X-Men: First Class
I did end up seeing X-Men: First Class, fyi. Even though it's been weeks since I mentioned it and I've posted almost nothing since then, whoops.
(I also had an awesome time in Toronto, btw. The Pride Parade was amazing and I actually, honest-to-god teared up a few times, so.)
I'm going to throw everything about the movie under a cut so I don't have to worry about what is and isn't s spoiler. Heads up!
I have a lot to say about this movie, but I don't really have my thoughts organized so this might be a short and/or scattered post. Apologies.
My overall impression of the film was that I enjoyed it A LOT as an individual piece. Fandom seems to more or less agree with me, because I've seen plenty of squee. There's lots of action, which is good, but the action doesn't overwhelm the plot or all the interesting character stuff. Also? Training sequences. I love training sequences. Charles seemed to forget the first person part in "We'll have to train. All of us," but otherwise it was everything I could have wanted. (Well, I was a little unconvinced at Beast's superspeed, but whatever.)
Like many others, I was also pleased with the Erik/Charles dynamic. I've shipped Magneto with Professor X since some time during the nineties (anyone else watch the cartoon?), so I dig it. I'm not completely satisfied with the length of time they were allowed to be friends before everything went pear-shaped, including the fact that Charles is paralyzed within the timeframe of this movie - I've always subscribed to the idea that they were friends for years and then actively enemies at the time of the conflict where Charles is injured (and also, a deflected bullet? Really?). The movie sells it, though.
When it comes down to the details, the movie is far, far from perfect and I could nitpick the HELL out of it. So I will.
I still have a lot of Thoughts on the continuity and character choices for this film. Some people are clearly approaching First Class as a prequel to the original X-Men trilogy, and I guess the screenwriters/director/whoever didn't want to COMPELTELY burn that bridge, so I will grudgingly accept that as reason for them making up a first X-team that is so different from any other iteration. Grudgingly. Because, see, First Class is so obviously in a different continuity to my eyes! (They have reused characters in conflicting ways, case closed.) So they might as well use the same characters! Hell, throw in Bobby as the same age group as Scott and the rest, bring in Warren earlier - at least that makes sense. It's not like I dislike any of the characters in First Class, I simply don't understand why they were chosen.
Seriously, I could argue this for hours. Take the Wolverine movie, for example. First of all Emma Frost shows up in that movie younger than in First Class, and I am pretty sure it takes place at a later period in time. Second of all, Xavier shows up in it both BALD and WALKING, two characteristics that never coincide in him in the First Class continuity. (My argument for the original trilogy will always be Alex and Scott Summers Do Not Have a Twenty Year Age Difference; Also, Moira.)
A promising point in this new continuity (to me, anyway) is the interesting choice of including Azazel in First Class. I honestly don't know if he's been used much since 2004, but I had the pleasure of reading the storyline that he first appeared in in 2003/2004 ("The Draco"). Since they don't seem to be bothering with his whole other-dimensional/thousands of years old/oh-yeah-I'm-satan thing, I can only assume that they are leading up to COMIC BASED SPOILER him fathering Nightcrawler with Mystique. That is one of my favourite things :-D Well, Nightcrawler is my favourite, for some reason, and I really, really enjoy Mystique's whole soap opera-esque family. Maybe this means the new continuity will actually be doing some of it, instead of ignoring that she raised Rogue and not including Destiny or Graydon Creed. If they do the whole shebang could Liev Schreiber come back as Sabretooth, plzkthx. /COMIC BASED SPOILER
Having new characters is interesting, of course. You get to learn all about these new, potentially awesome characters! With new powers and new relationships! Except . . . you'd need a longer movie than we got (I guess that's what the sequels are for). Oh, and they killed Darwin almost immediately. What was that? We barely have time to form an attachment to him and boom, they kill him. They even kill him in a way that he could have arguably survived, and they did it to provide motivation for the other characters . . . you know, because the fact that Azazel, Riptide, and Shaw killed an entire base of agents isn't enough to ignite the X-team's senses of duty/revenge/etc. No, you have to kill the Black guy to do that. Hmm. That, combined with the only other proto-X-Man of colour being the one to turn darkside, had me side eyeing the movie pretty hard during that entire scene. Yes, Raven and Erik have gone darkside as well by the end of the film, but that particular scene is still pretty questionable.
Someone please tell me that people have already written AUs where Darwin adapts to survive and it actually works? And the team refuses to be sent home because "He killed [a shit ton of people and tried to kill] Darwin"? Plzkthx.
Other character details that had me scratching my head include Moira (why not just make up a new character, why completely change a character from the comics so as to make her unrecognizeable?) and Raven. Okay, one: I want to know how Charles, like, adopted Raven. Did he brainwash his parents? And is there any other continuity where he and Raven have a relationship anything like siblings? Because that was unexpected. (Also, what about his ACTUAL SIBLING?)
Also unexpected was the Mystique/Beast 'shippiness. It works well for the story they were telling with this movie; Raven's "mutant and proud" character development is clearly aided not just by Magneto but also by a) her meeting other mutants with physical rather than invisible mutations, and b) the "cure" Hank comes up with. (Sidenote: how could Hank's powers NOT be effected by normalizing his physical appearance? The whole running scene proved that some of his powers were tied in to his awesome feet.) They were honestly cute together and I hope there's some interaction in whatever sequels get made.
And speaking of Hank, I'm a bit blah over him trying to "cure" physical mutations - I get what they're doing with his characterization there, but I'm not sure I'm feeling it. It was an interesting way for them to acknowledge that Hank's furry blueness is a later development, I'll grant them that, but I'd be interested in learning how it matches up with explanations in the comics. Does anyone know if it's covered at all? I've never come across any information about Hank's secondary mutation, actually. I have no idea if it's ever linked to hubris/whatever in other canons.
'Shipwise, I'm also like Mystique/Magneto (I think this is a leftover from the original trilogy, tbh), Charles/anyone (lolol, I loved his "mutations are groovy" pick up lines XD), Charles/Erik (obv.), and Darwin/Alex (you know they added that for increased tragedy, ugh).
I did absolutely LOVE how the film portrayed Charles as a flawed human being. As mentor to the X-Men, later in his life, he's so PERFECT, you know? He's the one teaching the heroes and guiding their development, so he has to be a wise sort of figure. That characterization doesn't mean as much, though, if he doesn't have to work to get there, and this movie shows where he's come from. Things they did to show this that I really liked:
-Charles' cheesy mutation pick-up lines
-Juxtaposing Erik's situation in the concentration camp to Charles' "poor little rich boy" situation (you feel sad for him while keeping it firmly in context)
-Raven calling him out on his privilege as someone with an invisible mutation
-Charles totally not getting why Raven is "awfully concerned with [her] looks" (Oh my god, Charles, what the hell?)
You get the idea.
And right from the beginning, actually, there were great details. I'm speaking, of course, of the scene where Erik and his mother are separated in the camp and Erik bends the metal gate. THEY USED THE SAME SCENE. If I at all bought that this movie fit in a pre-existing continuity, that would be seriously impressive. As it is, it's still an awesome touch. Other awesome touches: language porn, Magneto using miscellaneous metal on clothing to control people's movements/ATTACK OF THE BARBED WIRE, Charles having to touch his temple in order to use his powers. I mean, this review seems to be saying a lot of negative things, but remember what I said at the beginning: I really did enjoy First Class. I just have a lot to say about it.
Well. That ended up being long.
The next movie I'm going to see is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two. Midnight screening, baby! (Okay, that's a lie. I'm watching a bunch of other Harry Potter movies tomorrow with Katie. But the next NEW film will be HP7.2 :-P)
(I also had an awesome time in Toronto, btw. The Pride Parade was amazing and I actually, honest-to-god teared up a few times, so.)
I'm going to throw everything about the movie under a cut so I don't have to worry about what is and isn't s spoiler. Heads up!
I have a lot to say about this movie, but I don't really have my thoughts organized so this might be a short and/or scattered post. Apologies.
My overall impression of the film was that I enjoyed it A LOT as an individual piece. Fandom seems to more or less agree with me, because I've seen plenty of squee. There's lots of action, which is good, but the action doesn't overwhelm the plot or all the interesting character stuff. Also? Training sequences. I love training sequences. Charles seemed to forget the first person part in "We'll have to train. All of us," but otherwise it was everything I could have wanted. (Well, I was a little unconvinced at Beast's superspeed, but whatever.)
Like many others, I was also pleased with the Erik/Charles dynamic. I've shipped Magneto with Professor X since some time during the nineties (anyone else watch the cartoon?), so I dig it. I'm not completely satisfied with the length of time they were allowed to be friends before everything went pear-shaped, including the fact that Charles is paralyzed within the timeframe of this movie - I've always subscribed to the idea that they were friends for years and then actively enemies at the time of the conflict where Charles is injured (and also, a deflected bullet? Really?). The movie sells it, though.
When it comes down to the details, the movie is far, far from perfect and I could nitpick the HELL out of it. So I will.
I still have a lot of Thoughts on the continuity and character choices for this film. Some people are clearly approaching First Class as a prequel to the original X-Men trilogy, and I guess the screenwriters/director/whoever didn't want to COMPELTELY burn that bridge, so I will grudgingly accept that as reason for them making up a first X-team that is so different from any other iteration. Grudgingly. Because, see, First Class is so obviously in a different continuity to my eyes! (They have reused characters in conflicting ways, case closed.) So they might as well use the same characters! Hell, throw in Bobby as the same age group as Scott and the rest, bring in Warren earlier - at least that makes sense. It's not like I dislike any of the characters in First Class, I simply don't understand why they were chosen.
Seriously, I could argue this for hours. Take the Wolverine movie, for example. First of all Emma Frost shows up in that movie younger than in First Class, and I am pretty sure it takes place at a later period in time. Second of all, Xavier shows up in it both BALD and WALKING, two characteristics that never coincide in him in the First Class continuity. (My argument for the original trilogy will always be Alex and Scott Summers Do Not Have a Twenty Year Age Difference; Also, Moira.)
A promising point in this new continuity (to me, anyway) is the interesting choice of including Azazel in First Class. I honestly don't know if he's been used much since 2004, but I had the pleasure of reading the storyline that he first appeared in in 2003/2004 ("The Draco"). Since they don't seem to be bothering with his whole other-dimensional/thousands of years old/oh-yeah-I'm-satan thing, I can only assume that they are leading up to COMIC BASED SPOILER him fathering Nightcrawler with Mystique. That is one of my favourite things :-D Well, Nightcrawler is my favourite, for some reason, and I really, really enjoy Mystique's whole soap opera-esque family. Maybe this means the new continuity will actually be doing some of it, instead of ignoring that she raised Rogue and not including Destiny or Graydon Creed. If they do the whole shebang could Liev Schreiber come back as Sabretooth, plzkthx. /COMIC BASED SPOILER
Having new characters is interesting, of course. You get to learn all about these new, potentially awesome characters! With new powers and new relationships! Except . . . you'd need a longer movie than we got (I guess that's what the sequels are for). Oh, and they killed Darwin almost immediately. What was that? We barely have time to form an attachment to him and boom, they kill him. They even kill him in a way that he could have arguably survived, and they did it to provide motivation for the other characters . . . you know, because the fact that Azazel, Riptide, and Shaw killed an entire base of agents isn't enough to ignite the X-team's senses of duty/revenge/etc. No, you have to kill the Black guy to do that. Hmm. That, combined with the only other proto-X-Man of colour being the one to turn darkside, had me side eyeing the movie pretty hard during that entire scene. Yes, Raven and Erik have gone darkside as well by the end of the film, but that particular scene is still pretty questionable.
Someone please tell me that people have already written AUs where Darwin adapts to survive and it actually works? And the team refuses to be sent home because "He killed [a shit ton of people and tried to kill] Darwin"? Plzkthx.
Other character details that had me scratching my head include Moira (why not just make up a new character, why completely change a character from the comics so as to make her unrecognizeable?) and Raven. Okay, one: I want to know how Charles, like, adopted Raven. Did he brainwash his parents? And is there any other continuity where he and Raven have a relationship anything like siblings? Because that was unexpected. (Also, what about his ACTUAL SIBLING?)
Also unexpected was the Mystique/Beast 'shippiness. It works well for the story they were telling with this movie; Raven's "mutant and proud" character development is clearly aided not just by Magneto but also by a) her meeting other mutants with physical rather than invisible mutations, and b) the "cure" Hank comes up with. (Sidenote: how could Hank's powers NOT be effected by normalizing his physical appearance? The whole running scene proved that some of his powers were tied in to his awesome feet.) They were honestly cute together and I hope there's some interaction in whatever sequels get made.
And speaking of Hank, I'm a bit blah over him trying to "cure" physical mutations - I get what they're doing with his characterization there, but I'm not sure I'm feeling it. It was an interesting way for them to acknowledge that Hank's furry blueness is a later development, I'll grant them that, but I'd be interested in learning how it matches up with explanations in the comics. Does anyone know if it's covered at all? I've never come across any information about Hank's secondary mutation, actually. I have no idea if it's ever linked to hubris/whatever in other canons.
'Shipwise, I'm also like Mystique/Magneto (I think this is a leftover from the original trilogy, tbh), Charles/anyone (lolol, I loved his "mutations are groovy" pick up lines XD), Charles/Erik (obv.), and Darwin/Alex (you know they added that for increased tragedy, ugh).
I did absolutely LOVE how the film portrayed Charles as a flawed human being. As mentor to the X-Men, later in his life, he's so PERFECT, you know? He's the one teaching the heroes and guiding their development, so he has to be a wise sort of figure. That characterization doesn't mean as much, though, if he doesn't have to work to get there, and this movie shows where he's come from. Things they did to show this that I really liked:
-Charles' cheesy mutation pick-up lines
-Juxtaposing Erik's situation in the concentration camp to Charles' "poor little rich boy" situation (you feel sad for him while keeping it firmly in context)
-Raven calling him out on his privilege as someone with an invisible mutation
-Charles totally not getting why Raven is "awfully concerned with [her] looks" (Oh my god, Charles, what the hell?)
You get the idea.
And right from the beginning, actually, there were great details. I'm speaking, of course, of the scene where Erik and his mother are separated in the camp and Erik bends the metal gate. THEY USED THE SAME SCENE. If I at all bought that this movie fit in a pre-existing continuity, that would be seriously impressive. As it is, it's still an awesome touch. Other awesome touches: language porn, Magneto using miscellaneous metal on clothing to control people's movements/ATTACK OF THE BARBED WIRE, Charles having to touch his temple in order to use his powers. I mean, this review seems to be saying a lot of negative things, but remember what I said at the beginning: I really did enjoy First Class. I just have a lot to say about it.
Well. That ended up being long.
The next movie I'm going to see is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two. Midnight screening, baby! (Okay, that's a lie. I'm watching a bunch of other Harry Potter movies tomorrow with Katie. But the next NEW film will be HP7.2 :-P)