As I mentioned at the start one of the most amazing things about X-Men: First Class is that about half of it is in subtitles. Seriously! As the heroes and villains globe hop we get to find out how many languages they [well Fassbender, really] can speak. We have German, spoken surprisingly well by Kevin Bacon, Russian and Spanish as well. I love that comic book movies nowadays realise that they don't have to pander to the lowest common denominator in the audience. Many of us coming to see these movies are not only fans of the comics, but are also generally intelligent people, who are not opposed to reading subtitles AND love awesome action and explosions!
Let me get something out of the way before I get into this next bit. I love James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. They are two actors that I will literally follow anywhere, literature, action, I'm there. So when I say that they were wonderful in this movie, you may not quite believe that I'm being completely objective, but that's your loss. These actors have to follow in the footsteps of cinematic giants in the roles that they're playing, Sir Ian McKellan and Sir Patrick Stewart, that's right, two KNIGHTS! However, they bring new life to the characters, now at the beginning of their X-lives. McAvoy is charming and energetic as the young Charles Xavier. While his intentions might not always be pure, they are always good. Watching him want to see the best in not only his new friend Erik, but the rest of the human world that seems hellbent on destroying themselves during the Cuban missile crisis, you really get a sense of Xavier and the man/mutant he will become.
On the other side we get Michael Fassbender, who is absolutely electric as Erik Lehnsherr, soon to be known as Magneto. His motivations behind his mutant brotherhood from the later movies become perfectly clear. He's forced by unspeakable methods to learn to unleash his powers when he's in a German concentration camp as a child. After the war he spends his adult life tracking down the men responsible for his personal pain, especially Kevin Bacon's Sebastian Shaw. Where McAvoy is charming, Fassbender is charismatic and enigmatic, and, it nearly goes without saying, really sexy. He's a dangerous man who's angry at the human race, he's seen what people can do to each other and is determined to use his powers to rise above them.
The friendship between these men seems wholly unlikely, considering their opposing ideologies. But in the beginning it was just about bringing mutants together, to train, so they could oppose Shaw's evil mutants. There was a super fantastic cameo during their recruitment campaign, I'm not going to spoil it, but it was AWESOME! And made up for the no Stan Lee cameo in this flick.
Jennifer Lawrence is on a tear. Nominated for an Oscar in the spring, snapped up the lead in a major franchise ['Hunger Games'] AND steals the show from the other ladies in X-Men: First Class. Her portrayal of the conflicted Raven/Mystique was wonderful. What she really wants is to be accepted and loved for who she is, to be 'mutant and proud'. She's grown up being friends with Charles but doesn't seem to share his optimism about humans eventually accepting mutants, quite possibly because she has to constantly hide who she is, even from other mutants.
On the other hand we have January Jones. Siiigh, sure she fills out Emma Frost's white bra nicely, but she's stiff as cardboard. She's obviously there as arm candy for Kevin Bacon, and that's probably a good thing.
Like I said before, I was pretty impressed with this flick and would be happy to see more of these characters in X-roles, as long as the studios keep up the character driven stories. It's the reason we love the comics and the thing that makes movies interesting! So way to go Matthew Vaughn! [that's the director, folks] keep up the good work and I'll be in my seat at the theatre!
The friendship between these men seems wholly unlikely, considering their opposing ideologies. But in the beginning it was just about bringing mutants together, to train, so they could oppose Shaw's evil mutants. There was a super fantastic cameo during their recruitment campaign, I'm not going to spoil it, but it was AWESOME! And made up for the no Stan Lee cameo in this flick.
Jennifer Lawrence is on a tear. Nominated for an Oscar in the spring, snapped up the lead in a major franchise ['Hunger Games'] AND steals the show from the other ladies in X-Men: First Class. Her portrayal of the conflicted Raven/Mystique was wonderful. What she really wants is to be accepted and loved for who she is, to be 'mutant and proud'. She's grown up being friends with Charles but doesn't seem to share his optimism about humans eventually accepting mutants, quite possibly because she has to constantly hide who she is, even from other mutants.
On the other hand we have January Jones. Siiigh, sure she fills out Emma Frost's white bra nicely, but she's stiff as cardboard. She's obviously there as arm candy for Kevin Bacon, and that's probably a good thing.
Like I said before, I was pretty impressed with this flick and would be happy to see more of these characters in X-roles, as long as the studios keep up the character driven stories. It's the reason we love the comics and the thing that makes movies interesting! So way to go Matthew Vaughn! [that's the director, folks] keep up the good work and I'll be in my seat at the theatre!
I love that you can pick out all the great from this movie and remind me that it WAS a really good movie. I sometimes get sidetracked by all of the little things and forget that the movie was actually really enjoyable.
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