X-Men: First Class (2011)
Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were arch-enemies, they were closest of friends, working together with other mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known.
I absolutely adored this movie, and I left the theater with a huge smile on my face. This film pleased me, and went way above my expectations. Jennifer Lawrence, Lucas Till, Nicholas Hoult, and many others made this film worth watching. I have always enjoyed superhero movies, as well as the X-Men Series, and this movie made me love them even more! I really want to see the second one when it comes out!
X-Men has reached new heights with this movie, and my hope has been restored. As I was going to sleep, I thought of this movie, and conjured up different ideas! I had dreams for weeks and weeks about mutants, and superheroes. It actually inspired me to write stories on my laptop, and I actually won a writing contest at my school for one of the stories that I created that related to X-Men. What an extraordinary masterpiece of an X-Men film...I will never ever forget this experience!
Lastly, before I wrap this up...the Hellfire Club was exactly how I imagined it when I read the comics! The costumes, computer animation effects, and the overall acting was what made it really come to life on the screen. Everyone around me was satisfied, and my boyfriend specifically loved this film. He said it was one of the best he's ever seen, and he wasn't disappointed at all! PLEASE SEE THIS MOVIE! IT WON'T DISAPPOINT YOU!
A pretty good movie. Definitely not as good as the second one. They probably could have found a few more fitting actors. I liked the guy who played Magneto he was pretty good. Hope to see more X-Men movies with all of the original actors.
When Eric and Prof X go to the bar as they are scouting for mutants, the two line "conversation" is the best line in the movie. Hugh Jackman you are a damn good carniverous mammal!
terrible movie \never waste your money
I walked out of the theater after seeing this film in a great mood and up until I finally drifted to sleep, I was thinking about this film and how awesome it was. I think the last time I was excited like this after seeing a movie was The Dark Knight. Is it better than that movie…no…but it is right up there with having been able to grip the audience with its story, acting and film style. This was a tremendous film with few flaws and the flaws it does have won’t fully take you out of the film.
The film starts off like the first X-men film, with a Nazi concentration camp where we see a young boy being torn from his parents only to release a power within him that crushes a gate. Only this time we see that a man interested in exploiting that power has seen the whole thing and plans to make it happen again. He does this by bringing Erik Lensherr, the young boy who would be Magneto, to a violent rage that brings his power to the surface. This Nazi soon becomes the films villain, Sebastian Shaw, played to creepy greatness by Kevin Bacon. In another part of the world, a rich young boy, Charles Xavier, has just met a young girl, Raven, who has special abilities different from his own and brings her into his home.
Flash forward and our rich kid is now a cocky womanizer who uses his gifts of telepathy to pick up on young coeds. While Erik has become a world traveling Nazi hunter looking for the man who made him what he is by killing what he loved. A CIA team has found something interesting that threatens the world with Sebastian Shaw’s new Hellfire Club and they have recruited Charles Xavier to help them stop him. On their first mission they meet Erik. Charles saves him and brings him into the team as nd they then start to recruit mutants around America to train them to become soldiers in a new kind of war. When the CIA component of this new team is annihilated, it is up to Charles and Erik to help the young mutants control their abilities to save the world.
Earlier this year this film was absent from my “most anticipated” list for the year and after seeing this, I am sure it will end up on my best of 2011 list, most likely in the top 3. I wasn’t interested because I didn’t think anything of it. The first pictures were okay and the first trailer didn’t really deliver the “I gotta see’s” in me. I was wrong. This is an absolutely engrossing film from start to finish and is a fantastic inclusion into the summer blockbuster category. But it goes beyond that with not only having a fulfilling story but having fantastic acting.
James McAvoy does well as the young Xavier and fits perfectly. After seeing the film, I can’t really imagine anyone else doing a better job in the role. Kevin Bacon is really good as the films main villan, and his introduction at the beginning of the film is his best part. Nicholas Hoult does great as Hank McCoy/Beast, Jennifer Lawrence is good as Mystique and the rest of the cast shines as well as the first X-men. But this film really does belong to Michael Fassbender. Every emotion jumps off the screen with this guy, when he hurts, you feel it with him, when he is happy with a single memory, you’re touched by his reaction and when he gets revenge, you can sense his satisfaction. The moments with him and McAvoy are great.
There are a few weak links that won’t bother most and can be glossed over if you’re able to. First off, the easy one, Riptide, the mute mutant, was hokey and pretty much worthless, didn’t need him. Next was the character of Darwin. For such an “open-minded” group like Hollywood and a movie theme that is supposed to be about acceptance and tolerance, they sure did kill off the black guy in stereotypical fashion, like a typical horror movie. Then there is the last flaw that plagued the last X-men movie from start to finish.
That last flaw is the ham-handed wink at gay rights and the Hollywood continuance of forcing this on the viewing public. After awhile I was waiting for the team of mutants to start chanting, “We’re here, we’re mutant, get used to it.” There were digs at DADT and many other gay rights jokes, which shouldn’t be a surprise since its original director, current producer is gay and the view of the industry as a whole is to push this onto us. Why? It’s just the flavor of the month and we must all be re-edumacated. Forget that the X-men were originally about prejudice and intolerance across religion, race, etc. No, it’s really just about gay people. I always found this odd since the cruddy movie before this one, that it was the villains who so ardently used the vocabulary and views of the liberals who force this on others. And it was Charles Xavier, the good guy, who always pushed for real tolerance, meaning, though some would not agree with him, we still had to live together in the same world and tolerate each other. In other words creators, just entertain me, don’t push your beleifs on me in your “subtle” way.
Regardless of that last paragraph, this is a well done film that will please fans of the superhero genre. It has outstanding acting, a great and engrossing story and well-balanced characters. The ending of the alliance between Charles and Erik could have used another movie to happen, but what can ya do? I look forward to seeing what might come next with this franchise.
I've seen all the X-Men films and this one was my 2nd fav. I did prefer X-Men Orgins: Wolverine. But I finally understood magneto's life and Proffesor X's
Definatly best one so far. for any Xmen fan this will be the ultimate movie. Filled with action, super powers, training montages and a few hothothot people. This is for sure the answer to all your Xmen questions, such as: Why is Professer X in a wheelchair? and why is Magneto such a cunt?
Oh and an epic little cameo with Hugh Jackman tops it off nicely.
One word! AWESOME!!! Loved the guy who played Professor X and developed a better understanding of Magneto.. Very good.
After the release of X-Men: The Last Stand, it was pretty clear that Hollywood wasn’t going to go any “forward†with the X-Men trilogy, but instead go back in time. With X-Men Origins: Wolverine being a disappointment to X-Men fans all over the world, does X-Men: First Class manage to revive the hopes of beloved Marvel Comics fans everywhere?
First Class takes us back to the beginning of time, or at least the time when Professor X was still Charles and when Magneto was still Erik. The storyline has a bittersweet feel to it. For those who fell in love with the first X-Men film then the plot in First Class would definitely not disappoint. It follows closely to the story in the first X-Men movie, with examples such as Magneto’s past being very similar, if not a carbon copy of what we see in the first X-Men. There are also many moments in First Class that really reward true followers of the X-Men movies. Those moments flow smoothly into one another as they continue to build up the rest of the story. It’s great fun to watch, because you get explanations of certain things in the first X-Men movie, along with the rest of the trilogy, that you never did before. The writers made sure to be detailed in ensuring that they patched up any gaps in the storyline.
Unfortunately, although the writers did a fantastic job, the whole idea of adapting a long-living, history-filled comic book series by Stan Lee and mutating it into a 2 hour film just doesn’t seem possible. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a clear example of that, with Hollywood taking out some of the more notable characters such as Gambit, adding some special effects, action and mildly amusing humour. But such isn’t the case with X-Men: First Class. Sure, the storyline doesn’t follow the comic book series 100%. In fact, there are multiple loopholes that true fans of the comic-book series would be able to spot easily. In fact, there are those little loopholes that even pure X-Men Movie Followers would be able to spot out, as long as they had common sense. Still, X-Men: First Class boasts a plot of its own. One has to applaud this audacious move the writers made by diving backwards and rebuilding an entire story that leads to the X-Men Trilogy. Some loopholes were actually forgivable, such as having Charles and Erik scout for mutants that the writers thought would be good to use in this film. It was pretty obvious that this was unavoidable, considering it was a Hollywood remake. But be prepared, there’s a surprise cameo in this “mutant scouting†scene that will leave you laughing out loud…
Taking into consideration every X-Men film ever made, X-Men First Class is indeed a first class X-Men film. The only problem I personally had with the show was that there wasn’t enough “X-Men-ish†moments in it. There were scenes that just dragged and were frankly, quite boring. I felt that if they took away those moments, or just made it simpler, the movie would have been better, although one cannot complain because it was these such moments that allowed the story to flow better. Still, it wouldn’t have hurt to include more mutants showing off their powers, and maybe even including more mutants themselves, or at least more notable ones…
Overall, the film is great. The cast, made up of mostly young adults, was a nice change from seeing the same faces over and over again. Filled with action, superpowers and energy, this film won’t disappoint any X-Men movie fan, and it still has something to please even the most hardcore X-Men Comic Book Fans…
Rating: 8/10
