X-Men: First Class
So, alyse and I went to see X-Men: First Class today...
I loved it. Seriously, fucking loved it. Yes, they retconned pretty much every single thing in there from the comics, but I found myself not caring.
Sebastian Shaw's actually a Nazi doctor instead of a dude born in Pittsburgh? Fine by me! (Although, at least tell me Shinobi's somewhere out there.)
Banshee's now American? If you say so!
Emma has her diamond form way earlier than she should? La la la la la!
Mystique is Charles's foster sister? Okay! (Since they wiped out the fact that Juggernaut's his step-brother in X3.)
(Also, I kind of love that Azazel was in this one, because it means at least Kurt's parents have now met ::grin::)
I did, though, when Moira MacTaggert expresses a desire to contact 'an expert on genetics' think, 'well, how about yourself, love...' Cue turning one irascible Scottish doctor with a penchant for getting maudlin on whiskey into an American CIA agent. (Which also wipes out parts of X3 where Moira's shown, as a doctor, on Muir Island.)
The movies have pretty much written Magda out of Erik's history, which means they have him manifesting his powers in the concentration camp he's in as a child instead of when he's stopped from saving Anya. (Aside #1, I wonder if tptb are going to re-retcon for The Avengers, or if the Scarlet Witch isn't going to appear in the line-up at any point.)
I also can't express how awesome it was having an X-Men movie where Jean Grey and Scott Summers don't appear. It means we avoided the entire 'fear my ruby shades of emoness' and 'I am life and power incarnate and my milkshake brings all the boys the yard.' (Aside #2, why do all the guys seem to go for Jean? It like, dudes, you have Ororo there. Although I admit this is my bias speaking, as Jean has always bugged the hell out of me and Ororo is one of my core pair-any-of-this-group-however-you-want-and-I-will-read-it*.)
(Aside #3, this doesn't, however, stop my major bugbear with the X-Men movies being one to do with Jean. Namely, the end of X3. In the comics, Phoenix realised what was happening to her. She realised that she'd never be able to lock the power away and the temptation to turn into Dark Phoenix was always going to be with her. She watched Scott get injured in the battle with the Imperial Guard and to stop herself from becoming DP and to atone for the millions she'd already killed, she made the choice to turn the weapons on herself. She made the choice. She stopped herself. And the end of X3 totally trashed that. They took away Jean's agency and had Logan kill her. Yes, she asked him, but they had her as too weak to do it herself and for Wolverine to strike the fatal blow. Which, I guess as angst goes, killing the woman you love has to be up there, but fucking seriously? That ending negated every fucking sacrifice Phoenix made. Negated every fucking choice Phoenix had made. It made her decision, her strength, all about Wolverine. And jesus, fuck that pisses me off.)
Anyway, back to the happy shiny glee of XM: FC...
There were moments when my heart in in my throat and there were at least two Oh, Erik--'s and one Oh, Hank-- that slipped out at various points.
The first point where Charles and Erik meet, where Charles jumps into the water because he knows there's someone there. And the end. Oh holy, fuck the end. The part where Erik is sending the missiles back to the ships and just drops them as soon as Charles is injured. Because it's Charles and because the true love story in the comics has never been Scott and Jean (or Emma), or Remy and Rogue. It's always been Charles and Erik. Those three panels in God Loves, Man Kills when it's all over and Erik holds his hand out to Charles and Charles is so close to taking it, get me every fucking time.
The fact that they trust each other, even when they're on opposite sides. I mean, seriously, the only one Charles entrusted the School to when he went with Lilandra was Erik. The fact that he went to Genosha after the massacre because he knew, he knew, that Erik wasn't dead.
And, yes, the bit where Erik walks in and finds Raven in his bed and tells her to get out, I did want him to add because I'm sleeping with your brother... on the end.
So, yeah, the one thing I was majorly concerned about was how they'd do the relationship between them and, oh god, it was perfect. The entire Charles/Erik undertone in this movie pretty much skidded past the subtext and stopped right on text.
So, to sum up, I fucking loved it and if there isn't a huge explosion of Charles/Erik** after this, I will be massively disappointed in fandom.
* For those interested, said group is: Ororo, Logan, Kitty, Remy, Bobby, Jean Paul and Pete Wisdom. In any combination.
** Because, seriously, there's always been Charles/Erik writers, but the pairing's never gotten the love it deserves.
I loved it. Seriously, fucking loved it. Yes, they retconned pretty much every single thing in there from the comics, but I found myself not caring.
Sebastian Shaw's actually a Nazi doctor instead of a dude born in Pittsburgh? Fine by me! (Although, at least tell me Shinobi's somewhere out there.)
Banshee's now American? If you say so!
Emma has her diamond form way earlier than she should? La la la la la!
Mystique is Charles's foster sister? Okay! (Since they wiped out the fact that Juggernaut's his step-brother in X3.)
(Also, I kind of love that Azazel was in this one, because it means at least Kurt's parents have now met ::grin::)
I did, though, when Moira MacTaggert expresses a desire to contact 'an expert on genetics' think, 'well, how about yourself, love...' Cue turning one irascible Scottish doctor with a penchant for getting maudlin on whiskey into an American CIA agent. (Which also wipes out parts of X3 where Moira's shown, as a doctor, on Muir Island.)
The movies have pretty much written Magda out of Erik's history, which means they have him manifesting his powers in the concentration camp he's in as a child instead of when he's stopped from saving Anya. (Aside #1, I wonder if tptb are going to re-retcon for The Avengers, or if the Scarlet Witch isn't going to appear in the line-up at any point.)
I also can't express how awesome it was having an X-Men movie where Jean Grey and Scott Summers don't appear. It means we avoided the entire 'fear my ruby shades of emoness' and 'I am life and power incarnate and my milkshake brings all the boys the yard.' (Aside #2, why do all the guys seem to go for Jean? It like, dudes, you have Ororo there. Although I admit this is my bias speaking, as Jean has always bugged the hell out of me and Ororo is one of my core pair-any-of-this-group-however-you-want-and-I-will-read-it*.)
(Aside #3, this doesn't, however, stop my major bugbear with the X-Men movies being one to do with Jean. Namely, the end of X3. In the comics, Phoenix realised what was happening to her. She realised that she'd never be able to lock the power away and the temptation to turn into Dark Phoenix was always going to be with her. She watched Scott get injured in the battle with the Imperial Guard and to stop herself from becoming DP and to atone for the millions she'd already killed, she made the choice to turn the weapons on herself. She made the choice. She stopped herself. And the end of X3 totally trashed that. They took away Jean's agency and had Logan kill her. Yes, she asked him, but they had her as too weak to do it herself and for Wolverine to strike the fatal blow. Which, I guess as angst goes, killing the woman you love has to be up there, but fucking seriously? That ending negated every fucking sacrifice Phoenix made. Negated every fucking choice Phoenix had made. It made her decision, her strength, all about Wolverine. And jesus, fuck that pisses me off.)
Anyway, back to the happy shiny glee of XM: FC...
There were moments when my heart in in my throat and there were at least two Oh, Erik--'s and one Oh, Hank-- that slipped out at various points.
The first point where Charles and Erik meet, where Charles jumps into the water because he knows there's someone there. And the end. Oh holy, fuck the end. The part where Erik is sending the missiles back to the ships and just drops them as soon as Charles is injured. Because it's Charles and because the true love story in the comics has never been Scott and Jean (or Emma), or Remy and Rogue. It's always been Charles and Erik. Those three panels in God Loves, Man Kills when it's all over and Erik holds his hand out to Charles and Charles is so close to taking it, get me every fucking time.
The fact that they trust each other, even when they're on opposite sides. I mean, seriously, the only one Charles entrusted the School to when he went with Lilandra was Erik. The fact that he went to Genosha after the massacre because he knew, he knew, that Erik wasn't dead.
And, yes, the bit where Erik walks in and finds Raven in his bed and tells her to get out, I did want him to add because I'm sleeping with your brother... on the end.
So, yeah, the one thing I was majorly concerned about was how they'd do the relationship between them and, oh god, it was perfect. The entire Charles/Erik undertone in this movie pretty much skidded past the subtext and stopped right on text.
So, to sum up, I fucking loved it and if there isn't a huge explosion of Charles/Erik** after this, I will be massively disappointed in fandom.
* For those interested, said group is: Ororo, Logan, Kitty, Remy, Bobby, Jean Paul and Pete Wisdom. In any combination.
** Because, seriously, there's always been Charles/Erik writers, but the pairing's never gotten the love it deserves.