Special Edition Podcast
Show Notes
The dark horse of the comic book movies of 2011, X-Men: First Class directed by Matthew Vaughn held the hopes and dreams of X-Men fans in it’s hands. Would we be wooed by the retro-1960s tale of the X-Men’s first days? Would this be able to make us forget about the recent abominations of X-Men movies since X2? Ron Richards, Josh Flanagan, and Conor Kilpatrick gather to answer with a unified and resounding, YES! So much so that Ron possibly may explode from excitement as Josh and Conor watch.
Running Time: 00:38:57
Music:
“Palisades Park”
Freddy Cannon
The first superhero period piece of the summer of 2011 has arrived in the form of X-Men: First Class!
The prequel to Fox’s X-Men trilogy finds a young Charles Xavier and Eric Lehnsherr bringing together the first class of mutants in the 1960s amidst the Cuban Missile Crisis! Wild, right? Who knew we would ever get this movie and that it would be directed by the supremely talented Matthew Vaughn.
It’s been a long, dark, and cold road for fans of the X-Men movies with the less said about X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine the better. In fact, let’s just pretend they never happened!
The prequel to Fox’s two X-Men films finds a young Charles Xavier and Eric Lehnsherr bringing together the first class of mutants in the 1960s amidst the Cuban Missile Crisis! Wild, right? Who knew we would ever get this movie and that it would be directed by the supremely talented Matthew Vaughn.
We’re all excited here at iFanboy HQ! In a summer chock full of comic book movies this is one that everyone is really looking forward to! Let’s just hope that this one doesn’t nearly kill Ron like X-Men: The Las— wait! Damn! That never happened!
Later this afternoon you’ll be able to read Paul’s review of the movie.
Are you going to see X-Men: First Class? Of course you are! So let’s talk about it!
If you haven’t seen the movie yet be forewarned — there be SPOILERS ahoy! So don’t scroll down any further if you are sensitive to that kind of thing.
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first comment, what the fuck was going on with fassbender’s accent
That movie was amazing!!!! I cant believe how awesome the relationship between Xavier and Magneto was performed….Fassbender needs to be in every movie!!!!
I just got back from the movie…
…I hope Ron’s ok…
Just got back from the movie, worth the wait. Left me wanting more which is a plus in my book. Just to get it outta’ the way, I consider myself an X-Men Fanboy and I felt pretty satisfied but I have a felling there will be pllenty of mixed reactions from people, judging from chatter leaving the theatre. It’s not perfect but the flaws are easily overlooked(speaking for myself that is). Not so sure Ron will be able to overlook certain things but hey, to each is own.
Considering the fact this was supposed to be a prequel to the other movies, the continuity errors caused me enormous problems. The casting, acting, and plot were all solid. The choice of mutants was suspect at best, and some of the makeup/character special effects were…lack luster. To me, as a prequal, this is pretty damn bad. As an overall movie, a little above average.
SPOILERS
Least Favorite Moments: “Angel”, nameless wind/storm guy who nagged me the entire time because I had no clue who he was until I got home and realized it was Riptide, the way Beast wasn’t remarkably athletic during any of his fighting, the portrayal of Havok, and the quick exit of Darwin.
Good Moments: Exploring the relationship between Eric and Charles, seeing Emma messing with the Russian’s mind, the slight tweak of Shaw’s powers.
Best Moment: Wolverine Cameo. The cheering and laughter drawned out everything after “Fuck off”, so if anything was said, I didn’t hear it and it wasn’t necissary. Pure epicness.
the movie sucked ass, plain and simple. was a typical Bryan Singer film, ok Vaughn directed it, but singer over saw the thing. if you area fan of the comics, don’t waist your time, this movie is for the band wagon jumpers who only like comic books the month that the movie comes out.
GOOD THINGS: the dynamic between Charles and Erik. and the way that Shaw played off of Erik.
BAD THINGS: everything else
the movie should have been like this:
it should have been a story about Erik, Charles, Moira, Shawn (Banshee) a Scotish federal agent, a great battle between Shaw. this could be where shawn strains his powers so much that he looses them and goes with Moira to set up a mutant safe haven on Genosha. and still have the back drop as the start of WW3, at the end Erik leaves and plots to rule over man kind, while Charles searches for a team of his own. with the last 20 mins dedicated to find Scott, Jean, Bobby, Warren, Hank. it could show them training a bit and close with the team in thier ready gear
Now that would have been better than the other crap they filmed. i saw this movie for free and still asked for my money back, real fans should not waist their time of money.
I liked this movie very much! The only “major” complaint I can see anyone having is that it bore very little resemblance to the comics, but if you’re going for a direct adaptation, you’re going for the wrong reasons.
McAvoy and Fassbender were both great (despite Fassbender’s slightly dodgy accent in the last half hour or so) and the climax of the beach scene was surprisingly emotional!
I would definitely love to see more from this era of the X-movie-verse. Second Class anyone?
For everyone else while watching the film, did the entire audience laugh when Shaw was talking about enslavement and then the camera panned to Darwin?
@radiojejune No one else but me did. The editor seemed.. err.
Was this faithful to the comics? Not that it’s an issue, but, was that really how Prof X got paralyzed? AND WHY WAS BEAST BLUE, anyway, also, if he was so smart, why’d he got the formula wrong?
Maybe because I just got off Thor, because while it was enjoyable, but this is by far the worst movie of Matthew Vaughn. That’s coming from a guy who wasn’t expecting anything coming into the movie.
Anybody else stayed until after credits and got disapointed?
Banshee rocked, BTW.
And Magneto looked like a skinny cosplayer with that helmet, and a GOOF, when Erik was pulling the submarine, at first he was using his left hand, next cut, his right hand.
i just saw it and my opinion is that this movie allthough enjoyable is not as good as everyone(im sure)will make it out to be. it was ok.i wont list all the things that i allready see listed on top but i will say this, some radio station was comparing the epicness and scope of this film to the dark knight! the dark knight? really? on what planet or alternate reality is this movie in the same level as the dark knight? i dont see it.
Im going to go in about 3 hours, was there anything after the credits that i should stay for?
@Askanison no, no post credits scene.
having very little x men comic experience the unfaithfulness did not bother me although not amazing it is without a doubt the best xmen film made though i think ron may be dissapointed 🙂
I saw it for free thanks to my LCS, so that fact may shade my review a bit. But the screening was packed, so I had to sit WAAAAY up close, so maybe that balances things out.
In any case, I really liked it. I took it as a stand-alone story, since I was unsure whether or not it was supposed to fit in with the other films. Some things add up, others don’t.
Things I wasn’t crazy about:
-Magneto and Banshee’s inconsistent accents
-Angel’s quick and inexplicable defection.
-Darwin’s exit (I thought he was coming back, maybe in a sequel? Maybe he evolved into a gaseous entity to survive the explosion? Seemed like a waste of a character since he was mentioned by NO ONE after he was gone.)
Things I liked:
-The “show off your powers” party scene rang true (despite some clunky dialogue)
-I’d buy a Magneto Nazi Hunter mini-series.
-I think I caught a Storm cameo during the Cerebro sequence.
-Plausible explanations for uniforms and even the name “X-Men”
Overall, it isn’t as “serious” as the Singer films, but I don’t feel like it was trying to be. I liked that it captured some of the zany fun of the 1960s vibe (“groovy mutation”) without going full camp. It may not be a better film than X2, but I had more fun with it than X2
Come on, everyone, seriously?
The movie started off very strong. I wish i could have seen a whole movie about young magneto hunting nazis and charles xavier being an awesome dude at university
however, it really lost its way in the second act. i could not care less about the first class, they were lame and a little painful (maybe with the exception of beast and mystique.) By the third act it had devolved into X-men Origin: Wolverine territory when random stuff happened to suit continuity.
I will say i was hugely surprised by james mcavoy, i had forgotten what a great presence that guy is. I was reminded of how great he was in the first season of Shameless.
January Jones was HORRIBLE though. No acting ability. she posed no threat and even looked uncomfortable though the whole thing.
the movie was not great. i was bored for a long period of time during this film.
The little artsy bit about the missile crisis was pretty good, they should have had that sort of style running throughout the entire film
@Limitless I totally agree. the wolverine cameo was fantastic. really awesome.
@KenOchalek the naming of the team was terrible. Made no sense and was pretty stupid considering Xavier had time to recover from a broken spine, build a crazy metal wheel chair and superman kiss Moria’s memories away before she had to debrief the CIA about the cubean missile crisis
I liked it but didn’t love it as much as I was hoping. I’d still say that it was the best X-Men moive though.
@edward
I agree about the memory kiss timing with her mission debrief. Maybe she remained off the grid while Xavier healed? It doesn’t work, but it didn’t shake me out of the world.
But I stand by the naming bit. I never understood why a group of mutants would name THEMSELVES the X-Men, but I thought that playing it off of “G-Men” — a real-world slang term for federal agents that would have been commonly used in the 1960s (see also: T-Men for treasury agents) — was a plausible, workable way to fit the brand in there without making it as ridiculous as “Hey, we have X-tra powers, let’s call ourselves X-Men!!”
The code name thing in general is always a tough sell in live action — I understand the connection to military ops or the idea of shedding a slave name, but I never 100% buy it. I didn’t care for the “call me……….MAGNETO” scene either. I get it, but it really doesn’t work for me.
@KenOchalek ye that last magneto scene was very poor
@KenOchalek nope, a group on the outside of society like mutents would not want to name themselves in homage to CIA enforcers
@edward was darwin a made up character for the film and why did they kill him off so quickly ?
I thought this was twice as enjoyable as Thor. I liked the period piece back drop, the dynamic between Charles and Erik was captivating, and I felt like we acutally got several enjoyable action scenes as opposed the two or so we’ve gotten in other big films (Magneto as Jason Bourne, the CIA base, the assault on the boat, training, and the Cuba Clash). Yes I missed Darwin (I was really hoping for a post credits sequence with him) and January Jones didn’t wow me (but that may have more to do with Emma Frost) but on the whole I think this is the new bar for the summer.
@geenL – Darwin isn’t a character made up for the movie but i’m not sure he has any role in x-men, beside being a mutant. As of Recent Darwin’s been in issues of X-Factor.
@sayhitobooyah
Darwin plays a pretty big part in x-men lore, he was part of the second team sent to krakoa before the all-new, all different team in Brubaker’s Deadly Genesis, and also played a pretty big role in Brubaker’s Uncanny run.
@GeenL1996 no, it’s like people have said he was a recent character. Ed Brubaker came up with the character about 4 years ago.
and i think the guy was killed off so quickly in the film because he had gross man boobs
@ smutty yea, like i said i wasn’t sure. I’m more of a recent x-men fan. i started around the high 300#’s on Uncanny. I remember Darwin helping fight the hulk at the mansion in WWH
@Sayhitobooyah thanks he seemed a bit out of place in the whole thing they did not really explain his powers so for people who dont know who he is it was alittle jaring also could he not have turned into a gas form to survive
I thought the movie completely worked at the level it aimed to. So what if it wasn’t faithful to the comics – I’ve long said that movie makers HAVE to ignore the comics fans – they actually make up a small percentage of the movie audience.
Nope, all the producers and director have to concern themselves with is making a good movie in it’s own right.
I couldn’t care less about continuity – it’s pretty much ruined mainstream comics anyway, so the less of it there is in movies the better.
Yea i’m not sure why’d they throw him in the mix. Things like that usually happen because directors don’t know the books well and get a character in mind that for some reason they want to just toss in.
From what i know darwin can’t die. His powers also seem uncontrollable. For example in WWH while fighting the hulk, he just teleports away because his body knew he couldn’t defeat the hulk.
@theronster thats kind of a dumb statement because 95% of the time the original story is better then the stuff they put in the movies, so why not try and be faithful to make everyone satisfied? They can literally make any popular supe movie and it’ll do great in the box office,but if its good comic fans will see it mulyiple times. So why do a crumby job?
I do agree that the movies don’t have to follow the books, i already know they won’t and just think of them as seperate stories away from the books.
It used to be with comic book movie adaptations- you have to make changes due to technology limitiations.
Maybe you couldn’t have the one character b/c their power set would be too expensive or impossble to produce on screen.
So you made changes- altered some things.
But that really isn’t the case anymore.
I am reserving ultimate judegment- here – but I am perplexed as to this mix match of characters- in and out of conitunity-
If the movie people think they could pick a better team of characters than Lee/Kirby than that is hubris indeed.
The idea of this movie- the setting- the style- big points- the casting seems like a red flag- but let’s all go see it –
Oh, just remembered. The “Azazel Air-drop” murder technique was pretty gloriously evil. As far as X-Men movie henchmen go, I enjoyed his scenes way more than anything with Toad/Sabretooth/Callisto/Porcupine dude/Juggernaut
Just got back from seeing this with my 11 year old son. Both of us had a similar reaction to the movie: it was alright – just nothing special. My son was wow-ed by the Thor movie and reads X-men comics so he was expecting something pretty decent but, while we watched the film, the mood of the audience was quite casual and when the lights went up most people just left (great or terrible films usually have people chattering as they leave).
Lots of people are hating on Matthew Vaughan but I actually think the direction of the movie was pretty good. All the principal actors were great (Fassbender and Bacon being the stand-outs). No problem with the styling or effects either (costumes were good-looking). The real issue with this movie is the plodding plot. The first half – particularly Erik’s hunting down of Nazis – was engaging. The movie just stalled half-way through. I got the impression that – at some point – the producers realised they had overloaded the film with too many characters and then had to sideline or trim them out. Emma Frost is an example: half-way through the movie she gets captured by the CIA and then is effectively absent for the rest of the movie – including the climax. Others have also commented that Darwin appears, shows off his abilities, and then gets killed. Essentially, they filled the movie with too many minor mutants.
I read the first series of the First Class comics yesterday before seeing the movie (I knew it wasn’t going to be anything like the comic, but I thought at least the spirit of the comic would seep into the movie). Vaughan would have been ideal as a director if they’d simply done a Star Trek reboot of the original team set in the sixties (or even in the “timeless” period the comic seems to be set in).
Bottom line: this was a movie scripted by “Hollywood” scriptwriters (remember that Lauren Donner is responsible for movies like Free Willy) and included Bryan Singer. They don’t have enough respect for the original material. For them it’s just another movie. That’s why it turned out just about OK.
Whoops. Hit the wrong button. Feel free to repost that comment.
I’m probably going to see this eventually, but not right away because I’m just not excited for this. I don’t think you can blame me for this lazy attitude. Wolverine was the worst movie of 2009 in my opinion and X3 was just a mess from beginning to end. I’m sure this film is gonna be better then those two, but for me the franchise ended with X2.
Although I’m trying not to spoil myself, I did see nuggets of some of the comments on here. Some good, some bad. Hopefully the good outweigh the bad in this case.
Just wanted “X3” on FX for the first time since the movie theatre. It wasn’t so much that it was flat-out terrible, it’s just that it was insanely mediocre after the excellent “X2”. Not much happened, there was no sense of “team” with the new members… the first major misstep they made in the entire franchise was making Wolverine the main character/leader. It just doesn’t work. Also, it’s criminal what they’ve done with Cyclops in these movies. He’s been completely misused.
The less said about “Wolverine”, the better. THAT was a colossal waste of everything. Oo-boy.
Looking forward to “First Class”.
When Beast showed-up (in beast form for the first time), who wasn’t thinking…Teen Wolf?
@RaceMcCloud I agree about X3. To me the movie wasn’t a complete disaster, but did have significant flaws. Although I still enjoyed the film overall.
As far as “X-Men First Class,” the movie was solid, but my enjoyment of it was marred by two scenes:
1. When Sebastian Shaw confronts Xavier’s recruits, he says a line to the effect of (my paraphrasing) “Mutants can either rule or choose to be enslaved.” Then there was a lingering CLOSE UP on Darwin’s face. Many people in the audience exclaimed out loud how insensitive that was. I agree.
2. Shortly after this scene, Darwin is “killed.” What a pathetic Hollywood cliché.
I also agree with the Darwin criticism. Why introduce him at all? I enjoyed this movie immensely though. Hell, they could have did a whole movie on Magneto hunting Nazis and it would have gotten an A from me. The climax was incredibly exciting, Azazel was brutal, and I love January Jones as Emma. The whole emptiness and posh to her was great.
I, however, think there were too many characters and not enough time to flesh them out. Why was Havok in jail? Why did we not even know Riptides name? Outside of Beast and Mystique, everyone else was just very blah.
I really loved it though. As a long time X-Men fan, and even though it featured very few recognizable characters, it felt the most like the X-Men to me. A very solid A.
Kevin Bacon looked really stupid in that helmet. January is a horrible actress. But the movie overall was terrific.
I went in to the movie knowing that this wasn’t trying to be faithful to any comic. They are just taking the idea of the X-Men and making it there own. It was a fine movie the kept my attention throughout the whole thing.
Does anybody know if or when Marvel Studio’s gets this franchise.
@tomstewdevine Probably not any time soon, unless Disney wants to fork over a chunk of change to Fox. I seem to recall some rumors that that was why this movie was rushed through production – so Fox could retain the rights to the franchise.
I haven’t truly loathed any of the x-men films like a lot of people, but I would prefer to seem them in marvel’s hands.
Love how Fassbender’s Irish accent only showed up when he wore the helmet!
One thing I don’t think anyone’s mentioned is how cheesy some of the shots were. Close-ups on people’s eyes when they were concentrating and so on, and some of the FX were bad. But I realised halfway through that (I think, anyway) it was lovingly giving nods to some of the charmingly outdated elements in 60s Bond and spy films.
The last line in the film was fucking appalling.
I think some people have misunderstood the kiss…Am I the only one that thinks Xavier didn’t wipe MacTaggart’s mind and that she was just telling her superiors that? Charlie isn’t like that – yes he will do it when it must be done but he doesn’t just reprogram people with no second thought like that – if he does then there’s no way he can be considered the good guy in the film. He said “I know you won’t tell anyone” because he knew she wouldn’t tell! They were falling in love at the time…It wasn’t because he was going to mind-rape her.
Anyone see Rebecca Romjin-Whasserface?
A lot of it seemed oddly sanitised, like they had to give up some level of violence to get the f-bomb. A lot of implied violence and clever angles, but compared to what we’d normally get with a 12a / PG13 (Serenity or Lord of the Rings, for example) it was more like a PG.
I loved the Hellfire Club’s attack on the CIA, and thought Shaw’s death was actual genius. How can you kill a man that can absorb all energy and gets more powerful the harder he is impacted? That’s how.
It was really good, not amazing, not quite Kick Ass good, probably not as good as X2, and certainly no Thor. As for the continuity issues, I couldn’t care less!
The fact that this wasn’t based on the comics is being used as an apology for this movie, which I just don’t understand. I didn’t expect it to be related in any way other than incredibly loosely to the comics going into it. However, what I DID expect was for it to not crap all over the storyline already set up by the same people in the rest of the X-Men movies. Trying ot sell this as a prequel was a terrible idea, and set up continuity fail not with the comics, but with the other movies they’re supposed to be a part of.
I enjoyed the movie over-all, but it felt like a Magneto movie with Xavier and the mutant kids stuffed in(yes, I do know this movie was an evolution of the abandoned Magneto movie.). I wasn’t expecting any of the kids to be developed, but Xavier felt malnourished as a character, which is let down. We know why Magneto goes down the path he goes, but why is Xavier so optimistic? All that we really know about him is that he grew up in a privileged kid who somehow took care of Mystique.
Weirdly enough, we get more characterization out of Mystique and Beast..how both are bothered by there powers (Hank less so than Raven, since they discussed how much she has to concentrate when in another form.) You see how Raven overcomes her self-loathing with help from Magneto, while Beast gives in to the temptation to be “normal, only to have his mutation magnified a hundred-fold. ( It was hard to feel sorry for pre-blue Hank, since he didnt even have big hands like in the comics; all he had to do was avoid going to the beach and no one would no about his mutation).
I get why people join Magneto, especially Mystique. I have no reason as to why anyone joined Xavier.
Note: Since this movie takes place before the formal foundation of the X-Men or Xavier’s school, none of the mutants shown were technically X-Men….so the fanboys bothered by the change in line-up can still get the X-Men they want.
@KenOchalek Thank you, I also would like to see them in Marvel’s hands.
loved it. finally three good x-men movies exist
Most Superhero movies watch like an action movie, but that has never been true of the X-men, which always have seemed like more of a drama to me, with action thrown in. Its taken for granted that these people have powers and can do great things to the point were you almost forget that it’s impressive. I don’t mean that in a bad way, i think it says something wonderful about the world of the X-men that that is true, it’s a world of extraordinary things.
I think it plays more like a drama than an action peice because of that though, because everyone has powers and is dealing with what that means to them, in the same way that we all have problems “Oh I’m not pretty enough”, “I feel like a threat to those i love”, “My mom was killed in fornt of me and now i’m really upset about it and want to kill a bunch of people” You know everyday problems. and because these problems are so everyday they stand out and make the powers a nice window dressing for the drama.
I very much hope to see another.
OH i would love to see Xavier going after Storm as she is being worshiped in the african desert, Her god Complex being played upon by Magneto, and in the end her Godlike love for the people she protects being the reason she sides with Xavier.
I would love to see Havok go looking for his long lost brother.
I would love to see what happens to Mystiqe and the brotherhood.
I would love to see both of them keep trying to get wolverine to join a team.
I would love to see sentenials!
I really want t second class!
I think Charles embodied the idealism of the youth in the 60s. It’s beautiful to see kids pick up a cause. And it was awesome to see an address by JFK from in a movie theater. Iconic.
If i was writing this film i would have had Xavier cripple in the Hellfire attack at the end of teh second act.
It would have given the hellfire club a greater sense of danger and would express to the new recruits the reality of the situation. Xavier’s character could have been given more pathos as he entered the final battle in pain and only able to rely on his powers. It’ll be heroic.
And why the fuck is Magneto pissed a humans when it was a mutent that killed his mother and tortured him in the nazi concentration camp?
the more i think about this movie the weaker it gets
I felt it was intelligent storytelling mixed with some fun comic book action. It’ll be a struggle for many fans to seperate the comic book continuity from the drastically different story in the film. But if you can go in knowing you are seeing something completely in it’s own universe, there’s plenty here to satisfy.
Fassbender was a scene stealer and most of the cast delivered. Alot of story was told in the 2 hour 14 minute running time with only a couple of draggy spots.
Overall it was a shot in the arm the franchise needed. After two VERY sub-par X-films (X3 and Wolverine) this gives fans hope again.
The Magneto: Nazi Hunter part of the film was fantastic.
Most of the rest of the film was quite awful.
A few points:
1) Sitting there thinking “They really can’t pull a black guy dies first trope can they?”
2) The Beast reveal in sillhouette/his pre-blue foot race were terribly realised.
3) “Next thing you know, I’ll go bald” yes as professors have that sterotypical bald look. What a nonsensical, clumsy line.
4) Wafer thin supporting roles.
5) Fassbender suddenly acquiring a full on Irish accent for the last 20 minutes.
6) Magneto goes Disco Dr. Doom. It doesn’t make sense in First Class but hey he wears something similar in the later films so we’d better make him tie up costume-wise.
7) Azazel standing on the beach as the missiles rained in, if only he had a means of escape…
8) Shaw’s crew joining Magneto without so much of a blink
9) Lazy gratuitous T and A shots throughout e.g. Moira in her underwear, Moira looking through the fake bookshelf, Emma fake humping the Russian General when she could have just made him want to move the nukes with the force of her mind (she is a telepath after all).
10) This was not MLK and Malcolm X. Magneto was shown to be correct all through the film, Charles’ “Killing is bad” doesn’t really cut it compared to the weight given to Erik’s motivation.
11) Raven is Charles’ adopted sister but he flippantly tells her she should go with Erik even though he knows how wrong headed he is and the danger he can be.
Badly shot, a script full of flaws in internal logic, risible dialogue, patchy acting (Fassbender was great, January Jones was shocking), wildly inconsistent special effects and cheese-ridden Easter Eggs that served to remind me how X-Men 3 at murdered the franchise.
There were about 15 to 20 minutes of cracking entertaiment which were repeatedly buried by incompetence.
@Jaredan if there was a like button i would have pressed it for that
This movie was a lot better than some comic fans are giving it credit for. I’m sorry, but I really did not care what happened in the comic versus how the movie presented it. What mattered was that the movie itself took those elements and made something interesting out of it for me.
And this is not an “apology” for the mistakes of the movie. It wasn’t perfect. January Jones’ blank stares threatened to take me out of several scenes. The Beast make-up was awkward. Darwin’s “death” could have used a follow-up scene or something in the credits.
But that hardly destroyed the moviegoing experience when I had Fassbender’s amazingly intense Magneto kicking ass, and a fantastic relationship being forged between Erik and Xavier. The setting of the film feels inspired when compared with all the default super-modern comic book movies that come out every month nowadays. Sitting through X3 and Wolverine, I didn’t feel an ounce of tension toward the end of those films. Apparently, First Class took all of that tension for itself as the stakes just kept ratcheting up for its multiple climaxes, all of which were great. I never imagined that I would feel so much for the young Mystique, considering she was the main character I had been least interested in upon first seeing images from this movie, but even her evolution was handled quite well. “Mutant and proud.”
As much as I wish some of the other X-kids were allowed more development, I thought they were played competantly by the cast and they were given enough moments where I felt there was a good reason for them to exist. They were likeable, and just plain fun to watch in the training and action sequences.
Without a doubt, this defeats Wolverine and X3 practically without even trying. But, in my mind, it also beats X1, which I thought was great, and is definitely the most worthy successor to X2 in the franchise. It was a comic book movie with heart, and characterization, and genuine human emotion, complimented (not overshadowed) by the fantastical mutant element. Something the last two films had almost completely failed to do.
Just got back from the movie and WOW. @Jaredan beat me to it.
Overall, great movie. I really liked it. I always get giddy when I see comic book characters brought to life onscreen, as long as they get it in the vicinity of right.
STUFF I LIKED: In this case, some of the characters were pretty amazing. Magneto, Banshee and Charles Xavier were great – as was Kevin Bacon’s Sebastian Shaw (he was really good). I felt the biggest rush whenever I saw Banshee flying and using his sonic abilities in clever ways. Magneto’s story was given great weight, due in no small part to Fassbender’s efforts. Very well done. I’m always a sucker for origin story comic book movies, even the bad ones. Especially when they take the time to cleverly explain the little things without sounding too forced or clunky (Like the Charles’ “X” Men as a play on G Men, and the introduction of Cerebero and the Blackbird – but, c’mon, Hank built all of that?).
STUFF I DIDN”T LIKE: Considering the time and effort they took to tie this movie to Singer’s X-Movies, it seems like they should’ve bothered to have Fassbender knock out an English accent to match McKellan’s (he did so well with all of the languages he spoke). And I can’t help but feel like the fact that all of these people having worked so closely together is negated by their casual disregard for each other in Singer’s movies. I really don’t recall Mystique ever acting like she had a previous relationship with Charles in X-Men or X-Men 2 – certainly not on the level displayed in First Class (she seemed practically in love with him the first part of the movie). Beast did next to nothing beast-y after he changed (though I loved this movie’s rendition of his feet; perfect!). Also, I loved all of the cameos. Rebecca as awesome, Hugh was the highlight, and I heard people cheer for Sam Fisher (along with myself – Ironside FTW!). And finally, I’ve carried a torch for Rose Byrne since first seeing her in Attack of the Clones, but here (in 60s-length skirts no less) she was absolutely gorgeous.
STUFF I STILL DON’T UNDERSTAND: So the chick calling herself Angel. She’s Pixie, right? I mean those wings she busted out in the club scene made her look just like a Greg Land cover. And isn’t Banshee Irish? Did they just totally change that? And what the hell is wrong with January Jones? She’s incredible to look at, but her acting is on par with – well, shit, it just wasn’t acting. How can she be so popular? And what’s with the diamond power? I know it’s from the comics, but it’s hardly related to telepathy. Was Moira MacTaggart a CIA agent? And I always heard her in my mind (in fact, Claremont even wrote her dialog that way, didn’t he?!) with a Scottish accent.
The Bottom Line: Loved this movie and can’t wait to see it again when I get it on Blu-Ray.
Loved the movie. Worked well as an origin story and a (yes at some times rather boring, but not so bad as to make me not like it) stand-alone plot. Don’t give a rats ass if it meshes with comics continuity, and frankly no one else should either. It actually makes me glad I don’t read X-Men, cause I wouldn’t want to turn into someone like that.
Absolutely loved most of the acting (mostly Erik, Charles, Shaw, and especially Beast) except for Mystique and Havok. Emma Frost was just ok too. Not terrible (people just hating on her because she’s not skinny enough obviously). Some scenes were forced, Beasts silouhette walk-in, the quick cut to Darwin when Erik says the word “slavery” had me laughing for a good 30 seconds. Put mostly I’d be nit-picking if I continued.
3.5/5 Very solid, greatness of acting overcomes anything else wrong with the movie
@Genghis the chick calling herself angel was actually called angel. she is from grant morrison’s run on x-men (which is proberly better than claremont and bryne’s) and the character in the movie is almost exactly what was in the comic. if you care about that sort of thing
Fassbender is a God! How lucky are we to get an actor of his caliber on franchise? It was excellet.
also, Darwin could have handled that ‘Shaw’ shit. He’s Darwin.
I just remembered the magneto with the ship acrhor scene. that was very well executed
Yeah I liked that part too. Not so sure about the movie on whole. Pretty fun.
I loved the “Kubrick” wide angles and tracking shots, by the way.
Jaredan is right on.
This movie was awful. I did enjoy the Fasbender and the Beast pre-transformation, but everything else was tough to watch.
I understand that this was set in the 60’s an they were going for the 60’s vibe, but the production values were like the 60’s Batman movie. Bad greenscreen all over the place, set design that would be at home on a TV show. There was no scope to this movie. Everything looked like a set. Any shots of the US or Soviet warships were limited to tight shots of the bridge. The shot of the blackbird rolling across the beach toward the some of the worst looking CGI trees I have ever seen was cringeworthy.
The acting was pretty rough as well. I give them credit for working through this dialogue, but few were able to elevate it to mediocrity. As a comparison, there were some cringe-worthy moments in Thor, but the worst moments in that movie were the average moments in First Class.
I did like Magneto Nazi Hunter and the recruiting and training montages. I even liked when the kids were just hanging out. But, I am shocked that this is what we got from Vaughn.
@Goldenboy Wow, based on the incredible harshness I see here I must have watched a completely different movie then most people. My film had decent effects and a wonderful 60s period piece feel, as I think that was the primary intention.
@briansalinas Your proposed plot would be great in a Saturday morning cartoon aimed at 9-12 year olds, but not in a film for adults trying to tell a complete character arc.
@zefyr Remember, in his introduction Darwin had been sent to Krakoa and “died” there. In reality his body altered itself to an energy form that could not be seen or registered and was only semi-conscious. He was like that for years before he recovered. It could very well be the same thing here, whether or not he re-forms himself in time for any sequels is another thing altogether though. The film was consistent with the Brubaker version of the character.
@KevinAB Maybe I saw it in a bad theater. I have read reviews where they say it is visually stunning. When you saw it did the green screen scene in DC look bad? How about the blackbird rolling through the beach? I am genuinely interested to hear. Maybe it was a bad theater.
I liked the idea of the period feel, but the set design at times looked cheap and took me out of the movie. I really liked the scene where they recruited angel. Any shot of the bridge of the warships felt like sets.
And, did anyone feel that the effect used to show Xavier taking over the minds of others in the movie (especially the soviet naval officer) looked like the dramatic squirrel?
I’m kind of surprised so many people didn’t like this movie. Sure it wasn’t heavily based on the comic but we knew going in it was a prequal to the movies.
I think they got a lot right in this movie. Eric and Charles relationship was fantastic. The 60’s era made for an interesting back drop and had a different feel than the other movies, which was nice. Darwin dying was the standard killing a character to rise the stakes but seems like it would be easy to bring him back if they wanted too.
The part with Moira, I took that as she was lying saying that he erased her memory because they knew his powers and would believe her.
Actually looking forward to another X-men movie which hasn’t happened since X2.
@Jaredan That sums up exactly how I feel.
OMG This is the best Marvel movie ever! This is easily the best comic book movie that I have seen since Dark Knight. The twisted and fucked up persona that Kevin Bacon crafted with Sebastian Shaw was amazing & perhaps even Oscar worthy. Fassenbender could totally be the next James Bond after Daniel Craig is done & he is totally perfect for Magneto. The intensity, the tragedy and the overall vibe he gives out is absolutely Magneto. Now that Wolverine cameo, best cameo ever? YES! Magneto’s original comic book costume making it on screen? AWESOME! Basically this movie was a non-stop goosebumps fest for the X-Men fan in me. I just pray that they get the chance to do a trilogy, imagine the possibilities! I vote for Mr. Sinister as the villain in the sequel & maybe, just maybe, the third one could be…APOCALYPSE! Dun Dun DUN!!!!
It makes me sad how people take any tweak in continuity as a personal insult. If you want something exactly like the comic, go read the comics. If you are going to a movie based on a comic and want the pages to leap onto the screen you will always be disappointed. I mean, if you watched the trailer and simply saw the characters involved, aside from Magneto and Xavier, you should have been away that “based on” wasn’t going to mean “100% carbon copy.”
I think this was better than the first to X-films. Probably my third favorite comic movie right now, behind Dark Knight and Iron Man, but we’ll see how it holds up after multiple viewings.
Friday Box Office Estimates – North America
1. X-Men: First Class – $21,000,000
2. The Hangover Part II – $10,460,000
3. Kung Fu Panda 2 – $6,250,000
@Andrew The answer of course is theatrical motion comics.
Thanks for the numbers, Conor.
Is it wrong that part of me wants the film to not do all that amazing box office wise? The better the franchise does for Fox, the more my dream of Marvel getting the rights back fades into a silly fantasy. Oh well.
I dug it. It was a really solid movie. Nobody was checking their watch, and the groans were at a minimum.
Cheers:
– Magneto, Nazi Killer. Runnin around in wet suits and fedoras like Connery Bond. Bitchin’.
– MacAvoy and Fassbender captured the relationship beautifully. I only wish they had more time to spend on it before they seperated.
– Sebastian Shaw. Bacon looked like he was havin a blast. Good for you, Kevin.
– Beast’s arc in the film was really well done. He had his own little subplot. It was great.
– I like that they showcased how good of a teacher Xavier was throughout the film. I think we forget sometimes that the man is a professor first.
– I never thought I’d get to see Logan drop the F bomb on film. Thank you, Vaughn.
– “In another life, we may have worked together. But you murdered my mother. I’m going to count to three …”
Jeers:
– January Jones. It’s a testament to how good Mad Men is when you realize that most of the time you’re completely unaware of how terrible an actress she really is.
– The kids were all strange choices and really awkward at times. But I guess you could argue that it was by design given the fact that they’re mutant teens.
– The treatment of Darwin was really weird. To kill him off right after a comment about slavery that was clearly directed at him. I’m white and I was offended.
– The choice to pair Raven and Xavier up since childhood. So you’re telling me Xavier found Mystique as a naked little girl in his kitchen? Right. And Vader built C3PO.
Overall I thought it was truly enjoyable. I’d rate it right behind X2 and X1. Anyone looking for a true-to-the-book adaptation from this franchise at this point is, frankly, an idiot. This had it’s bumps and nitpicks, but it stayed true to its own continuity for the most part, and gave us a fun mutant romp. Which is all I’m looking for at this point. Now, if Marvel ever gets the rights and makes a reboot, I want certain things to be done right. But for now, I’m content to enjoy this version. It’s better than nothing.
Question for anyone better versed than myself:
If Shaw were all charged up like that, and you put a coin through his brain, would a nuclear explosion occur? Does he have full control over his energy direction even in death?
@WheeHands
He absorbs energy right? Pushing that coin through his brain slowly meant next to energy involved.
“next to no” energy…
@boosebaster
I think WheelHands is referring to all the radiation Shaw had been absorbing from the subs fuel rods previous to Erik’s entrance.
But I don’t know the answer to the original question. Sorry.
@WheelHands Was it ever stated that he had to release the energy?
Yeah good point! I forgot he did that…but I remember wondering the same thing at the time.
@Andrew: No. And obviously he has the ability to release as much or as little as he wants. But most mutants need to be concious to maintain control over their powers. I’m just wondering where all that energy went after he was dead.
Where’s Ron?
Ron!
Just in addition to my earlier comments: my problems with the film have nothing to do with changing continuity, be it from the comics or previous films. I just think it was a very poorly executed film.
If anything a lot of the bad choices were due to attempting to set the film as a direct prequel. For example, the only reason Magneto is in full red and purple with cloak garb at the end is to link him to the costume of the first films. It was just very incongruous to the character up to that point in First Class and so seemed silly and to “on the nose”.
Just like the risible “bald” line.
In regards to the discussion about what happened to the energy Shaw absorbed: his powers seemed to do whatever was expedient to the plot, such as his energy powers apparently allowed him to absorb bullets and rockets. Which didnt seem to make any sense.
Also “The Cure” didn’t make any sense seeing that Beast’s initial powers seemed to initially be that he had feet that looked like hands, but the cure would make them look normal but would not change his powers, or change Mystiques powers which are entirely based on appearance.
Again, it just seemed nonsensical for convenience.
Ugh, sorry the more I think of this film the less I remember the few thrilling parts and the more I remember the poorly executed elements.
I am not “a hater”, I find the term itself to be ridiculous as it implies disliking something for no reason.
I think I’ve shown I have plenty of reasons.
However if you enjoyed it, then fair enough. Opinion is subjective after all, and there’s nothing wrong with dissenting views as long as you don’t dismiss someone out of hand.
@Jaredan: That doesn’t help me at all.
As for the Beast thing, the “cure” was never meant to be permanent. It was a temprary dampener so that mutants like Mystique and Beast could appear normal temporarily. It backfired on Beast and sped up his mutation. It’s actually not too different from the event in the books.
@WheelHands
Sorry I wasn’t particularly trying to answer your question, just highlight that the use of powers in the film wasn’t very consistent and so it is difficult to apply logic to solve your problem about the release of the energy.
I too thought it was odd that nothing happened to the energy he absorbed I just didn;t ewxpect an explanation after what had happened previously.
In regards to “The Cure” (great band), I must have missed the part where Hank said it was temporary, I thought it was permanent as he called it “The Cure”. My mistake if it was explained to be a temporary measure.
@Jaredan: Hank may very well have never mentioned it was temporary. In the books it was temporary, he just waited too long to reverse the process and it mutated him further, so maybe I just assumed that. Also, Mystique’s DNA was what he needed to perfect it, and her mutation deals with temporarily altering her appearance, so that would lend credence to the idea of it being temporary. Another reason is that they don’t develop a working cure til X3, and Beast had nothing to do with it’s creation.
I enjoyed this! Had a great time and it was $9 well spent!
So I’m reading some of the comments and then I decided to stop reading them because…
Well, cynicism isn’t sexy people.
@JNewcomb: Ya know what is sexy? Stabbing a nazi’s hand to a table, then pulling that knife out of his hand and throwing into the thigh of another nazi before using your powers to bring it back to you and replace it into the first nazi’s hand again.
That is sexy.
I’ve already seen it twice, its great! Michael Fassbender needs to get a Bond movie.
@JokersNuts Holy shit. That would be excellent. I think he would make a fantastic Bond!
@WheelHands Oooh yeah!
@WheelHands best part of the movie. Better than pulling the sub out of the water
The guy that said Kevin Bacon deserved an ocsar may never have seen a movie before.
The coin thing: yes, everyone knows when you push a coin though a mutent’s head it causes an explosion, radition or no. That’s just high school biology
Oddly enough, my favorite parts were Shaw just sitting or standing around in a suit with matching lair background and just swishing a drink around like a Bond villain. I have no idea why but I never got tired of that.
I liked it. It wasn’t a great movie but it was equal parts fun and serious. I found some of the henchmen outside of Azazel kind of lacking and some of the makeup/effects to be underwhelming but whatever. McAvoy and Fassbender were great. Kevin Bacon was surprisingly fun as Shaw. I think the Magneto: Nazi Hunter stuff went on just long enough, any more of it and I would have gotten really uncomfortable with the pay evil onto evil attitude Erik was sporting. I did really like the irony of Erik basing his hatred of humans all around who he found out was a mutant all along but was too deep in his hatred to jump back out. I was bummed Darwin “died” though in my mind, he survived by becoming immaterial (his power is basically “doesn’t die”).
Outside of the flashback scene in X-Men 3 and one moment in Wolverine (and nobody remembers those anyway), I didn’t find any continuity holes that big (I think Xavier romanticizes his time with Magneto enough that he forgets Erik had nothing to do with Cerebro). Anytime you see Xavier standing up in previous movies, I say its an astral projection. Give me a No-prize!
Overall, I think this is probably right up there with X2. It isn’t a great movie but it is fun. I don’t really think there’s any real glaring problems with it, even January Jones’ performance I didn’t think was really bad. I think this is certainly one of the better Marvel movies. I’d give it a four out of five.
Did anyone else think The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo trailer was custom-made to induce seizures?
It only occurred to me as I was sitting in the theater watching Magneto control a barrage of nuclear missiles that this movie is more or less set in the days when the actual X-Men comic started being published. In that incredibly loose sense– Xavier and his kids working for the feds, Magneto getting his hands on missiles and threatening the world– the movie at least harkened back to the original comics in a way that struck me.
Given the choice between “give Banshee a Banshee haircut” and “give Banshee a 1962-appropriate haircut,” they chose the former, and who am I to quibble?
@Jimski I’m interested in how you felt about the movie. Are you planning on writing something up?
Did anyone have a problem with the music? I found it downright awful and distracting for a large part of the movie.
Different strokes for different folks. I loved the music, especially the “Xavier and Erik look for mutants” score.
@Tork i haven’t read the books or seen original movie (because it’s housewife fiction) but that girl with a dragon tattoo trailer is great. the music is fantastic.
Better than I thought it would be. I really liked the Nazi hunter story of Magneto. I was also hoping that Kevin Bacon would have been Mr. Sinister…with all the genetic experiments and all.
I want a Nazi hunting Magneto story! Inglorious Basterds with Magento! Wolverines cameo had me rolling.
I was genuinely entertained by the movie but still aware of and annoyed by the inconsistencies with comics and previous movies as well as the general poor filmmaking.
Ron! Where are you!? People need you here.
@NathanNicdao I’m guessing they are saving their opinions for the podcast.
@WheelHands Yes, he would make a great Bond with a confusing accent.
Although that German Beer scene was straight out of Quentin Tarantino’s wheelhouse. Non-chalant, tense, awkward, foreign language dialogues ending up in a massacre, all in one scene.
Matthew Vaughn paid alot of homage in this movie.
After four movies that barely adhered to the comics, people are bitching about a prequel that barely adheres to the comics? “Isn’t Banshee Irish?” “Since when was Moira McTaggert in the CIA?” “How can Cyclops’s younger brother be in this?”
Really, people?
afert 108 comments of people mentioning continuity i can’t believe other commenters think it’s worth bitching about
@KenOchalek I noticed the girl who I also assumed to be Storm during the Cerebro sequence. Who else did anyone think they saw? There was a chubby white kid I thought might be Blob someday. A kid with sunglasses who might be Scott Summers…
Was there anything after the credits? My group wanted to leave.
I have a continuity problem…between all the different places to talk about this movie on Ifanboy. How do I know if someone doesn’t hate the movie on this post then go over to the review article and love the movie? okay so that was my plan but since I am too lazy I really want to know when someone else was doing it.
“X-Men: First Class” is the second best comic book film ever made after Nolan’s “The Dark Knight.” The plot is tight, the characterization is solid. Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw makes a terrific villain, and I thought his demise in the film felt way too final. I want to see Shaw in a future film, but how do they get around the ending of “First Class?” This movie also had a truly poignant moment, something I don’t remember Nolan being able to pull off. Raven has fallen for Hank, and then he tells her that no one will ever find her to be attractive in her blue form. Ooooooff! The look on Jennifer Lawrence’s face is perfect. That is acting folks, and Lawrence is the real deal. I look forward to seeing her in “The Hunger Games.” Some inconsistencies: In one scene, Emma in diamond form can knock Magneto at least 25 yards in the air. In another scene, Xavier and Magneto are able to physically subdue her in diamond form. If Emma can read her CIA captors’ minds in prison, she should be able to manipulate them into letting her go. It’s not made explicit in the film, but it seems that Emma tired of Shaw’s condescension, and didn’t want to escape.
@Invasionforce Superman: The Movie, Superman 2, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, X-Men, X-Men 2, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Hulk, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Kick-Ass, Batman, Batman Returns, 300, Blade, Blade 2, The Crow, Constantine, Iron Man, and V for Vendetta are all arguably better movies based on comics.
@Invasionforce I don’t know about 2nd best comic movie, but if a list were to be made of the best superhero movies, this would definitely be in the Top 5.
I should have written “superhero movie,” because will concede that “300” might be better and “V for Vendetta” is a great film. As for the other movies mentioned by Goldenboy, nope. “First Class” is better than everything but “The Dark Knight.”
So I totally missed the Rebecca Romijn cameo apparently? Can anyone fill me in?
Otherwise, really enjoyed the movie, though it feels rushed because it’s so jam=packed with everything.
@Thursday
When Mystique was waiting for Erik in bed, he turns her down with a line like “maybe in a few years when you’re older” and then she morphs into an older (blonde haired, light skinned) version of herself, played by Rebecca Romijn. Who, while still looking great, was definitely looking older.
My initial takeaway — this was a solid movie, well cast, directed and acted. Some flaws, but as piece of entertainment very well done. I walked out of the theater feeling I got my money’s worth, and the film was still in my head well after I’d gotten home.
I think the biggest weakness in the film, which is true with all of the X films, was having too many characters without enough time to develop them. But that has more to do with the fact that these are movies and not TV series’.
The relationship between Charles and Erik was incredibly well done.
The only continuity issue for me was between Charles and Raven/Mistique. The films that are chronologically later don’t show any kind of closeness between the characters that should be present based on what we see in this prequel.
Otherwise it seemed fine, relative to the other films (not the comics, which exist in their own universe).
@Invasionforce: Wow
Remember in the first movie when Mystique puts Xavier in a coma by sabotaging Cerebro? This movie put that under a whole new layer. Mystique is COLD.
I dug the hell out of the movie. I’ve come to view the X-Men films as something separate from the comics, so the divergence from comic continuity isn’t an issue with me. The writers did an outsanding job of creating an X-Men origin film that can be enjoyed by movie-goers with no exposure to the comics, and at the same time, the film stays more or less true to the feel and major themes of the comic. It was a well-paced, enjoyable film, full of great character moments.
NOW BRING ON THE PODCAST SPECIAL! I’m eager to hear the iFanboy take on the film.
I understand that a lot of complaints about the movie was that there were too many mutants not being covered in enough time, but the other X-Men movies didn’t cover all of the mutants in their films with enough time, yet nobody really complained about that with X-Men & X2. With the first one, Cyclops didn’t get a lot of time, as well as a very underdeveloped Storm, who unfortunately got way too much time & was acted by Halle Berry who thought that she was a good enough actress to pull off all of that extra time to fill X3 no not at all, but those characters weren’t the focus of the storylines of the films, pretty much its been all about Wolverine & Jean for the last 4 X-Men movies. Hell even Xavier was sidelined in X2, Magneto had a hell of a lot more screen time than him. So as for there being too many mutants, these films are consistently saying that there are millions of mutants, so there is really no way to actually give a justified amount of time to mutant characters who aren’t really that important to the story (I know that Cyclops is one of the main X-Men but he was wasted with James Marsden & they couoldn’t figure out how to replace him). See I really believe that First Class is as great as Dark Knight because of it being different than the other X-Men movies in its own right. Anyone notice that this is now concerning Wolverine? Or even Jean Grey? That’s because they were too overexposed in the last movies, especially Logan. This was a breath of fresh air & it gave audiences a better understanding (I am talking about non-comic book affiliated moviegoers here) of other mutants besides Wolverine.
@ Richard Yes I have seen a great deal of Oscar worthy movies & so on & so forth, my opinion on Kevin Bacon deserving an Oscar for his performance as Sebastian Shaw was because of the fact that Bacon was actually playing a character & really committing to his ideals & motivations in order to captivate the audiences with a unnerving performance. Can anyone tell me one villain since The Dark Knight that has been able to be as sinister, as twisted, & as evil as Heath Ledger’s Joker? Thanks to Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw in X-Men First Class I can now compare those two villains to each other. Don’t get me wrong Ledger’s Joker is superior, but Bacon’s Shaw is a very close runner up & since Ledger won his posthumous Oscar playing the Joker I would think that an actor who is able to bring a comic book character to heights that are even close if not equal to that of DK’s Joker, then that actor should be at least nominated for an Academy Award & that person is Kevin Bacon for this movie, IMO.
I’m going in the camp that thought it was great. So much fun. I thought it was well-paced and the layered performances of McAvoy and Fassbender were a surprise I didn’t see coming. Both got chops.
@SpiderTitan I did not like this movie, but obviously many people did. I do feel you are going a bit overboard with Kevin Bacon’s performance in comparing him to Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight. Bacon was okay in the role at best. He wasn’t even the best performance in the movie. Just relax a bit on the Oscar talk.
I feel like ive seen a completely different movie than you people. “second only to the Dark Knight” ?!?!?! Really?!?!! I’d say it’s only marginally better than Wolverine, which itself was only marginally better than X3. So average. It’s best scenes were outweighed by everything else that was so subpar. I’m glad everyone else enjoyed it so much though, I just wish I had 🙁
For those with these petty continuity quibbles, think of this: pretend like the X-Men movies that Bryan Singer had nothing to do with didn’t exist (The Last Stand, Wolverine), and see if there are still continuity problems.
I really liked this film. No, it is not without its faults, but I think it has way more going for it than it has going against it. I am also of the mind that this film takes its queue from the first 2 X-movies and doesn’t fit in continuity with the rest.
Wow that was amazing. So much fun and exactly what I wanted. I’d go see a follow up.
Just listened to your review guys, glad to hear you all enjoyed the movie as much as I did. I’ve seen it twice now and enjoyed it the second time even more.
If I ignore the issue that Havok is part of the team in the 1960s…
… and if I assume that at some point, between the events of X-Men First Class and the end of X-Men Origins: Wolverine / the beginning of X3, Xavier regains the use of his legs and (at least for a short time) reconciles with Erik to find Jean, then loses the use of his legs again…
… then I guess I can live with the continuity errors haha
Just listened to the podcast as well and it’s official – I saw a different movie! On to Green Lantern!
This podcast was so fun! It was great to hear Ron get so giddy! Glad you guys enjoyed it.
don’t get me wrong, I loved it. Contuinity in films just urks me.
Considering that the first 4 x-men films are pretty much total garbage I thought this one was great. The nonly thing I am wondering, in terms of continuity, is how they explain the toal lack of most of these characters in the later films. Are they all dead? Retired? Seemed a little strange to me that Banshee, Angle, Azerael, Havok, Emma Forst (excluding Wolverine Origins), and Riptide. Are never even mentioned in the first three films. Small issue for a great summer film.
@zuper given that Xavier has been healed and could walk in the comics NUMEROUS times only to be put back into a wheelchair, and the nature of Xavier and Magneto’s relationship as shown in X1 & X2 (Xavier visits Magneto in jail to play chess) – then yes, your patches to continuity work just fine
Astral projection.
By the way, since you guys went on and on about the fashion both GQ and Esquire have interviews with the costume designer
No arguments from me about the greatness of the film.
Check out my full review, if you want, at my blog: http://bit.ly/kSt9N4
I saw it Friday, and while I really liked it, it’s not the second coming of Jesus or anything. It’s really solid and that’s all I could have asked for from an X-Men movie at this point. Fassbender is fantastic in it though, even with the magic accent that comes and goes.
Nice review/show guys. I also loved it but wanna point out a couple of things.
1. I also thought the film was more in touch with the previous movies than a reboot. BUT, that being said, the X-Men Orgins: Wolverine movie, as pathetic as it was, tried to tie into the first three X-Men movies also. In one of the horrible final scenes there is a very young Emma Frost that Wolvie helps escape to an awaiting Xavier. Orgins takes place well after First Class and Emma was considerably older in First Class.
2. In the podcast it was stated that Kevin Bacon was the best villian in a super hero movie in recent memory. Sorry…remember Heath Ledger? I loved Bacon here but to say he was on par or better than Ledger’s Joker….naaaah
3. I agree with the comment that some of the students looked out of period. Especially Havok who looked as if he just walked out of an American Eagle store.
4. Angel really did absolutely nothing for me. Not sure what they were aiming for but her defection should have carried more weight. Instead, she was such a flimsy character that I basically said “Good, see ya later” when she left.
More could be said but this was such a good movie overall. I’m with the guys, Last Stand and Orgins were horrible. This was fantastic. Ready to see it again tomorrow.
I’m glad you guys had so much fun with it, but yes like a couple of other people I feel like I saw a different movie. Some excellent parts (virtually all involving Fassbender and Lawrence) hurt by a lot of slapdash film-making.
@keith7198
1. Was Emma ever named in Wolverine? EVen so, that’s easily explained away as her daughter. Or, just discount he movie from your continuity as I did.
2. Heath Ledger was three years ago. There have been a lot of comic book villains in recent years.
Loved it!! Not sure what all the complaints are about. I went in wanting a great super hero action flick and that’s what I got. The fact that it was set in the 1960’s was a bonus.
Kinda hard to discount continuity in film when each film makes sure it is in continuity. Can’t just say this i s okay and this isn’t just because you dont like a certain thing. It’s what the writers put down and unless it’s a total reboot (which this isn’t) then all of it is in continuity.
@TheNextChampion Make Your Own Continuity (TM). You will live a much happier life.
Just came back from watching this, have a bit of a fresher opinion on the film. I’m a bit torn really, because I (like many) have thought it was going to be awful. Bad posters, bad trailers, a lot of badness really. So going into this I had nothing but low, very low, expectations for this. To my surprise though this isn’t a bad film at all. But I wouldn’t call it good either.
Let me get to what worked for me: James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. Clearly the best actors by miles in this film. They both knew how to get into these characters and I believed them as Xavier and Magneto separately. McAvoy had this great, almost Doctor Who (Matt Smith specifically) like attitude in the beginning. But as the film went on he got more serious and he had the right balance of having respect but also wavering in his opinion like Professor X should have. Fassbender was also great as Magneto and the first 30mins I thought were the best in the movie. I’ve seen comments on it already but I for one would love to see more Magneto: Nazi Hunter in film or in comics. He wasn’t preachy about his opinions either, which is a good thing. They just kept his ideals about humanity just when talking to Xavier which if he didn’t would’ve gotten old and fast.
Matthew Vaughn and the rest of the crew also did a great job making this a believable world. Probably even more believable then the other X-films. It was a good choice to keep this in the 60s, sans continuity problems, because they were able to make a very realistic 60s vibe. From the outfits, to the lingo, to even the technology it all stayed in the 1960s with only far out ideas coming from Beast.
So what didn’t work about the film? Well a lot to be honest. First let’s get right to the big problem which is the writing. Other then Magneto and Xavier, everyone’s motivations and the situations involved weren’t handled well. I got no real sense why these specific young adults were choosen for their abilities. Actually scratch that, I do think I have the answer. It’s because when the time come and the powers were useful enough, they were shown for more then a few seconds. It’s a problem that most of the X-films have had: introducting mutants just for the sake of advancing the plot. There is no real characterization going on and at the end of the day you could’ve put any mutant in just to keep the film going rather then to make fascinating characters.
Another huge problem in the movie is the acting. It’s not all of the actors fault though. Kevin Bacon tries his best with the material but as a major villain he does nothing for me. He’s like a typical James Bond villain and even then those guys had personality. All Sebastian Shaw needed was a white cat to pet and he would’ve been #1 in Stereotypical villains. Then we get some of the worst offenders of the film with January Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, and Nicholas Hoult. I don’t factor in the other young actors because, as mentioned before, the script gives little for them to say or do anything. I’ve never seen an episode of Mad Men but I gotta think January Jones is the worst actress in the show. Cause everything else I’ve seen her in she is a wooden performer and it’s no different here. Lawrence also doesn’t fit as Mystique, who seems to be more of a Disney channel teenager then a real person. Finally, Hoult is just a stereotypical nerd but with bad feet. Hell Fassbender, a man I said was great in this, faulters from time to time. His Irish accent pops in at the worst possible time, especially in key scenes at the end. Why anyone in the editing department (and Vaughn as well) thought they were good takes is anybody’s guess.
Finally my last point, which isn’t a big deal as the other two, is the continuity. I’m sorry I have to be one of those guys but as a man who has sat through all of the X-films before there are some major plotholes and inconsistancies from previous films. If this was a total reboot then all of it would work but in the end I seemed to get a bit too annoyed at certain moments when it calls to earlier films. It might not be a problem for some, which is fine. But for me it came up too often to notice.
So there are some big problems with the film, but for some reason it didn’t ruin the film too much for me. It’s certainly no where close to the excitement or enjoyment that X-Men and X-2 provided. But with McAvoy and Fassbender’s performance literally carrying the film, and some good action scenes peppered in, it’s more then watchable for me. I shudder to use the term mediocre because they brings a very negative feel to a review. Subpar is probably the best word to use in my mind because: it makes me remember the good stuff in an otherwise so-so movie.
C-
@conor: Okay, don’t tell me how to think again please. Thank you.
@TheNextChampion There is no need to thank me!
You would think Conor told you who to vote for or which God to believe in.
yeah, conor, if TNC wants to think about stuff is a totally wrong way, let him
*in
I enjoyed it. I really don’t get the continuity picking. Magneto in Argentina was beyond awesome. @ jerichobp
YES people in the audience definitely let out an audible moan when there was a quick cut to Darwin. And then to _______ Darwin right after was standard hollywood and the audience let out another sigh. Angel’s spit was super campy. But everything else was awesome… This reminded me a lot of the first X-Men since the big final fight highlighted the team working together to get the job done. That is very X-Men. Everyone had their time to shine.
That cut to Darwin when ‘slavery’ was mentioned was appalling for me it must be said. Make a connection with mutant and race relations, yes. Making a connection to centuries of torture and despair? No.
If I was that guy who played Darwin I’d be pissed at that cut even if it was a split second.
Wait… So you’re angry that they made a connection to torture and despair on a grand scale?
You mean like the direct references to Nazis throughout the entire film?
I think the cut is unnecesarry, but not for that reason.
@conor
1. Emma wasn’t named but I’ve heard no one that didn’t think that was her. Nonetheless, I have no issue with removing that film from the movie continuity. Couldn’t stand it. But I think the filmmakers were trying to link it to the first three X-pictures.
2. Three years ago is a short time in terms of movies so Ledger should certainly qualify for “recent memory”. Let’s look at the superhero movies of those three years. There hasn’t really been that many. First you weed out the junk, non-superhero, or limited audience movies (Spirit, Watchmen, Kick Ass, Jonah Hex, Green Hornet, Punisher:War Zone). That only leaves you with Thor, Iron Man 2, Wolverine, and First Class since The Dark Knight. Gotta give it to Ledger still.
You know, I guess I just don’t watch movies closely enough or something because I missed most of the criticism that people are leveling at the film. Maybe I turn my brain off and just enjoy movies instead of trying to find things wrong with them? I don’t know. To each his own.
I enjoyed it a lot, and if you look at it as a singular entity, I thought it was a stronger film than the others. There was great character work, interesting action, and obviously, the future of the franchise is ripe for all sorts of possiblities. Would I have liked more time with the characters? Sure, but then I’m sitting through a 3 hour plus movie. I felt that the filmmakers told a tight, interesting story with the time they had.
I guess, in my brain, I looked at this as more of a reboot, so the continuity issues don’t really bother me. I’m looking forward to whatever future this franchise holds.
Michael Vaughn on First Class:
“My main goal was to make as good a film that could stand on its own two feet regardless of all the other films. However I thought anything that worked in all the other movies, and I could have some fun with nodding towards, I would. But my main rule was, ‘You know what, we’re trying to reboot and start a whole new X-Men franchise’ and therefore, making a film work on its own two feet was far more important than trying to be referential to the prior movies.”
http://www.slashfilm.com/film-interview-xmen-class-director-matthew-vaughn/
@keith7198 No one isn’t giving it to Ledger.
Loki was a better and more complicated villain than Shaw. That’s recent memory
@mikegraham6 Loki is recent memory, yes, but clearly Ron doesn’t agree.
@conor ah I see, haven’t had a chance to listen yet. Saving it for tomorrow’s bus ride to work 😉
NORTH AMERICAN BOX OFFICE ESTIMATES – WEEKEND
1. X Men: First Class (Marvel/Fox) NEW [3,641 Theaters]
Friday $23M, Saturday $22.9M, Weekend $54M
2. The Hangover Part 2 (Warner Bros) Week 2 [3,615 Theaters]
Friday $10.5M, Saturday $13.5M, Weekend $33.5M (-61%), Cume $188M
3. Kung Fu Panda 2 3D (DreamWorks Animation/Paramount) Week 2 [3,952 Theaters]
Friday $6.2M, Saturday $10.5M, Weekend $25M (-47%), Cume $101M
4. Pirates Of The Caribbean 4 3D (Disney) Week 3 [3,966 Theaters]
Friday $5M, Saturday $7.9M, Weekend $19M, Cume $191.2M
5. Bridesmaids (Universal) Week 4 [2,919 Theaters]
Friday $3.5M, Saturday $5M, Weekend $12.5M, Cume $107.6M
6. Thor (Marvel/Paramount) Week 5 [2,780 Theaters]
Friday $1.3M, Saturday $1.8M, Weekend $4.2M, Cume $169.1M
Source.
@Goldenboy Ok Bacon wasn’t doing anything for you that’s your right, that’s your opinion, but in my opinion I thought that Bacon set up so much atmosphere of horror & evil in the introduction of Shaw that that one scene would’ve been enough for me to think that he should be at least nominated for an Oscar for this role, but then Bacon switches it up to show Shaw as a gleefully, delightful, psychomaniac with a sinister flair that just oozes off the screen every time he appears. Also as for the ending, I would make the argument that the reason that Shaw didn’t go all out on Erik was because he was vying for Erik to break out, he knew how powerful Erik could be given the right amount of pain & rage. So I believe that the underlying plot motivation of Sebastian Shaw was to propel Erik into becomming a villain that would carry on his ideals at least, even though Erik hated Shaw he does agree with his thoughts on humanity. Yet besides that just the style & the fact that Kevin Bacon for the first time since ever, has been able to become a character, not just play a slightly different version of himself in almost every single movie that he was in, he delve into Sebastian Shaw, tweeked it enough to make it his own without being disrespectful to the comic books & truly gave a performance that produced one of the most effective & scary comic book villains, perhaps even villains in general, in superhero movie history since TDK!
Seems to me like a lot of dudes just hate fun.
Out of these hundreds upon hundreds of complaints, I’ve yet to see someone describe why this was a bad movie WITHOUT resorting to nitpicking.
The only way I would see a comics fan not liking this movie would be if they just couldn’t get over the massive amount of liberties taken with the source material. I can see where that would be an issue.
Personally, I viewed it as a story in it’s own world but based off of a comics series. Sure I dissected the numerous differences but overall it didn’t hurt my movie experience. I had a GREAT time with this picture.
@Josh I’m sorry that I paid attention to trivial things like the acting and the writing.
@comicbookchris you obviously didn’t see my thoughts in it.
@Josh: I get the tweet from earlier tonight now.
@WilliamKScurryJr I’m a full service operation if you’re paying attention.
iFanboy’s long standing objectivity makes me think Ron Richards praise is poster-worthy! … such a killer movie!
@PymSlap nothing about ron’s review was objective
Couple of problems with the film, but I’d have to agree with Ron in saying this is the superhero movie to beat this summer. It was so good and I’m so glad nothing in the film got spoiled for me so I was actually surprised. I really want to see where the X-Men films go from here. Hopefully not to shit.
i wanted to say before iFanboy AND edward rocks!!
@conor @mikegraham6 FWIW – I loved Loki and the Shakespearean-esque story that Thor was. But X-Men: First Class was a better movie, in my humble opinion
@edward never claimed to be – pretty sure I own up to my bias numerous times – my conscience is clean 🙂
@TheNextChampion seems to me as you doth protest too much, methinks. 😉
oh, yeah, for sure. that’s why we love you and your sideburns, ron
Damn so much hate or disagreement. I would just like to remind everyone these are all grown perfectly structured men and women in colorful spandex fighting each other with magical abilities for more money then I’m sure any of us make. I love comic books but it’s not so much fun when people are so lame about discussion. I thought it was an okay movie. I’m glad others liked it or loved it if I don’t is my negative response really going to make someone not like it, and if so what is the positive that will come out of it? That’s all I have to say anymore on this.
@josh arent you like the poster boy of not liking to have fun?
I liked when Shaw, who was a Nazi in the beginning, congratulates the blond kid for trying to kill him and then kills the black guy for doing much less.
I was not hating, but had to report the audience reaction especially since it was already mentioned.
@Cronin
Interesting point.
Not that anyone really cares: Apparently in Wolverine Emma is named “Emma”.
But luckily that film never happened, so we’re good.
(Honestly, why would you even care?)
This movie started out great, I loved Magneto and Xavier’s characterization and wish it had just been those two throughout the film looking for Shaw, but as soon as they added the First Class this movie went downhill fast.
Fassbender and Mcavoy were great in their roles. Lawrence and Bacon were ok in their roles. January Jones gives the same wooden performance as she did in unknown, she also did the sad, lost puppy face in this movie too. Whilst the rest were quite forgettable, like Darwin, he had no place in this film you could remove him all together and the film would only be slightly different from beginning to end.
Some of the writing was really bad, most of that going to the character of Hank McCoy. While on writing, some of the lines were super cheesy, all the Xavier going bald jokes and lines like “She didn’t do this, you did this” literally made me do a Picard facepalm (ironic isn’t it).
While the action was fun I never really felt like anyone was in real danger until the final showdown with the rockets. I also felt like the hench-mutants were pretty lame, I wish they had just shoe-horned in Sabertooth and Toad.
In the end it suffered the same fate as X-Men Origins Wolverine, getting to a point were the writers and director realise that they still have to line everything up with another movie because someone stupidly decided this should remain in the same continuity as another film.
One thing that annoyed me about Xavier was the way he treated Mystique when she was in her normal blue form. I always thought Xavier was super accepting about those things, hell he didn’t give Beast any crap for his crazy feet.
In the end I was so frustrated with this movie as soon as Xavier lost his legs, which I felt was handled terribly, I just walked out knowing that everything would be wrapped up so it would lay perfectly with X-Men.
And lastly I’ll leave you with this thought, what is it with X-Men writers and bullets?!
I wonder if this will stand the test of time for most of you that enjoyed the movie in entirety. It was very difficult for me to get through. As others have said, the first act was exceptional. I feel it went downhill from there. Between the writing problems (not continuity cause I don’t give a shit about that), the poor acting, and the score I just had a hard time enjoying this as much as most other people. I actually found myself laughing at some of the acting near the end, much to the chagrin of others around me. It was awkward, but the laughter just rolled out. Oh well, at least it was a free movie pass.
this movie deserves to be grouped with the best comic book movies ever.and i know that internet forums are famous for having a troll or two.reading my way to the bottom of this thread i actually got depresed.i know change is scary and all but come on lighten up
I saw it last night with two guys who don’t read comics, and we all enjoyed it. I loved the period-piece aspect (Fassbender made turtlenecks hot) and getting to see some lesser-known mutants. I didn’t really think of it as a “comic book movie,” but more as a “movie set in the 1960’s that just happens to have some mutants in it.” I thought McAvoy as Prof X was excellent – his mutation pick-up line was great, and “Don’t touch my hair” was a much better line than that one about going bald towards the end. My only real quibble with the movie was the casting of January Jones. When she disappeared for a good chunk of the movie, I completely forgot she was even in it until they came back for her at the end. I’ve seen tree limbs with more personality than she displayed.
@neb: totally agree!!
Wow, I totally had the same reaction as Ron! This may not have the right characters, but it does capture the essence and core of the X-men.
Watch X-Men: First Class! It’s great! My review:http://wp.me/p1BlHI-2D
I think one issue may be how underwhelming the characters were once you stepped outside of Xavier, Magneto, and Shaw. While the first class was entertaining, none of them can really hold a candle to the more fixed, iconic X-Men like Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean, Storm, etc. The writers had a pretty difficult task when comparing these two groups.
So I felt they were fairly smart in putting the focus on Xavier and Magneto. The other characters were cool but they didn’t need to be the stars. Would it have made the movie even better if the side characters had some more pop? Sure. But I don’t think they brought down the movie.
Here’s my full review (for what it’s worth) : http://keith7198.blog.com/2011/06/04/x-men-first-class-4-12-stars/
Seems like people got all up in arms over nitpicks in Iron Man 2 but are defending them in this movie. Im not criticizing people for liking this movie, but i just find it confusing when i think both Xmen and IM2 had an equal amount of flaws and one gets a panned for it while with the other, the nitpicks are ignored or written off
I think January Jones is getting a little unfair flack for acting – she was bad, but she really wasn’t given any good material to work with. She wasn’t playing Emma Frost. That was an Emma Frost-shaped snooze-fest who happened to have the same powers.
I kept expecting #name redacted to avoid spoilers on the front page# to come back, perhaps as a pure energy form, and save the day. …then that never happened.
How did the internet not ruin the Jackman cameo for me? To everyone who has been on the internet in the last few weeks I applaud your all. Well done. That was a truly awesome surprise.
I want people to start saying ‘groovy’ more.
@Ron No, I’m not. I’m looking at the same film you refuse to look past YOUR fanboy eyes and not see the obvious flaws in the move.
Again I didn’t find it to be terrible and it wet succeeded my expectations. But this is not a perfect movie by any stretch of the imagination. Plus it’s really hard to take your opinion seriously when you are an X-Men fanboy.
Okay new rule: Never type with the iPod touch. Cause that last post shows autocorrect is a bitch.
@Josh – Your comment from the podcast re: Jennifer Lawrence. Totally agree. Wow.
@TheNextChampion Sweet jesus man. Turn off the burners. You had to know he would love it. Even as I was cringing during certain parts, I knew that Ron would be awestruck and incessantly gush about it the first chance he got. That’s why we love him.
It was good but not great.
@vadamowens So why did I like it?
Listening to the show now. There’s a line about Stryker Sr. having a son named William, a means for Xavier to show he has actual telepathy and a nod to the Stryker we know.
Bridesmaids
I stand by my 4, Ron! Carol just tried to chloroform me!
@josh You explained why you liked it, so I’m not sure why your posing the question to me personally.
I love rons enthusiasm
@TNC- You’re hilarious.
@Josh- pretty much agree with you, it was fun.
In my opinion it was enjoyable, better than the previous two (wolverine and Last Stand) and it was much better than Thor which I thought was a bit of a mess really and largely disappointing but again, entertaining in parts.
McAvoy and Fassbender were pretty good too, as expected.
@vadamowens The caveat that Ron was enthused by fanboy glee is fine and all, but I don’t give a rip about all that, so I wanted to point that out. Ain’t no thang.
@josh You made critical points even though you enjoyed it overall. I was responding to a direct criticism toward Ron’s gushing (fanboy glee) which, unless I’m wrong, didn’t have anything to do with you directly. So that’s why I was confused with your initial question. Thank you for clarifying.
doesnt it bug anyone that shaw obsorbed all the nuclear energy and he never got to release it. I thought the final fight scene was a little bit of a let down as far as shaw vs magneto. all the other action scenes were great just wish shaw really let loose with what he could do at the end.
@LEXPRIME While the ending may not have had that “slam-bam” that you were looking for, it is a completely interesting finale. At any point, Xavier could have released Shaw, but instead, left him frozen to protect his friend (and ultimately, hope he would make the right choice). This makes Xavier complicit in Shaw’s demise. To me, that’s a much more interesting character aspect than anything else, and for a character driven movie, makes sense as a way to close it out.
The movie set up everything for a re-boot perfectly! Hopefully in the sequel we finally get to see some Sentinels!!!!! Who the hell is that Angel chick? At first I thought she was Selene but her powers were more like Pixie’s.
Saw the film last night. Thought it was overall a good movie. I could care less about continuity. How can you expect a film studio to compact 50+ years of continuity into a 2 hour film is beyond me but whateves. But to all those continuity freaks out there I’m surprised one thing didn’t come up yet on this thread. Remember in X1 when Wolvie is being examined by the Xmen and Xavier? in that scene xavier had never seen him before and wondered about how old he is and what his history was. But if Cerebro had found him in the 60’s then doesn’t that whole scene from X1 not make any sense whatsoever. Also to those who are wondering about Shaws death. Maybe cause Xavier had him frozen is why Shaws power didn’t protect him.
Really liked that scene between magneto and xavier; when xavier taught him to find his focus and he used the memory of being around the menora with his family and they both got emotional. have to admit, i wiped a single tear away from my eye on that one.
Liked Bacon as shaw. gotta admit it. I thought he was gonna be a laugher but he played it well. someone said it further up. It seemed like he was having a lot of fun with the role.
I liked January Jones. I thought her poor acting worked well for the White queen. Made her feel cold and distant and at the time of her being a member of the Hellfire club, she was.
I liked the Climax. Seeing the blackbird swoop in with a team of mutants, ready to save the world, was awesome.
The side story about Beast was well done too
I didn’t get angel though but i was glad they moved her to the bad guys early on.
Like i said earlier. Enjoyable movie. Nothing ground breaking but good non the less
I never thougth I would say this but, TNC is the voice of reason. After disagreeing with him on almost everything on twitter I think he hit the nail on the head.
I listened to the podcast, and was shocked at how Ron just gleefully ignored the film’s fault. I’m happy for those who liked it, but you can’t knock people for their objective opinions.
The film wasn’t great, but it wasn’t awful. I love comics just as much as the next guy, but I can’t overlook a film’s glaring flaws just for the sake of supporting the film, and being happy that we at least get an X-men film.
We’ve come past the point were making a comic book movie is enought. It has to be a good movie. Iron Man, and Dark Knight set the standard, and this falls woefully short.
I’m not sure why eveyone is making such a big deal about continuity relating to Origins: Wolverine. Both 20th Century Fox and several of the producers of First Class have stated that no one considers Origins to be continuty. In fact pretty much everyone has said the new Wolverine film will not take Origins into account and any future Deadpool film will not either. It was a terrible film that no one considers continuity. So chill. Comics reboot and erase bad continuity all the time. Films can too.
@RocketRacoon You assume those who liked it thought that there were flaws.
It seems to me the main flaw the film failed to account for is that generally X-Men fans seem to hate everything.
@RocketRacoon I spoke about and cataloged some of those flaws in the podcast. It wasn’t without flaws. They were overshadowed by my enjoyment however. And if you’ve spent any time listening to me on these shows, you’ll also know that I never give a pass to a comic book move, and I don’t really care about the X-Men all that much. You’re painting with a broad brush.
@conor so it follows that those who liked it thought it was perfect? Because if something doesn’t have flaws then it’s perfect. That’s a lofty standard we’ve set for movies.
@RocketRacoon No, I should have been clearer. You assume that those who liked it thought there were the same flaws that you did. Or that the flaws were egregious.
It has flaws, it’s not perfect, and yet it was still a whole lot of fun that I’d like to see again. That’s what I pay for when I go to see a movie — this is entertainment.
I had some issues with the film. But I give it a solid B. (Thor a B as well) and I agree with some of JAREDAN’s previous comments as well, but I do think some points are picky. It is a movie to entertain and I was, but the bad. . .
The Beast reveal in sillhouette, Shaw’s henchmen were not fully realized character’s, hell I don’t think I even caught their names. Cool powers, but being a bad ass doesn’t make a character. Did they even have lines? And leaving with Erik at the end, he just killed Shaw (get scene) and its okay you are the boss now. So that was weak.
The other issuse I had was the middle portion, ACT II, so many scenes felt like plot points, say a line to just exit the scene instead a characters having real discussions to talk about how to go about what they need to do. Too many exit lines to transition into next scene where another exit line is given, again. So Act 2 was a problem storywise.
Other than that I was very entertained. Still, its The Dark Knight. That’s a hard film to top.
@conor well that clarification certainly changes things.
(insert obligatory “it’s only movie, people. so relax” comment here)
For the record, I give the movie an A-.
Most fun I’ve had in theaters since Scott Pilgrim.
I’ve always respected the staff/writers of iFanboy for being able to rise above the petty internet baiting that can sometimes plague the web. Keep up the great work gang!
Too many Magnetos and not enough Chucks on the boards this afternoon….
ha. i just listened to the X-men 3 iFanboy podcast. the youthful energy.
loved this to death.
@SpiderTitan I just think you’re going overboard on Bacon’s performance. I did like what he did in the WWII scenes and thought I was in for something special, but it didn’t carry through for me. I think we (and everyone) may need a little distance from this movie to evaluate it properly. With this many people liking it, I feel like I will have to give it a second viewing on DVD. But, for now it just didn’t work.
@Josh I like fun! I liked Kung Fu Panda 2!
I chuckle when I see people say they are “appalled” by Shaw saying the word “slavery” then cutting to Darwin. If I recall correctly, Shaw was a Nazi who was basically trying to blow up the entire world. The camera cutting to Darwin was clearly emphasizing that Shaw’s comment was directed to Darwin, while he was delivering a little speech with the intention of persuading the kids to come to his side. It’s laughable to be offended by that.
If they made a What If? Magneto Joined the IRA, I’d read it.
“Oh, Jaysus, Mary and Joseph, those goons are made o’ metal, aernt they? Ya canna hairm me, boyos!”
Watched it again last night and it certainly stands up to another viewing. I love what was said in the podcast – it really feels like an X-Men movie regardless of the massive amounts of liberties taken. The story was tight and moved at a great pace and most of the performances were strong. I just really like the film.
After a second viewing I’m still not crazy about January Jones’ performance. I know she was trying to portray a cocky, manipulative woman but her performance is a tad wooden and robotic. She wasn’t a major distraction but didn’t have the flare I would expect from Emma.
Regardless I don’t know how an X-Men fan can’t be happy. It’s a lot better than the previous efforts and gives hope for the franchise’s future.
@Latimagic- theres only one goon here, mate
it was a great movie, but best comic book movie ever? ever hear of the dark knight?
Freddy Cannon lives!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@Limitless actually isnt a prequel sparkplug.