X-MEN: FIRST CLASS - Grading+Discussion **SPOILERS!**

[T'Baio]

As for your signature, Admiral_Young, as far as I can tell, the answer would be yes.

Which makes X-Men: First Class all the better. Ha!

[Admiral_Young]

^ The answer has finally been given!!!

[John Clark]

Just got back from seeing it. Thought it was very good

[Captain Craig]

Grade: A+

That is a grade containing no hyperbole or bias. I almost graded it an 'A' just for some inconsistencies which seem apparent now but kept the + cause they could reconcile those later somehow, someway if they choose.

I saw it at a sold out 9:30pm show and the audience was soooo into it. When it's appropriate reactions to something on screen I'm cool. No one within earshot of me was engaged in idle chit-chat. No cell phones went off nor were illuminated. I'm inclined to think that's because people were that into the film that no distraction was needed.

Even though I didn't know it about Darwin I had a suspicion something would happen to him since he was missing from the bulk of the tv spots. Angel I figured out as the movie went along. Is she with the Brotherhood in the books?

Interesting choice to have Riptide in the film. I don't recall him ever being called by his codename though.

Having Banshee in the film adds some continuity imo to the great X2 cause Siryn is in there. Now it's age appropriate that he'd be old enough to have a daughter at the school!

Like others the Wolverine cameo had been spoiled but not the Rebecca Romijn one. As the film was playing and he said "Maybe when your older", she shifts again but is out of focus. I thought when the refocused it would be Emma, then when it was Rebecca I good portion of the audience had a positive "hey" type response.

I caught the Storm cameo during the Cerebro hunt but missed any others.

I know this board has a fair number of people who like, no love, Daniel Craig as James Bond and as an actor I like him as well. He's just never been an ideal Bond for me. In XM:FC when Fassbender is sneaking onto Shaw's yacht in that black dive suit, pulls out his knife and begins to search for Shaw the Bond notes just instantly started in my head. Fassbender should've been Bond. He looks it and pulls it off in a manner much more akin to Brosnan, Dalton and Connery. Oh, and that trip to Argentina, his first badass moment on screen. The trick he pulled with that knife!!!

It would not be fair to not mention how equally great James McAvoy was as Charles. His performance was just as great as Fassbender for the character he was portraying. The nods to hair loss were nice and not overdone. His pickup lines, funny. The very serious moments between he and Erik on the Lincoln Memorial steps, at the estate and outside the CIA compound were all well scripted and acted moments for those characters. It sold that these two men did indeed share something, something special that is clearly alluded to in the first films.

For anyone reading this far down I'll also say the movie DOES NOT give all the cool shots away in the trailers/tv spots. I had begun to worry that would be the case. It's a long movie so lots of cool still to be seen.

How Magneto finished Shaw was AWESOME!!! It had that sting of irony to it that surpasses anything gruesome that could've been done or implemented by a lesser director/executive producer.

The closing sequence at the credits that was done in a 60's vibe had me recalling that fan made piece for the opening credits.

I also appreciated how the film would periodically remind you that yes, this is an era film. We got a fair amount of stock footage to help you clearly recall we were in a historical setting for this.

I really liked THOR, gave it an A- and said that set the bar high out of the gate. First Class just "served" the next two comic book movies.

Most of the audience applauded as the credits rolled, that happens rarely in my experience.

[DarthPipes]

I think Lorna Dane should be in the next X-Men. Think about it, she's Havok's love interest and in some of the continuity, Magneto's daughter. One thing that got lost in Magneto's origin was him having a family. It would give both the team and Magneto an emotional stake in the next film.

[JD]

I'm really starting to think this could be one of the best summer movie seasons in a long time. So far I've loved the two big summer movies I've seen (Thor and Kung Fu Panda 2) and I'm pretty sure at this point I'm gonna feel the same way about this.

[Agent Richard07]

The Dark Knight is still tops for me.

[davejames]

Hmm, thought it was good, not great. There were certainly some terrific sequences and a lot of great performances..... but the story jumped around SO freakin much and was so choppy that it was hard for me to form any real emotional connection to what I was watching.

Also, the way Shaw went about tricking the US and Russians into nearly starting a war just felt way too simplistic and cartoonish to me. Instead of using any kind of clever emotional manipulation or playing on people's insecurities.... all he did was basically threaten people into doing his bidding. He might as well have saved time and had his devil-looking buddy teleport into the missle control rooms and push the launch buttons himself. lol

And on top of that, it kinda felt like the movie was rehashing the same "humans vs mutants" arguments we've already heard a hundred times before.

It's possible most of those concerns would go away on a second viewing, but so far the movie doesn't even come close to X2 in my mind.

[Admiral2]

A

I liked the James Bond/Sixties Caper Movie feel to it, and Michael Fassbender nailed Erik Lensherr/Magneto, and most of the performances were pretty good. I liked the story, thought the cameos fit nicely and was satisfied with the way the ending tied into to first movie.

I do have "notes":

-I did like the sixties setting, but the blatant rip of the whole "Dr. Strangelove" war room scene was a bit much. Admittedly, most of the audience for this movie probably never even heard of Dr. Strangelove. I've seen it a few times.

-Moira MacTaggart and Banshee should have had Scottish accents. It would have been nice to have them here. Maybe it would have been a little much for the kid playing Banshee, but Rose Byrne's already faking an American accent. Would a Scottish one be so hard?

-Two things about Emma Frost:

1) I don't know what kind of actress she is on Mad Men, but January Jones acted like she was reading off a teleprompter...for the first time.

2) The diamond skin power is stupid. It was stupid in the comic, it was stupid in the movie. Emma Frost started out a powerful telepath, one capable of taking on Prof. X and Jean Grey. She doesn't need any stinking diamond skin power.

[M'rk, son of Mogh]

davejames wrote:

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And on top of that, it kinda felt like the movie was rehashing the same "humans vs mutants" arguments we've already heard a hundred times before.

lol, yes. This IS the X-Men, you know.

That's akin to complaining about Hulk smashing in his movies.

[Set Harth]

Admiral2 wrote:

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-I did like the sixties setting, but the blatant rip of the whole "Dr. Strangelove" war room scene was a bit much.

Watchmen did the same thing, at least in terms of set design. Apparently the Strangelove war room has become cultural fact.

Admiral2 wrote:

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-Moira MacTaggart and Banshee should have had Scottish accents. It would have been nice to have them here.

She had the accent in X3. Maybe she picks it up later?

[Nowhere Man]

I saw it last night, I voted B, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. I'm having the same problem I had with Thor, I liked the mObie, but don't know much about the characters. I'm sure upon a rewatch I will like it more. I grew up watching the X-Men cartoons and loved them, but I never read the comics, ima DC man. I can say the soundtrack was awesome, it sounded very much like the other movies. I loved all the little moments like them training at Xavior's house. Iloved Professor X and Magneto playing chess, Beast and all of his moments. The Blackbird, the yellow suits. Kevin Bacon was awesome it was funny seeing him in the helmet with his pig nose. I think this was truly Magneto's film. I loved Wolvorine's cameo. I loved the setting. Everyone keeps saying it was like a Bond film, I was thinking that the whole time, Shaw's sub, the CIA, the whole shebang. The only real problem I had was my lack of knowing some of the other characters. Obviously Alex Summers is Scott's dad, but the others I didn't know. I liked how Professor X saw Storm, but I couldn't figure out who the others were. I walked away thinking this was a great prequel and a great fit for the other X-Men movies. I can see a sequel that will tie it up nice and tight. I don't see it so much as a reboot, but more of a continuation. I was thinking while I was watching that this felt very much like a live action version of the cartoon, but like a flashback. That is not to say it was cartoonish, but it really felt like the comic book brought to life. One more thought, does anyone think that we might see Omega Red since it's the 60's now?

[Admiral2]

Set Harth wrote:

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Watchmen did the same thing, at least in terms of set design. Apparently the Strangelove war room has become cultural fact.

She had the accent in X3. Maybe she picks it up later?

Well, obviously, the CIA exiled her to Scotland because she was useless and she picked it up living there.

[Agent Richard07]

Matthew Vaughn instructed the cast to do away with all accents in their performances. James McAvoy had planned to copy Patrick Stewart's voice (since McAvoy was going to play a younger version of Stewart's Xavier), but Vaughn quashed it; Vaughn also told Rose Byrne that Moira MacTaggart would not have her trademark Scottish accent in the film (to the Scottish McAvoy's mild disappointment).

Source

[Admiral2]

Agent Richard07 wrote:

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Source

So it's the director's fault. Bastard!!!