Claremont and the great John Byrne culminating in the Dark Phoenix saga and the subsequent spin-offs. First,Banshee and Mystique came along decades later in the X-men. The Beast didn't get hairy until around issue 106 or so around the time that the X-men became the new X-men with the additions of Nightcrawler, Banshee, Storm, Colossus, and Wolverine, who, I'm glad, they remembered to leave out of this movie seeing that he wasn't an original member. Also, I would like to have seen the Juggernaut, Xavier's brother, and the Blob, both of whom were charter members of Magneto's evil mutants. Also, where were Jean Grey and Scott Summers, Marvel Girl and Cyclops who were also founding members of the X-men?Anyway, inconsistencies aside, I really enjoyed this latest X-men movie. For the first time since they started making these movies, I felt like this was the most accurate and respectful attempt to capture the flavor of the comic. Even the old yellow and black costumes looked like the comic sans the big X on the front torso. The story was logical and provided a solid emotional justification for Magneto's fear and loathing for normal humans and showed how misfits could follow someone like him. The acting was first rate. I also like the fact that they stayed away from "big" actors who could distract from the story. As far as superhero films go, this is the best one since the Dark Knight. A real sleeper and very low key. Lastly, I think what separated this film from the others and made it better was that it had a different director, a better director, and it shows. Hope he does the follow-up.

dfandrew

14 May 2012

The worst X Men movie ever made

Matthew Vaughn started to shine as a new star on Hollywood's dimly litsky with Kick Ass. So I was keen on watching this new X-Men prequel,but sadly it was everything what Kick Ass was not. The worst castingever made for a superhero movie. Imagine Mystique as a fat facedyoungster, or Toad in a red costume, looking like a B movie actionhero.Poorly written dialogues, 15 year old Visual Effects reminding me of alow budget movie, nonexistent action sequences and a meaningless storymakes this a painful experience, you never want to experience again inyour life. This is the absolute low end of the X-Men franchise.

stuarto

12 May 2012

Outstanding

I probably would have given this movie a "10" if it was not for thescene of the flying wing suite character Banshee maintaining flightafter picking up one of his buddies and carrying him to safety; Utterlya physical impossibility. Aside from that the movie was outstanding,especially the mesmerizing performance of Michael Fassbender as ErikLehnsherr/Magneto. He was relentless and cold blooded, but at the sametime likable and very "cool". He would make a very good 007. Iespecially liked the Argentina pub scene where Erik kills threepeople….very coolly done. Kevin Bacon was also extraordinarily good asSebastian Shaw.

siderite

12 May 2012

Really good! It was worth suffering the other X-Men films

Someone had the idea to cash in the X-Men concept in a series of moviesand they did try to follow the comic, adding as much special effects aswas computery possible. However, it all backfired when the dated (andoften conflicting) general ideas in the graphic novel made the movieslittle more than casual entertainment. So they did the "reinventing"trick. Find some smart people and rewrite stuff so that it matches withthe past, but removing the ridiculous part. Kind of like changing theKlingons in StarTrek, another perpetually reinvented franchise.The amazing surprise is that they did a good job. The plot is complex,the characters well defined and in the end you are left wanting more,while understanding why everything happened the way it did. A cast ofgood (but not unnecessarily shiny) actors ranging from James McAvoy andMichael Fassbender to Kevin Bacon and Michael Ironside complemented thewell written plot. I even liked the little Wolverine cameo scene, whichwas funny and subtle, something rarely seen in American movies.Bottom line: I really want more! If they keep up the good work thiscould really mean a movie renaissance of the X-men idea. Not flashyarrogant super power stars, but people with feelings and complexhistory behind them and normal except the mutation that is bothblessing and curse. In spirit, so much closer to the comic than theother dreadful attempts at putting it in movie form.

09 May 2012

X-Men: First Class - A Study In Bad

X-Men: First Class was a good movie trailer. The company that cobbled the trailer scenes together to make it appear as one coherent whole did outstanding work and should be commended. And maybe they should have been responsible for the movie itself, because the trailer is so much better than the movie.The trailer made this new X-Men appear as though it'd be taking a page from The Dark Knight playbook - a deeper, more thoughtful superhero movie set against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Heavy, real world politics with a smattering of spandex. The movie is just heavy on the spandex. Figurative spandex.The movie (I will not refer to this thing as a film, ever... it's just a movie) begins in a strange manner - recreating the scene with a young Magneto from the first X-Men film wherein he pulls down a metallic Nazi gate. Ok, so this movie is not a reboot, as it's opening with an almost exact recreation of a previously shot scene. Only, unless I am mistaken, it was a similar scene, but not exact. It was either reshot or reedited and much of the raw emotion that was present the first time around has vanished. This scene just wasn't as potent as it had been. So this movie starts off with a sloppy, uncreative beginning. And it's not a reboot.Hey, here comes Professor X. He's young and has hair. He is also Austin Powers. I never knew that was how Professor X got his start, but there he is on-screen asking a bevy of beauties if they'd like to "shag now or shag later". Oh, BE-HAVE, Xavier!A young Dr. Moira lady. Where did her British accent go? I mean, she has one when she is older, but now she is clearly American. Huh..? It's a reboot? Oh... then what was up with that first scene? Huh?Oh yeah, I forgot that Xavier and Mystique were BFFs growing up. That's really important because it's stupid. Was that in the comics? If so, then I don't apologize because it's still stupid. And here's how it happened:This movie has too many mutants. You might think to yourself, "That is just not possible! Too many? Harumph! You can never have too many mutants," but you can. You really can. In trying to shoehorn so many mutants into this thing, they either come off as ill-placed or are not really explored enough to make their presence worthwhile. Style over substance abounds here.Speaking of the mutants... remember in X2 when Hank McCoy, who will later become Beast, is still a man? Not so, says this movie. You didn't see it because Hank changed into Beast long before that. So this is a reboot, then? But then why are Magneto and Xavier trying to pick up Hugh Jackman in a bar? Ugh. This movie is bad.Magneto becomes Irish at several points. Get that accent in check, buddy! And the screenplay is pathetic. Really quite drecky. Quite a bad bit of dialogue. Maybe not Lucas bad, but right up there.I love when a good mutant goes bad! Did I say "love"? What I meant to say was "used to". I'm "used to" a good mutant going bad. Pyro, Jean Grey and now that mutant what can fly and spit fire? What's her name? Yeah, her. But she was a stripper so... you know... we saw it coming.Overall, I'd say this movie does a good job... of making X-Men 3 look like art in comparison. Avoid this drivel.

the_rattlesnake25

09 May 2012

A franchise is reborn...

Beginning with a crime-thriller and a fantasy film on his directorialrésumé, it is safe to say that Matthew Vaughn may have already foundhis niche genre in the super-hero field despite only directing fourfilms in seven years. His first super-hero project, 'Kick Ass,' openedin 2010 to solid critical acclaim and a finalized gross of three timesthe film's ordinary $30 million dollar budget. And after only twoyears, Vaughn returns with 'X-Men: First Class,' an origins story toaccompany the Bryan Singer/Brett Ratner X-Men trilogy released between2000 and 2006. It's intelligent, enthralling, well-acted, stylishlydirected, and most importantly by focusing heavily upon therelationship between the two central protagonists, it does not feellike a conventional super-hero film.Set within the political context of the Cuban Missile Crisis in theearly 1960's, Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) is an up-and-comingProfessor whose life is drastically altered when he is introduced tothe other members of society who also share the same mutant gene ashimself that supplies them with super-human abilities and traits. Afterstumbling upon the shape-shifting Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) within hismansion, the telepathic Xavier then encounters Erik Lehnsherr (MichaelFassbender), the son of Jewish parents who were murdered during theholocaust by the narcissistic former Nazi scientist, Sebastian Shaw(Kevin Bacon). Erik, who can manipulate all metal objects aroundhimself, wants retribution and nothing more from Sebastian who is now asuccessful and evil underground figurehead who commands a team ofmutants (Azazel, Emma Frost and Riptide) to do his bidding for him.But, once his plan for world domination is revealed, they find that itfar exceeds the constraints of humanity, and Xavier, Erik and a rag-tagband of young, hide-away mutants (Havok, Beast, Darwin, Angel andBanshee) who were discovered by Charles, must combine their powers inone last attempt to stop Shaw from destroying the planet and humanityas a whole.Instantly where 'X-Men: First Class' works is in regards to its twocentral characters; Charles Xavier played by an incredibly affluentlysounding James McAvoy and a rage-fuelled Erik Lehnsherr played by astern-faced Michael Fassbender. Their instant on-screen chemistryprovides the drive and ammunition for the plot to carry itself forward.Both characters have differing ideologies and their constant clashesdue to this aspect allow the script to be brought to life. Instead ofsimply infusing their relationship with formulaic violent clashes,Vaughn has instead opted for more articulated verbal battles betweenthe two characters regarding their stance within the society they arenow becoming a part of. Xavier is an intellectual being who believesthat humans will eventually be accepted within society as equalsalongside humans, while Lenhsherr believes that mutants will always behunted and unable to live peacefully side-by-side with the human race,his evidence for this resides in the anti-Semitism and hatred hereceived at the hands of the Nazi party during the holocaust. Thisheavy-set contradiction in ideologies allows their relationship to beimbued with pessimism, while they may be shown as friends and fightingtogether initially, fans of the comic books and films in general knowthis does eventually turn into a bitter rivalry and it's thisdevelopment which drives the plot forward.Aside from the script, it would also be rude to not praise theaction-sequences which take place within the confines of the 1960'sX-Men universe. With a modest running time at two hours and tenminutes, there are more than a few well-choreographed action sequencesthat would adequately satisfy any of comic-book-to-film aficionado'swishing to see this film. Each character's power or ability is at somepoint represented in a destructive or defensive capacity, taking fulladvantage of the fact that while many super-hero movies tend toconcentrate on the aesthetic nature of the artillery characters can beseen to withstand from governmental agencies or blindsided humanopponents, here it is shown and constantly emphasized that humanreaction would be futile due to the overwhelming power the mutantspossess. These scenes also allow the less important characters to showtheir physical presence on-screen. For example, during the climacticfight sequence at the conclusion of the film, every mutant characterthat is identified to the audience is finally shown using theirabilities to full capacity, most notably the henchmen of Shaw and therag-tag team of Xavier and Lehnsherr. This therefore accounts slightlyfor the lack of depth that has been attempted in these secondarycharacters due to the time and story constraints.While it is a very good and accessible comic-book/super-hero movie,'X-Men' does also contain two central flaws. The first is superseded ina way by the strength of both McAvoy and Fassbenders performances, asKevin Bacon is constantly overshadowed as the one-dimensionalantagonist of the piece. His plot to ultimately destroy humanitybecomes second fiddle to the ever intricate complex relationshipbetween Xavier and Lehnsherr, and his appearance seems too modelledupon that of a James Bond villain. He has the slick hair, the beautifulwomen and the villainous underground Club to boot, but Baconunfortunately doesn't have the charisma to be accepted as a worthyopponent to the protagonists. The other flaw has to do with a minoraspect of the production itself, as the non-diegetic music, mostnotably during the action sequences, begins to diminish in its impactas the film carries on, leading to it eventually becoming the generic,genre-related fanfare associated with the conventional comic-bookfilms.'X-Men: First Class,' is not your typical comic-book movie, it maycontain certain elements associated with the comic-book genre, but byplacing a heavy emphasis upon the strength of the plot and the scriptat the film's core instead of the action-set-pieces taking place,Vaughn has intended, and succeeded, in transcending the stereotypicalconventions of the genre and has created a film which will appeal to awide range of audience members.

jenngrayxx

09 May 2012

Best of all X-Men combined

I cannot believe I waited a month to see this film. It's a terrificstory set against a nicely-woven time period where you can understandand empathize with the world's fear, panic, and with all of thecharacters....all of them. All of the funny comments, cameos, names of "senior" characters, allwere noticed. This is definitely my favorite of the entire franchise.It's hard to say who stole the show (Michael Fassbender) because all ofthe major performances were so well done. The relationship between Magneto & Charles is the reason I enjoyed thefirst X-Men so much, and I loved seeing this from the beginning.Fassbender very astutely captures the pain and anger of Magneto and Icouldn't take my eyes off of him.

jjf662001

09 May 2012

the young x men learning about their abilities during the time of the cold war cuban missile crisis

School is in session for the latest x men class at Professor Xavier'sschool for the gifted. My summer of the superhero's made a stop withthe x-men first class. This action sci-fi I drama stars James McAvoy.Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, and Emma Frost. The new first classruns 132 minutes and is directed by Matthew Vaughn.This story is set in the 1960's with Charles Xavier and Erik lensherrand the young x men learning about their abilities during the time ofthe cold war Cuban missile crisis. This film bring s back charactersraven/ mystique played by (Jennifer Lawrence), Hank McCoy/ beast playedby (Nicholas Hoult) from previous films. The first class introducesBanshee played by (Caleb laundry Jones) havoc played by (Lucas Till),Darwin played by (Edi gathegi). They are brought in by the cia to helpprevent a chance at possible nuclear war aka; the Cuban missile acrisis of the 1960's that is being fueled by fellow mutant and mischiefmaker Sebastian Shaw and his crew of trouble making mutants.While talking a tour of the cia hank show's Charles a machine heinvented called cerebro. It s' meant to help find other people withsimilar powers like them. They go about finding other mutants such asRiptide( Alex Gonzalez),Angel Salvador( Zoë kravitz), Jason FlemynugAzazel), Banshee(Caleb Landry Jones), and Havock (Lucas Til). They findout that a fellow mutant Sebastian Shaw ( Kevin Bacon) and his cohortsRiptide( Alex Gonzalez) Jason Flemynug ( Azazel) and the beautiful EmmaFrost ( January Jones) have their own plans to create world war 3. Thestruggles the x men took to learn and harness there abilities with thehelp of Charles Xavier was very well told.The story of magneto from thetime he was a child in the prison camp to his obsession with SebastianShaw, who murdered his mother right in front of him as a child took onbatman begins type tone.He sets out across the country to find cluesand discover who he is and take revenge on Sebastian Shaw for hismother's death.I enjoyed the films use of the script to mention the future. They had ascene where a young hank was showing Charles cerbo. Hank asks Charlesare you sure you don't want to shave your head before you use itCharles say s don't touch my hair. Charles makes reference to himteaching and says before you know it I'll be old and bald. The cameosof Huge Jackman/wolverine, and Rebecca Romijn / mystique add to theappeal of the film. While Charles and Erik are out looking for mutantsthey come across wolverine in a bar they introduce themselves wolverinejust looks at them says go F yourself. Rebbecca Romain shows up when ayoung mystique tries to seduce Erik and she asks do you like this sideof me.I have to admit the one thing I didn't like was Kevin bacon as avillain he didn't cut the mustard as a far being a villain. Other thanthat they did a great job bringing the x men franchise back to thebeginning excellent script, acting , the use of old news footage toreenact the cold war. I think it was the best marvel film I have seenso far. I give the x-men first class 8 out of 10 stars.