x-men: first class

I was looking through the old posts that I have, and I realized I never really posted about X-Men: First Class. I made a post for literally every other movie I have seen this summer (in theatres, at least), so I figured I might as well talk about First Class, since I enjoyed it so much. First of all, it’s a superhero movie, much like Thor, Green Lantern and Captain America all were; indeed, the name ‘X-Men’ has become insanely popular, and I would argue that of these four big ticket comic-book movies released this summer, X-Men: First Class had the largest appeal. It’s been a TV show (so my generation would know it), and it’s been reincarnated several times since I was a little kid, meaning that other kids would know it as well. It’s been made into a popular movie franchise as well, with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, and many people regard X-2 to be one of the better comic book movies ever made. With the movie kind of riding on the coattails of its previous success, I was wondering just how good First Class would turn out to be…and man, it was probably one of the better movies (superhero or not) that I had seen in quite some time!

First of all, the acting. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender were the two stars in this movie, as young versions of Professor X and Magneto, respectively. It was interesting to learn of their backstories, and learn how the characters came to be as they are now (‘now’ meaning them as they are in the comics, ultra powerful leaders of mutants).They’re pretty awesome characters as they are, but, the movie definitely makes them more interesting. They have a bromance, pretty much, and are the best of friends…something that the earlier X-Men movies hints at, as the two are always cordial and even nice to each other most of the time. Professor X even goes to visit Magneto in prison, once he’s there, and they play chess and discuss other things; all this is reflected in the relationship that McAvoy and Fassbender cultivate in First Class, and it’s awesome.

I’ve read more than a few reviews of this movie since it’s come out, and nearly all of them have said what I’m going to say next: Michael Fassbender is awesome. I knew I recognized him from SOMEwhere; he’s the British soldier/spy dude from ‘Inglourious Basterds’, the Quentin Tarantino movie about WWII (with an interesting alternate ending). Anyway, he was in that movie, and he was pretty fantastic…and then I kind of never heard of him again. Suddenly, he was in First Class, and I was pretty excited, since he’s a pretty decent actor. What I saw, however, blew me away. Everything about him really pushed forward the character of Magneto, from the relationship with Xavier to his first ‘adult’ showing of his powers…he goes into a bank run by a Nazi sympathizer, and PULLS OUT THE GUY’S FILLING with his powers. That’s an interesting use right there. He then travels to Argentina, and proceeds to badass the place up…it’s just awesome in every way. He’s supremely talented, and the interesting story of Magneto definitely showed that to a more mainstream audience than ‘Inglourious Basterds’ ever could.

Xavier was alright. He was better than I thought he was going to be, with James McAvoy as the character. Like I said, I don’t really like McAvoy, but he was good. I enjoyed him using his powers to see into the minds of women to glean info about them, and then try to impress them…it was just funny seeing the usually stoic Xavier being basically a playboy. The character of Moira McTaggert was also super hot; I forget the actress’ name, but man, smoooooking hot. January Jones as Emma Frost was also pretty solid. She was there to look hot, and that she did, extremely well.
The villain, for me, is what makes or breaks the movie. Magneto is kind of a grey area, but in THIS movie, he was definitely not the villain. No, the villain was Sebastian Shaw, founding member of the Hellfire Club, played here by Kevin Bacon (who, in the movie, also was a Nazi doctor…who has connections to Magneto). I always forget what Shaw’s power is, which is to absorb kinetic energy, so when I saw it in the movie, I was pleasantly surprised. There is one absolutely awesome scene where Shaw goes up against a small army of soldiers, armed with submachine guns, rifles and rocket launchers…and wins. By himself! It was super badass. Indeed, even the way he dies (because come on, he’s the bad guy, he’s going to die at some point in the movie for an ‘origin’ movie) was super cool, because it involved Magneto. I’ve said this previously, but Magneto is my favourite comic book villain, bar none. He has long been my favourite (followed by Two-Face and then the Joker in 3rd place), and this movie did not disappoint.

I’d give this movie an 8/10. I’d put it on par with Thor, but Captain America was better than them both. Anyway, it was still a solid movie. It ends on a satisfying note, with Magneto and Xavier appearing in more…traditional garb and form, and hinting at some interesting future movies. You can bet for sure that there’s going to be a sequel, and perhaps the supporting cast of mutants will be more interesting than the super lame ones they had this time. I mean, I understand they could only really deal with the ‘normal’ mutants, as in, the underpowered ones, but man…they were super SUPER uninteresting. Wolverine made an awesome cameo (played by none other than Hugh Jackman), but that was about it. The sequel definitely sets up more adventures with Magneto and his new crew, as well as Xavier and HIS new crew. They’re still obviously friends, but, they just believe in two ways to accomplish what they think the goals of mutant-kind are. The movie showed this in a very awesome way, and I look forward to the sequel.

All in all, the movie had some awesome comic book movies. With the exception of the awful Green Lantern, the comic book genre took a step up. I think it showed a lot of people that quality movies can be made. Anyway, next summer promises The Amazing Spider-Man, The Dark Knight Rises…and, of course, The Avengers. I’ll see them all, but only The Avengers I’ll be seeing opening night…who am I kidding, I’ll be seeing them all opening night. Awww yeah.