X-Men: First Class...X-cellent! X-traordinary! X-cedes X-pectations!
by
ROCKY MIAVIA
STARRING:
James McAvoy ........................................................................................ Professor Charles Xavier
Michael Fassbender ........................................................................................ Erik Lehnsherr
Jennifer Lawrence ........................................................................................ Raven Darkholme
Rose Byrne ........................................................................................ Dr. Moira MacTaggerte
January Jones ........................................................................................ Emma Frost
Kevin Bacon ........................................................................................ Sebastian Shaw
Nicholas Hoult ........................................................................................ Hank McCoy / Beast
Jason Flemyng ........................................................................................ Azazel
Edi Gathegi ........................................................................................ Armando Munoz / Darwin
Zoe Kravitz ........................................................................................ Angel Salvadore
Oliver Platt ........................................................................................ Man in Black
Lucas Till ........................................................................................ Alex Summers / Havok
DIRECTED BY:
Matthew Vaughn
X-Men films have been a mixed bag of good and bad over the last 4 attempts. From Bryan Singer's great effort in the first two films to Brett Ratner's loved and hated third film. And do I need to even mention that god-awful Wolverine film that completely said "let's continue to screw up this franchise." Honestly, when a 5th film was proposed as a prequel/reboot/revamp of the movie series most X-Men fans were not expecting anything good. Mostly because of the last two films being so OFF. Well moviegoers and X-Men fans, fear not. X-Men: First Class is a great film that weaves a great character-driven story that mixes lots of good mutant action as well. Dare I say, it was almost Claremont-ish (for the comic readers).
X-Men: First Class starts out heavy on the individual origins of Charles Xavier and Erik Magnus. We see Xavier create a childhood bond with Mystique as he grows into a powerful telepath and professor on mutant genes. Magnus' life in a Nazi concentration camp is a complete 180 degree turn from the life of Xavier. Forced to learn his abilities through anger and outrage at the hands of a Nazi doctor. Honestly, the first 40 minutes of the film plays out like a James Bond film which Magnus traveling the world hunting Nazis with a viciousness that screams of Daniel Craig's 007. As the film progresses the two characters meet under common circumstances and form the legendary friendship X-Men fans have come to know.
First Class wouldn't be called such unless it was about Xavier and Magneto's first group of students. The reasoning behind the need of a group of mutants will not be spoiled here. Let's just say the CIA is involved with Xavier and mutant presence in the population isn't known widespread yet. Add to that the impending Cuban Missile Crisis and things will start to come into play. Xavier and Magnus scout various familiar and unfamiliar mutants to their team. And during the last scouting encounter a familiar face states his lack of interest in joining up. Classic moment. The characters in this movie that we're introduced to are likable and not just paper thin like in some previous films. The movie is set in the time of the Civil Rights movement and here are mutants, the unaccounted for, with their own individual feelings about the way things are in America. Darwin, the film's only black character, is a mutant who can adapt his body to survive. In that time period such a person would be oppressed double, for being a black man and a mutant. A point that was touched on during an encounter with the film's villain, Sebastion Shaw, yet seemed to be something that could've been worked into more.
X-Men: First Class gets most everything right from top to bottom to make a winner of a super hero film, and like The Dark Knight, redefines the genre. If you completely forget the Wolverine film exists then you can ignore slight time-space slip ups like Emma Frost being a grown woman in the Hellfire Club in this film. She was a caged child in diamond form in the Wolverine film. Alex Summer aka Havok aka Cyclops' brother being in the film went over better than expected. The Beast almost stole the show at points of the movie. The character was very well written and fans of the character will be pleased. Xavier and Magneto were perfectly cast and the actors OWNED those characters. Kevin Bacon as Shaw was superb. I never thought I'd ever consider Kevin Bacon as a menacing supervillain until now. Sure, he's played villains, but he's never been superpowered like this. And his character reeked of character elements from Inglourious Basterds' Colonel Hans Landa.
My suspicion is that this film was an expansion on the proposed Magneto origin film. If this is true then it was an awesome reworking of a singular character film into a character-driven team film that set the stage for the future of one of comics' most beloved team of heroes. And hopefully this is proof to Fox that X-Men films DO NOT need to be central to one character like Wolverine to be a success. X-Men fans, GO SEE THIS FILM NOW! Non-fans, GO SEE THIS FILM NOW!
by
ROCKY MIAVIA
STARRING:
James McAvoy ........................................................................................ Professor Charles Xavier
Michael Fassbender ........................................................................................ Erik Lehnsherr
Jennifer Lawrence ........................................................................................ Raven Darkholme
Rose Byrne ........................................................................................ Dr. Moira MacTaggerte
January Jones ........................................................................................ Emma Frost
Kevin Bacon ........................................................................................ Sebastian Shaw
Nicholas Hoult ........................................................................................ Hank McCoy / Beast
Jason Flemyng ........................................................................................ Azazel
Edi Gathegi ........................................................................................ Armando Munoz / Darwin
Zoe Kravitz ........................................................................................ Angel Salvadore
Oliver Platt ........................................................................................ Man in Black
Lucas Till ........................................................................................ Alex Summers / Havok
DIRECTED BY:
Matthew Vaughn
X-Men films have been a mixed bag of good and bad over the last 4 attempts. From Bryan Singer's great effort in the first two films to Brett Ratner's loved and hated third film. And do I need to even mention that god-awful Wolverine film that completely said "let's continue to screw up this franchise." Honestly, when a 5th film was proposed as a prequel/reboot/revamp of the movie series most X-Men fans were not expecting anything good. Mostly because of the last two films being so OFF. Well moviegoers and X-Men fans, fear not. X-Men: First Class is a great film that weaves a great character-driven story that mixes lots of good mutant action as well. Dare I say, it was almost Claremont-ish (for the comic readers).
X-Men: First Class starts out heavy on the individual origins of Charles Xavier and Erik Magnus. We see Xavier create a childhood bond with Mystique as he grows into a powerful telepath and professor on mutant genes. Magnus' life in a Nazi concentration camp is a complete 180 degree turn from the life of Xavier. Forced to learn his abilities through anger and outrage at the hands of a Nazi doctor. Honestly, the first 40 minutes of the film plays out like a James Bond film which Magnus traveling the world hunting Nazis with a viciousness that screams of Daniel Craig's 007. As the film progresses the two characters meet under common circumstances and form the legendary friendship X-Men fans have come to know.
First Class wouldn't be called such unless it was about Xavier and Magneto's first group of students. The reasoning behind the need of a group of mutants will not be spoiled here. Let's just say the CIA is involved with Xavier and mutant presence in the population isn't known widespread yet. Add to that the impending Cuban Missile Crisis and things will start to come into play. Xavier and Magnus scout various familiar and unfamiliar mutants to their team. And during the last scouting encounter a familiar face states his lack of interest in joining up. Classic moment. The characters in this movie that we're introduced to are likable and not just paper thin like in some previous films. The movie is set in the time of the Civil Rights movement and here are mutants, the unaccounted for, with their own individual feelings about the way things are in America. Darwin, the film's only black character, is a mutant who can adapt his body to survive. In that time period such a person would be oppressed double, for being a black man and a mutant. A point that was touched on during an encounter with the film's villain, Sebastion Shaw, yet seemed to be something that could've been worked into more.
X-Men: First Class gets most everything right from top to bottom to make a winner of a super hero film, and like The Dark Knight, redefines the genre. If you completely forget the Wolverine film exists then you can ignore slight time-space slip ups like Emma Frost being a grown woman in the Hellfire Club in this film. She was a caged child in diamond form in the Wolverine film. Alex Summer aka Havok aka Cyclops' brother being in the film went over better than expected. The Beast almost stole the show at points of the movie. The character was very well written and fans of the character will be pleased. Xavier and Magneto were perfectly cast and the actors OWNED those characters. Kevin Bacon as Shaw was superb. I never thought I'd ever consider Kevin Bacon as a menacing supervillain until now. Sure, he's played villains, but he's never been superpowered like this. And his character reeked of character elements from Inglourious Basterds' Colonel Hans Landa.
My suspicion is that this film was an expansion on the proposed Magneto origin film. If this is true then it was an awesome reworking of a singular character film into a character-driven team film that set the stage for the future of one of comics' most beloved team of heroes. And hopefully this is proof to Fox that X-Men films DO NOT need to be central to one character like Wolverine to be a success. X-Men fans, GO SEE THIS FILM NOW! Non-fans, GO SEE THIS FILM NOW!
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