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

[Obiwanshinobi]

Oh also like to add Rose Byrne in lingere was "Schwing" worthy as Wayne and Garth would put it.

[Kaijima]

I give it an A overall, because of largely one reason:

Unlike the original X-Men film trilogy, this movie makes the characters feel comfortable in their own skins. It plays out very naturalistic, with a sense of confidence. The X-Men trilogy was always force and awkward - always a bit too aware that it was trying to "sell" the mainstream audience on these guys, who have Strange Powers, and Sort of Wear Costumes, and may be secret heroes, etc, etc.

I'm not going to add to the long reviews here, but I will point out my only two noteworthy issues:

1. Emma Frost was miscast with an actress who seemed not to respond with emotion or even concern to anything going on around her. The White Queen is a character that is supposed to "steal the scene" when she walks in the room. This performance was utterly flat and pedestrian.

2. Erik suddenly transformed into Evil Mutant Brotherhood Magneto as soon as he stepped out of the wreckage after killing Shaw. It was too sudden. He should have been more angry and panicked, dealing with the missile attack in a more emotional way and with more difficulty considering all he'd just been through. He should have then pleaded, not commanded, people to go with him, get away from the government, go underground, because it was pretty sensible that with the crap that'd just gone down nobody was going to even believe their side of the story. Instead Erik starts blathering like a villain about The Humans and such - he hadn't even had time to develop his Homo Superior chick tracts yet.

Also, a thought on continuity. I don't really mind that we have a few direct contradictions such as Xavier already in a wheel chair, and Erik having already fallen out, when say the opening of X-3 shows a flashback to an older but mobile Xavier cooperating with Erik. Or when Xavier says Magneto helped him build the modern Cerebro. There are still two decades or more of X-Men stories to fill in the gaps. That includes the usual plot twists, such as Xavier having bouts of mobility, or Magneto deeming to work with Xavier again at certain points. If one went back and read the early X-Men stories they'd also appear to have impossible continuity errors when compared directly with a present day storyline - so much has happened involving bait and switches, face heel turns (and back again), and resurrections from the dead.

[Corran Horn]

Saw it tonight. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the two cameos from the previous films.

This movie had a ton of character actors--"That guy"s, I guess. Oliver Platt, Matt Craven, Michael Ironside, Ray Wise, Glenn Morshower, James Remar, Brendan Fehr...plus one of the military guys in the US "War Room" was recognizable but I don't recall his name.

[DarthPipes]

I think the opening box office numbers for X-Men are just fine. X3 and Wolverine Origins left a bad taste in people's mouths. There was no demand for another X-Men movie, especially with films like The Dark Knight and all the new Marvel (and DC) comics coming out. I didn't expect it to do the business it did in previous films. I think $50-$60 million is just about right for First Class, despite what Box Office Mojo thought in an article where they completely overreacted to the box office total.

The real test for the movie is to see what they do in their second week. The word-of-mouth has been very good and if they manage to retain more than half their audience, I say the film can be classified as a hit.

[DarthPipes]

ObiWanShinobi wrote:

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Oh also like to add Rose Byrne in lingere was "Schwing" worthy as Wayne and Garth would put it.

[Nowhere Man]

As far as aging goes, I'd say the Xgene slows the aging process. At the point of the first movieXavior and Erik should be closer to 100 since it's set in the near future. As far as Alex Summers goes, yeah he could be an uncle. I think the rest fits pretty well.Wecan ignore certain parts from other movies.

[IndyJones]

Admiral2 wrote:

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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.

That's....pretty much what she does. She's definitely my least favorite main actor on Mad Men.

[StarTrek1701]

Wow. Didn't expect to be in such a minority for myself.

Grade: C.

Lets just say I was pretty underwhelmed with the story. Michael Fassbender saved what was the salvagable parts of this absolutely uninspired movie. Kevin Bacon was excellent as well. The two cameos were very well done. Action pieces were good even if a bit on the non-memorable side. Darwin, coolest power ever, was wasted without thought. Jennifer Lawrence, a gorgeous girl in her own right, was horrible as Mystique. Banshee and Havoc were useless and so was Fairy Kravitz. January Jones was the worst part of the movie. She acts as if she just needed a paycheck.

Truly disappointed by this. Thought it'd be better.

[Pauln6]

I think they went for 'Ice Maiden' for Emma Frost but I agree she came across as too passive and lacking in any personality as a result.

If Cyclops was shown along with Storm in the Cerebro scan, why can't Havok just be Scott's older brother? I didn't notice Scott so I don't know how old he appeared but Storm looked perhaps 7 years old? I don't know at what age the USA imprisons people but assuming Alex was 18, his brother could be 10 years younger or less. Don't make it more complicated than it needs to be!

Moira's adjusted story - now that is looking a lot more complicated...

Professor X was also known to use a pyscically powered harness to walk for short periods in the comics. There's no need to get too hung up on that issue either.

I'm more concerned by moving from Zavier to Exavier. We aren't so dumb that we can't work out his name begins with an X!

[Wereghost]

^ If Storm was 7 in 1962 then she'd be 47 in 2002, and probably older in X-Men given that it was set in the near future. Halle Berry will be 45 this August. Ergo, I guess that First Class can be seen as a partial reboot. There's really no obstacle to having people like Scott and Jean turn up.

[Agent Richard07]

DarthPipes wrote:

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I noticed that they didn't show too much. A lot of close-ups, quick shots and one guy placed in front of her as she came down the stairs. Maybe Rose doesn't do semi nude and they came up with a compromise.

Set Harth wrote:

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I hadn't thought of that...

[Ethros]

This whole prequel-reboot thing is a bit confusing, I wish they could have just made up their minds.

Why go to the effort of linking it to the others by- (off the top of my head)
-Using the same mansion
-Having Magneto and Mystique together at the end
-Hugh Jackman as Wolverine
-Using totally new characters for the early X-Men
-Same wheelchair for Prox X
-Having Stewart and McKellan in the trailers and on the posters
-Having that throwaway line about Mystique ageing very slowly
-Showing Mystique looking older as Rebecca Romijn
etc etc
And you have stuff like this- little James McAvoy interview

"Ideally you have a story arc that lasts three movies and at the end of the third it leaves you ready for the story in X-Men 1"

And then at the same time ignoring them by-
-Xavier & Magneto together at the start of X3
-Xavier walking in said X3 scene and in XO:W
-Moira's age not syncing up, she'd be about 60-70 by X3
-Same goes for having Storm & Cyclops already around in the Cerebro vision
-The various stuff about Magento helping build Cerebo, Xavier meeting him when he was 17 etc etc
-I think there might be more but I can't recall


I'm not being some whiny geek here, still love the film. I'm just saying. I suppose some of the stuff could be explained in the sequels... Just seems odd is all. I'd rather they either just did an actual prequel, or if they want to do a reboot, fine, but just have the balls to properly do it

[DarthPipes]

Pauln6 wrote:

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I think they went for 'Ice Maiden' for Emma Frost but I agree she came across as too passive and lacking in any personality as a result.

If Cyclops was shown along with Storm in the Cerebro scan, why can't Havok just be Scott's older brother? I didn't notice Scott so I don't know how old he appeared but Storm looked perhaps 7 years old? I don't know at what age the USA imprisons people but assuming Alex was 18, his brother could be 10 years younger or less. Don't make it more complicated than it needs to be!

Moira's adjusted story - now that is looking a lot more complicated...

Professor X was also known to use a pyscically powered harness to walk for short periods in the comics. There's no need to get too hung up on that issue either.

I'm more concerned by moving from Zavier to Exavier. We aren't so dumb that we can't work out his name begins with an X!

Agreed on Emma. Plus, she never would have tolerated the "this drink needs ice" line from Shaw.

[T'Baio]

I feel like the film mostly only contradicts X3.

I'm cool with that.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I concur.