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

[JD]

I loved XM:FC, I even picked it as my favorite comic book movie on IGN's Summer Movie Awards, and it wasn't just me since it won the award. I think you're the only person I've heard from who didn't at least like it. Hell, my mother even liked it.

[exodus]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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That is strange since it is one of the most critically acclaimed of the X-Men films to date.

Yeah but if you believe that then you also might believe the adds that claim critics are calling Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon the best action film of all time. Plus there are many films that are critically acclaimed that the general public just doesn't go for.

[exodus]

RoJoHen wrote:

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No, I just thought it was a terrible movie.
What's very bizarre to me, though, is that the TrekBBS is the only place I've found people who like it. Everybody I know in real life, hated it, too.

I don't doubt it.
It just goes to prove that what is represented here, isn't always representative of the majority. There is a much larger audience that doesn't post in places like this who's voice isn't being represented.

How many claim to have hated Transformers or the SW prequels?
Yet they made LOTS of money, which means many that claimed to have hated them saw them more than once. So several people watched and paid for film(s) they claimed to hate more than once. Many even pay to see films they heard are bad just so they can join the online crowd to bitch about it.

[Brikar99]

exodus wrote:

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Yet they made LOTS of money, which means many that claimed to have hated them saw them more than once.

that is a truly absurd leap of logic.

[Broccoli]

exodus wrote:

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Yeah but if you believe that [...]

AY isn't throwing around general consensus willy-nilly as if he's just reading the review snippets thrown on posters and DVD covers. 87% at Rotten Tomatoes suggests that it was one of the most critically acclaimed X-Men films. While you may not have liked it (which I am not sure if that is the case, to be honest), that's fine, but you can't deny it was a well-reviewed film.

[JacksonArcher]

The film was very well-reviewed. The Rotten Tomatoes score affirms that. Plus, the general consensus, both on these forums and elsewhere, suggests X-Men: First Class was a very well-received and generally liked film.

The film made $150 million domestic, and over $350 million worldwide, which is pretty good considering the film was one of four major comic-book movies that were released this year. Five if you're counting The Green Hornet. Those four were also released in the summer, and on top of that, you have the other tentpoles that were released concurrently with those comic-book movies, and basically you have an overstuffed summer movie season.

Not to mention that the last two X-Men films were generally poorly received from critics as well as most mainstream audiences. X-Men: First Class had a lot going against it. Plus, the film had a practically unknown cast of pedigree actors with no box office standing. With all of these factors added into the equation, you begin to understand why First Class didn't make as much as the other X-Men films. Also, it was the fifth film in the franchise, and sequels occasionally lend themselves to diminishing returns.

X-Men: First Class did very well in its first week of DVD/Blu-Ray release, earning somewhere around $30 million. I think that's enough evidence to suggest that mainstream audiences liked the film, and would be interested in a sequel. I, for one, loved the film and I can't wait for another installment. I think there's a lot of interesting mythology left to explore, and the universe that the first film hinted at is vast. I can't wait to see a sequel explore the rest of the 60's, spanning Kennedy's assassination, and possible mutant involvement in the Vietnam War. Plus, the mid-to-late 60's is when civil rights started becoming a big issue, and what better time to have an X-Men story but in the time of the civil rights movement?

The possibilities are endless, so I'm hopeful and excited at the prospects of another X-Men film set in the First Class universe/continuity/setting. So long as Bryan Singer is once more producing and Matthew Vaughn is once more directing (even though I wouldn't mind if Singer stepped in front of the camera again).

[Admiral_Young]

@exodus I can understand if you personally didn't like the film. That doesn't mean that it was a bad film, it means you personally thought it was a bad film and didn't enjoy it. To further my point Fox's TV spots for the First Class DVD actually advertise Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh rating!!! You don't see that very often. That is just an indication of how pleased they are with the critical acclaim. Not to mention the majority of the people in this very thread seemed to enjoy the film. As Broccoli stated I wasn't just being a mark and spouting off some critics statement. There has been an overwhelming general consensus regarding First Class. I'm sorry that you and some others didn't enjoy it.

[doubleohfive]

I'm not seeing the problem here ... its still 1962 at the end of the film, right?

Granted, I'm not up to speed on the old Marvel/X-Men storylines but...

Why can't the civil rights story not happen in the sequels? Couldn't they just pick up the next day in '62 and have the mutant civil rights issues/real world civil rights issues storyline continue?

Yes, Magneto, Mystique et al ran off at the end and will eventually become villains, but I didn't interpret the ending of First Class as them being outright evil. It was more an "us vs. them" mentality, the dividing line of which being the different philopsophies of Xavier and Magneto.

If I'm remembering the ending of the film correctly, and what little I know about X-Men continuity holds up, I don't see why the sequels can't touch upon the complementing civil rights allegories as exodus has suggested should have been included in the First Class.

[Captaindemotion]

^ Yes, since when did the Civil Rights struggle end in 1962? I mean, I know this is an alternative history and all, but still...

[JacksonArcher]

Excellently said, doubleohfive.

I don't think the ending was necessarily definitive, at least in terms of making Magneto, Mystique, etc. outright villains. In the comics, Magneto has led the X-Men in the past, he's joined the team, etc. I think it would be really interesting at some point in the second or third film if Magneto joins the X-Men, helping Xavier build Cerebro (which was mentioned in the original trilogy), and something happens to Xavier which forces Magneto to lead the X-Men in the final battle. There would be a wonderful conflict of ideals, ideologies, etc. - Magneto would obviously wish a more disastrous outcome, but most of the X-Men would most likely attempt to preserve Xavier's more pacifist idealism.

We saw a little bit of that at the tail end of First Class- with Erik and Raven leaving the X-Men at the end, but I feel like there could be so much more to that. What happens when Magneto and Mystique have to face Xavier, Beast, etc. again? The great thing about Magneto's character is that, like most great villains, a lot of the times he has a point. It would be really creatively rich to explore that. There's potential to create some wonderful internal conflict among the X-Men that hints at the very core of the X-Men ideology.

As Matthew Vaughn said, at least with a second film, that there would be no need to jump forward to the 70's or 80's just yet. At least not until the third film. Like I mentioned before, there's the rest of the 60's to explore, which were a very pivotal time in not only America but across the globe. Kennedy's assassination, the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King, Jr. etc - all provide for dramatically engaging background fodder for these future installments. It's what I am most looking forward to in terms of anticipating First Class sequels.

[Gaith]

Let's just not have an evil mutant killing Kennedy, please.

[Forbin]

Hey Kennedy was killed BECAUSE he favored Mutant equality!

[Captain Craig]

Gaith wrote:

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Let's just not have an evil mutant killing Kennedy, please.

Then you likely are not going to like Matthew Vaughn's ideas about how 'Second Class' might start. Movieline, dateline: 5/24/11

“I’ve got some ideas for the opening for the next film. I thought it would be fun to open with the Kennedy Assassination, and we reveal that the magic bullet was controlled by Magneto. That would explain the physics of it, and we see that he’s pissed off because Kennedy took all the credit for saving the world and mutants weren’t even mentioned. ..."

[JacksonArcher]

"Magic bullet". Haha.

[Captaindemotion]

Calling Oliver Stone...