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

[Wereghost]

Then there were certain Bond girls...

[KB24]

And I was looking for a way to post this banner one of my friends made! Thanks Scrawny!

[Alidar Jarok]

Flying Spaghetti Monster wrote:

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I still can't believe they got Magneto wrong. His gripe was with humanity, or, at least humans who despise those that are different. But his enemy here is not that at all, it's an uber-powerful mutant.

I think that's clearly explained. Quite possibly one of the most explained things. To not get that would require missing a good chunk of the movie. The clearest aspect is in the conversation between them before battle and Magneto's motivations. But, for the more subtle aspect, it's quite clear that Shaw and Magneto are similar in goals and ideals (although I think Magneto has more humanity, which is why Professor X never truly abandons him). That's why, as soon as Shaw is dead, he turns to those he had just been fighting and offers to let them join him. You can even see it symbolically with him putting on the helmet Shaw was just wearing (although that was probably more for plot reasons to weaken Xavier).

The other thing is I hate the fact that Xavier and Erik are friends for a bit, recruit some other kids and part ways, whereas in the original; trilogy they have been good friends for a much longer time. I mean I know many people who, in my 20's, I was good 30's.

In the original trilogy, they remained friends even when fighting. There's no reason to believe this isn't the case here either. Clearly, even though they are on opposite sides, they parted amicably. Charles wouldn't have told Raven to go with Erik if this weren't the case.

[Praetor_Shinzon]

after seeing Erik hunting down Nazis at the very beginning of the movie, i'd be for Fassbender taking over as Bond once Craig is done.

[exodus]

Aeolusdallas wrote:

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No people's opinions are not likely to change. Why? Because it truly is a great movie.

I think what changed is how we now define "great".

[KB24]

I thought he was going to toss his hat in that Argentinian Bar, I swear! And the storming Shaw's yacht had me so thinking License to Kill.

Seriously though I think the Bond like style to the film is what sets it apart. Bond is a real world agent just doing dashing things and having sometimes fantastic gadgets. This was a movie about people who happen to be mutants that have super powers. As opposed to you know Michael Bay where it is, 'how cool and over the top can I make this' first.


I have to catch up in the thread. Who gave the C and Ds?

[RoJoHen]

*raises hands* I gave it a C. I was tremendously disappointed.

[archeryguy1701]

I'm giving it an A. I went in not really liking what I had seen beforehand, but I wanted to give it a shot since I enjoyed the other X-movies. I was very pleasently surprised. It was a very entertaining movie. Xavier was well played and I loved the guy who did Magneto. Kevin Bacon was very good as Shaw. It was kind of interesting to see the dynamic between Xavier and Erik. It added another aspect of the various relationships when Xavier was in favor of Beast and Mystique taking the "cure" while Erik was pushing more for the, "We should be accepted as we are," point. Can't say I cared much for the kids though. They admittedly kind of annoyed me. Overall, a very entertaining movie.

Flying Spaghetti Monster wrote:

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I still can't believe they got Magneto wrong. His gripe was with humanity, or, at least humans who despise those that are different. But his enemy here is not that at all, it's an uber-powerful mutant.

I think you're putting a bit too much stock into Shaw being a mutant. Yes, the main person he's chasing is a mutant, but he was tortured at the hands of Nazis for being a Jew, he was tortured and harassed by Nazis and likely other people for being a mutant. He even talked about it several times through the movie- the fact that people don't and likely won't accept them and having the humans betray them in the end proved his point. Hell, he didn't even know he was chasing a mutant (or that there were other mutants) until he ran into Xavier.

[Samurai8472]

KB24 wrote:

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I thought he was going to toss his hat in that Argentinian Bar, I swear! And the storming Shaw's yacht had me so thinking License to Kill.

With the wet suit I thought "Goldfinger"

KB24 wrote:

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And I was looking for a way to post this banner one of my friends made! Thanks Scrawny!

Direct homage to Goldfinger with one to two scene in "First Class"

Praetor_Shinzon wrote:

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after seeing Erik hunting down Nazis at the very beginning of the movie, i'd be for Fassbender taking over as Bond once Craig is done.

We just talked about that at superherohype

http://forums.superherohype.com/show...346738&page=15








I have a feeling Fassbender will go the way of Clive Owen and get passed over for someone unknown.

Fassbender's star is already rising with "Inglorious Basterds" and future X-men sequels.

EON might want to go with an unknown again.

"That guy from Tomb Raider?!"

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Yeah but making him a human, especially one that coonfirms everything Erik hates about human's would have made Erik's ark much stronger. Making him a mutant (even one he didn't know about to begin with) dilutes that, because in the other films Magneto has such a strong hatred for preducial humans. Also making this mutant uber-powerful seems like a move by the producers to go for the lowest common demnominator in blockbuster movie making. It ght have been interesting to see this Nazu perform these experiments on mutants, but then gradually change as he learns more about thm. He wouldn't totally sympathize with them, but just as he seems to be getting close to doing so, Erik kills him.

One of my favorite scenes in the first film is when Erik is looking at the Statue of Liberty and telling Rogue what it meant to him. The Erik in this movie seems so different from that awesome character we had.

[KB24]

Thank you Samurai! I wasn't going to go super crazy and post all my Bond evidence. Maybe when the DVD of this comes out I can make screen captures and do frame by frame examples!



^'that guy who played Magneto' hehe, before that he was 'that guy in Inglorious Basterds' and before that was 'a guy in 300'. Why do people so much trouble with his name? My husband thought he was Jim Fastbendit!




Did I miss your thoughts Rojo? My only disappointment was the weak lesser mutants, but I liked everything else so much, I don't really care about them.

[T'Baio]

JacksonArcher wrote:

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I didn't mind January Jones' performance. I mean, her name is Emma Frost. It would make sense her delivery was, well, icy.

You now look and sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger in my mind's eye. Thanks a lot.

[Admiral_Young]

Fassbender is my choice to succeed Craig. Clive Owen was I believe already considered when they were searching for Brosnan's successor.

[CaptainCanada]

I'd probably put it in the A-/A range as a film. Strong production values all around, and the 60s period setting is tremendously fun; it's not surprising that superhero films don't do more of this, but it's refreshing (and there's another one coming up in a month or so).

The film's plot managed to surprise me in a number of instances. Some of them were just as simple as killing off actors that I didn't expect them to get rid of so quickly, as with Oliver Platt.

Character-wise, there are basically three tiers:

1. Professor X, Magneto, Mystique (surprisingly)
2. Beast, Moira
3. Everybody Else

Tier 3 is fine as action figures, but there are occasionally significant moments that hang on them which are a bit of a stretch - Angel's defection would be the most obvious instance of this. But then, having more characters than can be managed effectively is fairly in keeping with X-Men comics.

Everybody cites Fassbender as the standout, and he is indeed quite impressive, but I'll just chip in for Jennifer Lawrence, who impresses me more and more. I suspect she's at the start of a long and successful career. McAvoy is also very good as Xavier, though he strikes me as an actor who is perpetually waiting for the film where's he's allowed to be the main event; even when he's notionally the lead and is very good, he always ends up being overshadowed by his (often female) costars (Keira Knightley and Saorise Ronan, Forrest Whitaker, Angelina Jolie, Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer, etc.).

[TrekkieMonster]

RoJoHen wrote:

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*raises hands* I gave it a C. I was tremendously disappointed.

I also gave it a C. I wasn't "tremendously" disappointed, but I was definitely disappointed.