X-Men: First Class
Last night I went and saw X-Men: First Class with a friend and I liked it so much that when my parents decided to go see it tonight, I went with them to see it again (also, I never turn down a parentally-funded outing). And even though I would have liked a lot more time in between viewings, I still had a really great time.
Overall, I'd say it is a better movie than Thor as it had greater emotional depth and the arcs for some of the characters were more complex and darker too. The plot, though it had a few elements I didn't like, was generally very strong. It certainly wasn't as light-hearted as Thor but it still had some hilarious moments and most of the actors displayed great comic timing with their line readings.
The actors were mostly pretty great. James McAvoy is wonderful as the young Charles Xavier, managing to pull off the character's innate wisdom and unflinching sincerity while also imbuing him with a youthful swagger that is absolutely charming. Michael Fassbender is equally great, capturing Erik's vulnerability as well as his ruthlessness. I expect that Charles/Erik will be huge, but though they have great chemistry I don't think I could ship them: the film demonstrates quite well how their different philosophies must separate them.
When it comes to the women, I really liked Raven aka Mystique and Moira MacTaggert. Both were strong, intelligent, independent, and had their own goals. I didn't think Raven's ideals mesh well with Erik's tactics (she seemed quite horrified by violence) but I understood her frustration with Charles and why she would leave him. I dug the brother/sister relationship between Raven and Charles, and Raven/Hank were very adorable in the beginning. I would love to read fic about both relationships.
I thought Moira was really kickass. Her character differed a lot from the comics but I was ok with them swapping out Scottish geneticist for American spy. I didn't think Moira/Charles was established very well - though there were certainly a few moments - but I really like the potential there. I was initially quite annoyed that he took away some of her memories but I now think he was trying to protect her so that she wouldn't have to lie to the CIA. And, of course, he left her with the memory of that kiss and the potential for her to remember more and, ok, I have already written two thousand words of that fic. It might be called "Fragments", we will have to wait and see.
I did not like January Jones as Emma Frost. She just doesn't have the talent to portray that character and most of her line readings were terrible. In the hands of a more capable actress, I think we might have seen Emma chafing at Shaw's sometimes patronising treatment of her, but Jones couldn't really convey that - there isn't a badass bone in her body.
Nicholas Hoult is grade-A adorkable as Hank McCoy and Kevin Bacon was clearly having a blast as Sebastian Shaw. I thought their were shades of Christoph Waltz in his portrayal of Shaw's Nazi days but he handled the different languages well - if he was dubbed it certainly didn't appear so.
I did find the treatment of the two POC characters troubling. Darwin, played by Edi Gathegi, died way too soon, sacrificing himself for the others in the grand narrative tradition of noble black men in movies. And I didn't think Zoe Kravitz's Angel was developed well enough to explain why she went over to Shaw so quickly. Yes, I can fanwank that her history of being objectified by men made Shaw's offer of subject-hood (you know what I mean) too tempting to turn down but I shouldn't have to do that. They could have had her turn at a later point, allowing us to spend more time with her. It really sucks that the first X-Men team is made up of three white boys, Hank's eventual blueness aside.
I loooved the guy's costumes. Excellent suits, yes, but also really good sports wear and by that I don't mean the grey sweats some of the characters ended up in. Charles had several lovely sweaters and Erik's casual threads were excellent. I did not like how often we saw women in underwear and I found Emma Frost's entire wardrobe very eye-roll worthy. Riptide was always dapper as fuck, which I appreciated, and Sebastian Shaw owned a lovely collection of cravats.
- I loved how the war room looked like the one from Dr Strangelove. I got a laugh out of that.
- I was also very amused by the idea that Hank is an engineer, physicist, geneticist, chemist...and he also finds the time to make the team's combat gear, including constructing a new suit for himself after Beast-ifying, apparently overnight.
- Did anyone else get a vibe between Darwin and Alex? I'd read it.
- And was anyone else completely frustrated by the continuity? How the hell is Alex, Cyclops's younger brother, back here in the 60s when, by the brief presence of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, these movies are all supposed to be set in the same universe? My mind, it boggles.
- But I did love the Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Romijn cameos.
- I was slightly annoyed by how Shaw's scheme resembled Magneto's in the first movie: using nuclear power to activate x genes (bitch, please) versus making everyone a mutant through a big explodey machine.
- I was thrown by the Russian general's stately house because it is very much not in Russia. I remember it being used for the Daniel Deronda mini-series. There needs to be some kind of registry that keeps track of which English estates have been used as locations. It's amazing how often I recognise the same ones being re-used.
Finally, there's no scene after the credits end so there is no need to stay unless you find the Take That song that plays over them insanely catchy.
What does everybody else think? I say: bring on the sequels.
Overall, I'd say it is a better movie than Thor as it had greater emotional depth and the arcs for some of the characters were more complex and darker too. The plot, though it had a few elements I didn't like, was generally very strong. It certainly wasn't as light-hearted as Thor but it still had some hilarious moments and most of the actors displayed great comic timing with their line readings.
The actors were mostly pretty great. James McAvoy is wonderful as the young Charles Xavier, managing to pull off the character's innate wisdom and unflinching sincerity while also imbuing him with a youthful swagger that is absolutely charming. Michael Fassbender is equally great, capturing Erik's vulnerability as well as his ruthlessness. I expect that Charles/Erik will be huge, but though they have great chemistry I don't think I could ship them: the film demonstrates quite well how their different philosophies must separate them.
When it comes to the women, I really liked Raven aka Mystique and Moira MacTaggert. Both were strong, intelligent, independent, and had their own goals. I didn't think Raven's ideals mesh well with Erik's tactics (she seemed quite horrified by violence) but I understood her frustration with Charles and why she would leave him. I dug the brother/sister relationship between Raven and Charles, and Raven/Hank were very adorable in the beginning. I would love to read fic about both relationships.
I thought Moira was really kickass. Her character differed a lot from the comics but I was ok with them swapping out Scottish geneticist for American spy. I didn't think Moira/Charles was established very well - though there were certainly a few moments - but I really like the potential there. I was initially quite annoyed that he took away some of her memories but I now think he was trying to protect her so that she wouldn't have to lie to the CIA. And, of course, he left her with the memory of that kiss and the potential for her to remember more and, ok, I have already written two thousand words of that fic. It might be called "Fragments", we will have to wait and see.
I did not like January Jones as Emma Frost. She just doesn't have the talent to portray that character and most of her line readings were terrible. In the hands of a more capable actress, I think we might have seen Emma chafing at Shaw's sometimes patronising treatment of her, but Jones couldn't really convey that - there isn't a badass bone in her body.
Nicholas Hoult is grade-A adorkable as Hank McCoy and Kevin Bacon was clearly having a blast as Sebastian Shaw. I thought their were shades of Christoph Waltz in his portrayal of Shaw's Nazi days but he handled the different languages well - if he was dubbed it certainly didn't appear so.
I did find the treatment of the two POC characters troubling. Darwin, played by Edi Gathegi, died way too soon, sacrificing himself for the others in the grand narrative tradition of noble black men in movies. And I didn't think Zoe Kravitz's Angel was developed well enough to explain why she went over to Shaw so quickly. Yes, I can fanwank that her history of being objectified by men made Shaw's offer of subject-hood (you know what I mean) too tempting to turn down but I shouldn't have to do that. They could have had her turn at a later point, allowing us to spend more time with her. It really sucks that the first X-Men team is made up of three white boys, Hank's eventual blueness aside.
I loooved the guy's costumes. Excellent suits, yes, but also really good sports wear and by that I don't mean the grey sweats some of the characters ended up in. Charles had several lovely sweaters and Erik's casual threads were excellent. I did not like how often we saw women in underwear and I found Emma Frost's entire wardrobe very eye-roll worthy. Riptide was always dapper as fuck, which I appreciated, and Sebastian Shaw owned a lovely collection of cravats.
- I loved how the war room looked like the one from Dr Strangelove. I got a laugh out of that.
- I was also very amused by the idea that Hank is an engineer, physicist, geneticist, chemist...and he also finds the time to make the team's combat gear, including constructing a new suit for himself after Beast-ifying, apparently overnight.
- Did anyone else get a vibe between Darwin and Alex? I'd read it.
- And was anyone else completely frustrated by the continuity? How the hell is Alex, Cyclops's younger brother, back here in the 60s when, by the brief presence of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, these movies are all supposed to be set in the same universe? My mind, it boggles.
- But I did love the Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Romijn cameos.
- I was slightly annoyed by how Shaw's scheme resembled Magneto's in the first movie: using nuclear power to activate x genes (bitch, please) versus making everyone a mutant through a big explodey machine.
- I was thrown by the Russian general's stately house because it is very much not in Russia. I remember it being used for the Daniel Deronda mini-series. There needs to be some kind of registry that keeps track of which English estates have been used as locations. It's amazing how often I recognise the same ones being re-used.
Finally, there's no scene after the credits end so there is no need to stay unless you find the Take That song that plays over them insanely catchy.
What does everybody else think? I say: bring on the sequels.