(no subject)
Got to see X-Men: First Class tonight. I went in with really low expectations - let's be honest, the last two offerings in this series haven't exactly been stellar* - and I was blown away by how good it really was. I'd have been impressed even if I went in with high expectations, so you can imagine how excited I was when it not only didn't suck but was actively good.
io9's review points out that they were smart in not taking the same old tired direction with the mutant question as the last few movies. This isn't a heavy-handed allegory for racism or civil rights. This is more a movie about identity and how what you are informs who you are and about what a species will do to ensure it's survival. It's a lot more about evolution, which is sort of the whole point anyway.
But what really makes this movie work are James McEvoy and Michael Fassbender as Professor X and Magneto (respectively). McEvoy plays the young professor with a sort of vigor and relish that you wouldn't expect but it totally works. He's a sort of softer, sexier Charles Xavier, which only makes the circumstances that turn him into the more distant leader he becomes more poignant. And Fassbender's Magneto is sympathetic, and angry, and everything he should be. You find yourself compelled by his arguments. You find yourself torn between wanting to believe in Professor X's unyielding optimism and knowing that Magneto's cynicism is closer to the truth. You can see both sides.
For a movie whose ending everyone already knows, making you give a shit about the story leading to it was no small task. But these guys pull it off. In fact, knowing the ending makes every scene between them sting that much more because you can see what's just around the corner and they can't. And when it all comes down it still feels shocking (there's a certain moment in a gunfight that made me jump out of my seat when I should have totally seen it coming).
And the supporting cast mostly works too. Jennifer Lawrence makes a really convincing Mystique, and you can totally get why she makes the choice she does. The kid who plays Banshee (whose name I don't know) is straight-up awesome.
It wasn't perfect: I don't feel like the Professor X/Moira McTaggart relationship was developed enough to justify the dialogue about it. They told but didn't show, sort of. And there's a climactic scene where Magneto suddenly develops an Irish brogue - in fact, Magneto's accent sort of jumps around the whole movie, from English to American to that brief bit of Irish to mild and not very good German. Beast's makeup/CGI is really sloppy, especially when compared with the great makeup job done on Mystique. There's a mutant on the bad team that's named Riptide, but you only find that out if you watch the credits. He's just this guy in tacky suits who makes tornadoes happen and doesn't even have any lines. January Jones still can't act her way out of a paper bag (but she looks gorgeous).
But mostly it's really good. Kevin Bacon is appropriately sneery and even though she can't act January Jones makes for a decent Bond Girl facsimilie (which is obviously what they were going for).
And there are some awesome cameos. I mean really awesome. I won't spoil them for you, but I will say that "go fuck yourself" is my favorite line in the movie. And that the girl in Magneto's bed made me laugh.
I was bummed there was no post-credits scene. Marvel has trained audiences to wait around, and half my theater did... for nothing. That was kind of a let-down. But it's a small complaint, and I don't even know what they could have done there that would fit with the continuity of the rest of the Marvel movies going around.
I would totally pay to see this movie again. In fact, I kind of want to. It was funny, and surprising, and actiony enough to be exciting while still being pretty smart.
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*I will happily watch Origins: Wolverine over and over again, but that's mainly to ogle Hugh Jackman so it doesn't really count.
io9's review points out that they were smart in not taking the same old tired direction with the mutant question as the last few movies. This isn't a heavy-handed allegory for racism or civil rights. This is more a movie about identity and how what you are informs who you are and about what a species will do to ensure it's survival. It's a lot more about evolution, which is sort of the whole point anyway.
But what really makes this movie work are James McEvoy and Michael Fassbender as Professor X and Magneto (respectively). McEvoy plays the young professor with a sort of vigor and relish that you wouldn't expect but it totally works. He's a sort of softer, sexier Charles Xavier, which only makes the circumstances that turn him into the more distant leader he becomes more poignant. And Fassbender's Magneto is sympathetic, and angry, and everything he should be. You find yourself compelled by his arguments. You find yourself torn between wanting to believe in Professor X's unyielding optimism and knowing that Magneto's cynicism is closer to the truth. You can see both sides.
For a movie whose ending everyone already knows, making you give a shit about the story leading to it was no small task. But these guys pull it off. In fact, knowing the ending makes every scene between them sting that much more because you can see what's just around the corner and they can't. And when it all comes down it still feels shocking (there's a certain moment in a gunfight that made me jump out of my seat when I should have totally seen it coming).
And the supporting cast mostly works too. Jennifer Lawrence makes a really convincing Mystique, and you can totally get why she makes the choice she does. The kid who plays Banshee (whose name I don't know) is straight-up awesome.
It wasn't perfect: I don't feel like the Professor X/Moira McTaggart relationship was developed enough to justify the dialogue about it. They told but didn't show, sort of. And there's a climactic scene where Magneto suddenly develops an Irish brogue - in fact, Magneto's accent sort of jumps around the whole movie, from English to American to that brief bit of Irish to mild and not very good German. Beast's makeup/CGI is really sloppy, especially when compared with the great makeup job done on Mystique. There's a mutant on the bad team that's named Riptide, but you only find that out if you watch the credits. He's just this guy in tacky suits who makes tornadoes happen and doesn't even have any lines. January Jones still can't act her way out of a paper bag (but she looks gorgeous).
But mostly it's really good. Kevin Bacon is appropriately sneery and even though she can't act January Jones makes for a decent Bond Girl facsimilie (which is obviously what they were going for).
And there are some awesome cameos. I mean really awesome. I won't spoil them for you, but I will say that "go fuck yourself" is my favorite line in the movie. And that the girl in Magneto's bed made me laugh.
I was bummed there was no post-credits scene. Marvel has trained audiences to wait around, and half my theater did... for nothing. That was kind of a let-down. But it's a small complaint, and I don't even know what they could have done there that would fit with the continuity of the rest of the Marvel movies going around.
I would totally pay to see this movie again. In fact, I kind of want to. It was funny, and surprising, and actiony enough to be exciting while still being pretty smart.
---
*I will happily watch Origins: Wolverine over and over again, but that's mainly to ogle Hugh Jackman so it doesn't really count.