Xmen First Class (warning, here there be spoilers).

[Darth Yan]

I just saw the movie and I loved it

the parts that stand out are
Spoiler

Darwin's death, Magneto lifting the sub out, Xavier being crippled, the bar scene in Argentina, the revenge of Magneto, the idea of mystique being xaviers adopted sister, the opening scene, and the final battle over the ships between beast and azazel and angel and banshee. Angel's betrayal was also genuinely effective since I wanted to kill the bitch. Magneto essentially usurping the remnants of shaw's followers, and the way they stop the ship from crossing the line were also effective and well done, but the idea that they got cerebro from the military does create a bit of a continuity hole, or implies that he was lying to wolverine.

Still it was a good movie overall and one I heartily recomend

[Sarevok]

On a relative scale how would you compare it to the previous X-Men films ?

[Darth Yan]

better then 3 and wolverine, at least on par with x1, not quite as good as x2. Fassbender and McAvoy were both phenomenal.

[Darth Yan]

here's a bit of clarification of some of the earlier plot points. If you don't want to be spoiled don't look at it.
Spoiler

shaw is a nazi scientist who goads magneto into revealing his powers by shooting his mom (he did a test of forcing him to bend a coin, magneto failed, so shaw shot her to drive him into a rage. Magneto kept the coin to use it to kill Shaw, Mystique is adopted into the Xavier family and serves as Xavier's adopted sister, while Moira McTaggert is an Fbi agent. She witnesses the hellfire club strongarm a powerful officer into agreeing to their goals, so she recruits Xavier to help counter Shaw. Magneto and Xavier meet when they both attack Shaw simultaneously. Evidently, the Hellfire club is the one who persuaded the Americans and Russians to put their missles in turkey and cuba respectively. essentially magneto comes to agree with shaw, only to create an opening for xavier to incapacitate him since he still wants revenge. Magneto kills Shaw by launching the coin shaw wanted him to bend into his brain before proceeding to steal his helmet and persuading the rest of the hellfire club to join him. the militaries, spooked by the angel vs banshee and beast vs azazel battle over the warships decide to launch a simultanous missle attack. magneto tries to turn the missles on them, and during the climax, moira tries to shoot magneto. he deflects the bullets, and one of them lands in xavier's spine. Mystique and xavier part under surprisingly amiable terms, and after xavier semi wipes moira, magneto busts out frost, who was captured earlier in the movie and adds her into his first incarnation of the brotherhood, which has a final roster of Magneto, Mystique, shinobi shaw, azazel, angel salvadore, and emma frost.

[Sriad]

I was initially uninterested, but all the positive reviews mean I'll probably see it opening weekend.

[Bedlam]

Spoiler

I just got back from a showing and I liked it. The tone is fairly variable the WW2 magnito scenes are grim but the middle getting the team togther parts are fun, lots of swinging 60's there. I loved the Wolverene cameo and 'more tea vicker'. I was suprised how well the young cast worked. Then back to darkness again for the last half hour or so with the various factions forming, 'I agree with everything you just said, however, you killed my mother'

[Srelex]

Just saw it, and it was pretty good fun, better than I was expecting it to be.

That being said, the last scene reminded me of why they had to change Magneto's costume from the comics for the previous movies.

[SylasGaunt]

I liked it. It had plenty of fun and plenty of grim at the same time and served as a pretty good setup for the X-men/Brotherhood battles to come.

I also realized that this was probably on the second movie I've ever seen Kevin Bacon in in a villainous role.

[Jim Raynor]

Excellent movie. This was better than Thor, and easily better than the last two X-Men movies (The Last Stand and Wolverine). All of the characters were likable (even if some of the kids never got that many lines), and it was fun to watch them. Some of the action scenes could've been harder hitting, but the script was so good and fast paced that I never got bored. They did a very good job of blending this story into history, and the decision to make this part superhero, part spy movie was a great one.
Spoiler

Though the way Xavier dropped off the grid at the end stretched credibility. So Moira just lies about not knowing what happened to him, and no one from the CIA bothers to look into Xavier's mansion in the decades between this and the first X-Men movie?

Funny how a movie that somewhat came in under the radar (relatively, for a superhero summer blockbuster), and initially looked like a cash cow milking prequel/spinoff/reboot, came out so well. 9/10.

[AniThyng]

Spoiler

Though the way Xavier dropped off the grid at the end stretched credibility. So Moira just lies about not knowing what happened to him, and no one from the CIA bothers to look into Xavier's mansion in the decades between this and the first X-Men movie?

Spoiler

I think they implied Prof X wiped her memory at the end?

Wolverine's cameo was hilarious, and the whole naval standoff was fun to see.

[Kingmaker]

I wasn't blown away by the plot, and some of the dialogue was awful (that terrible "X-men" line near the end sent me into a fit of near-uncontrollable snickering), but I thought that it was well acted and well-paced. I especially like the guy they had doing Magneto.

I would put it on par with or a little above Thor.

Also:
"I'm Doctor Charles Xavier, and this is Erik Lensherr."
"Go fuck yourself."
(Although, didn't Wolverine Origins establish that he was in Vietnam in the sixties?)

[Ahriman238]

Saw it. liked it.

Erik's scene at the Argentina bar was so unspeakably awesome it pretty much made up for his grandstanding at the end. The 'oh shit' look on those guys faces when he said his parent's had no name, the long draught from their drinks with everyone watching each other, the bigger 'oh shit' when he shows them his tat. Beautiful. Really, Erik and his sarcasm and dry wit are what made the slow parts of the movie, like the recruiting/training montages watchable. For a minute there, I was wondering how charles and Erik could grow up to be Shakespearean actors, then after offing Shaw, Erik morphs into a different, massively hammy character.

Still a bit put out there weren't more of the actual 'first class' in this.

They pretty much butchered the Hellfire Club, keeping only the name (and only for that one scene, as a shoutout) Shaw and Emma. On the other hand, the name Shaw and Emma are pretty much the only cool parts of the Hellfire Club, so I'm okay with it.

Ah, the X-men don't work with the FBI here, but the CIA. I feel it detracted from Moira a bit to turned into the girl from the Bourne Movies, but it was probably the only way to shoehorn her in. I mentally named the chubby agent Fred Duncan, after it became clear we weren't going to get a name for him.

Professor X and Magneto have often been compared to MLK and Malcom X respectively. The story of the X-men is the story of hatred and bigotry, and how you respond to it. The comics usually come down pretty hard on Charles' side, the movies likewise. So I was suprised and more than a little impressed when the film offered no judgement on who was right. If I was there, standing on that beach, betrayed and nearly murdered by poeple I'd risked my life to save, I can't honestly say which way I'd go when the lines were drawn.

Charles and Erik simply see the world in different ways, interpret and react to events differently. The movie did not raise one viewpoint above another, and that impressed me. That impressed me a lot.

[Jim Raynor]

Spoiler

I think they implied Prof X wiped her memory at the end?

Spoiler

Yeah, they did, which handles Moira's part of the cover up. But wouldn't Xavier's mansion be the first place the CIA would look?

About the continuity with the other X-Men movies, and with Wolverine:
Spoiler

I hadn't noticed many problems while watching the movie, and thought it blended in far better as a prequel than as the all-out reboot that I had expected. Moira was of course irreconcilable with the version shown in The Last Stand, though I doubt anyone cares about that or even knew Moira was in that movie. But then I read some forums, and people pointed out a couple more things:

1. Charles is crippled in 1962 here. In Wolverine, hes still able to walk in the 80s or 90s (whenever that movie took place).
2. Magneto and Charles part ways in this movie. The Last Stand shows them as older men, recruiting Jean Grey.

The people writing and making this movie probably aren't nearly as concerned with "continuity" as fanboys are. While they took a middle of the road approach here and made a movie that was very much a prequel (aside from a few things), I wouldn't be surprised if they go for a hard reboot in future First Class sequels.

[Ahriman238]

Hank McCoy also appeared briefly, and completly human in appearance, in X2. If you blink you may miss it, he's on the tv discussing mutants in the scene where Mystique drugs a guard and shoots his ass full of iron. It was fine when he was blue and furry in X-men 3, because we could easily believe he'd done his Dr. Jekyll impression between the two films.

I don't really care much about minor continunity blips though, as long as they don't drag down the story.

I admit to laughing when my instinctive "oh, fuck no!" on seeing Hugh Jackman was immediatly echoed by the character.

[ronindave]

I enjoyed the film very much more so than any of the X-men movies of the past including the first one.

Here we get to see the heroes training and coming to terms with their powers and building up their confidence. Even with minor characters like Havok we have a mini-arc with him coming to control his chaotic powers at the end.

In fact his last fight scene Spoiler

he's lost his device which helps him control his blasts but he is able to concentrate and clip Angel's wings while saving himself and Banshee. This scene even with secondary characters had impact because Havok had to overcome his problem. Contrast that with the Storm vs Toad scene in the first X-Men film. She beats the Toad after he momentarily beat them but she doesn't overcome any obstacle from him or even from herself. Then she goes on to kill the Toad in cold blood (no pun intended) whereas in X-men First Class Xavier goes to great length to keep Erik from killing the man who murdered his mother in front of him in cold blood.

The main characters - Xavier, Erik, and Raven/Mystique are great and they really carry the film. Hank/beast adds to this because of his similarity with Mystique. I love the cvharacter interactions with these 4. You could really understand their motives and why they do what do.

Some people complain about Kevin Bacon as Shaw but I really liked this character. He is extremely ruthless and will stop at nothing at getting what he wants and he believes that nothing can stop him. He doesn't go into theatrics or shouty speeches.
Spoiler

in the scene where he comes for the mutant recruits he is very calm and collected. He just quietly and efficiently wipes everyone out before saying "I'm Sebastian Shaw." I thought that was a great entrance.

Shaw serves effectively as a dark mirror of Magneto, a Magneto without any virtue who wants to be ruler of the world, a world of mutants. Magneto on the other hand fights for mutantkind and actually believes in his cause.

Another good thing about this film - no costumes. Shaw and his gang don't wear costumes. they wear suits. The X-men were more of a protective suit rather than a costume. Xavier gives a good defense for wearing them when Havok sneers saying they are good protection against G-forces and bullets.

Along with costumes, they don't really dwell on superhero names so much. Most of the time they call each other by their regular names. I like this. When the recruits are sitting around they come up with code names more in a joking manner than serious.

All in all it didn't feel like a comic book movie even with all the superpowers and I mean this in a good way. And I don't really care if this film ties in with the earlier X-Man series. It's better.

[Darth Yan]

vietnam broke out in 65. also i think they implied wolverine takes place in 79 (to tie in with the collapse of three mile island). also, given that stryker was able to launch an attack it's heavily implied that they DID know. It's just that they never really had a reason until Stryker launched his false flag operation. the only things that bugged me was the explanation for where they got cerebro (the military) and mystique suggesting their code names.

[Faqa]

I went into this thing with zero expectations. In fact, the only reason I went into it was because Kung Fu Panda 2 was only showing in 3D(and FUCK that technology).

It was excellent. I barely know a damn thing about the X-Men and it was STILL very good. The story actually worked as a movie - a not-minor point in half the adaptations of today, which seem to be more concerned with getting scenes or characters on-screen than actually making them work. The characters were compelling and well-built. The "first class" mutants managed a lot of development in relatively little time, Mystique's 'pride' character arc managed to once again take the single narrow issue X-Men keeps hammering at for decades and make it compelling once again. Perhaps because the movie did not actually take moral sides for a change.

And of course, Charles and Eric. Notice how you DON'T have to know that they're going to be Professor X and Magneto in order to enjoy their characters, their well-sold friendship and their eventual split? Yeah, adaptations in the future might take note of this.

Also, action sequences - notice how we SEE everyone fighting? Not just random lunging followed by quick cuts? We see Beast and Azael grappling, we see Havok and Banshee shoot down Angel, we SEE Magneto utterly owning the shit out of damn near every fight he's in. Another non-minor point. A lot of movies like cutting around to create the illusion of fighting without choreography. And the gorgeous backdrops for the final battles didn't hurt either.

After the execrable Wolverine movie(speaking of which - the "Fuck off" scene was a very nice touch), this movie has restored my faith in X-Men movies.

[AniThyng]

So,anyone want to ID the ships involved on both sides of the naval standoff?

Iowa's pretty obvious (the hull-number 61 is also clearly visible), but what about the destroyers and the Russian ships? The Russian flagship looks like a generic Russian missile cruiser to me...though now that I look at the wiki pics, I'm guessing since it had 2 gun turrets, it's a Kara-class?

[Kojiro]

I'm a big X-Men fan and was a long time comic collector and I really liked it too. Definitely put it on your list of things to watch. The music in particular quite got me but I'm a huge sucker for film scores.

I really could understand Magneto's rage and drive and I must say I felt more for this character than I have any other incarnation of him. I also really liked Charles and it's great to see what he might have been like in his younger days. Mystique as his sister was certainly interesting but it works fine.

I didn't like Azazel if only because he seems a carbon copy of, albeit red, Nightcrawler (yes, I know he's Nightcrawler's father but it's still a done idea already). Also didn't like Bacon as Shaw- he was far too... placid? I'm not sure what the word is but Shaw should have, to me anyway, a menacing, threatening presence.

One thing I despise in all remake movies though is the wedging in of named characters that don't need to be there. I would much prefer they made up 'Jane Smith' the CIA agent than redo Moira. They've essentially created a new character anyway- why not give it a new name and add to the X Men lore rather than convolute it? Spoiler

The two cameos were indeed awesome (that was Rebecca Romjin, the older Mystique from X1-3) when Erik suggests 'maybe in a couple of years'.

Another good thing about this film - no costumes. Shaw and his gang don't wear costumes. they wear suits. The X-men were more of a protective suit rather than a costume. Xavier gives a good defense for wearing them when Havok sneers saying they are good protection against G-forces and bullets.

Obviously not that good at stopping bullets.

[Ahriman238]

Another good thing about this film - no costumes. Shaw and his gang don't wear costumes. they wear suits. The X-men were more of a protective suit rather than a costume. Xavier gives a good defense for wearing them when Havok sneers saying they are good protection against G-forces and bullets.

Umm. The flight suits ARE the original X-men costumes without masks. I actually thought it was a nice touch, they didn't really look as ridiculous as I'd expect.

[Simon_Jester]

The trick with making costumes work in a movie is always to make them credibly "not-a-costume" in some sense. The clothing should be practical, should appear durable (latex is bad), should have useful traits that make it sensible to wear them, and shouldn't look unreasonably flashy. The bright yellow jackets from the costume/uniforms in this movie pushed that last line a little, but managed to make it work.

I didn't like Azazel if only because he seems a carbon copy of, albeit red, Nightcrawler (yes, I know he's Nightcrawler's father but it's still a done idea already). Also didn't like Bacon as Shaw- he was far too... placid? I'm not sure what the word is but Shaw should have, to me anyway, a menacing, threatening presence.

In mitigation, they give Azazel enough of a... a presence, let's say... that he manages to bring off what he does well.

He's actually the third teleporter we've seen in an X-Men movie; they had one in the Wolverine movie- looking up his name, John Wraith? Teleporters seem to be a recurring theme in those movies. I'd guess it's because it's easy to give them an excellent fight scene with a relatively limited special effects budget- CGI'ing someone just appearing or disappearing in a puff of smoke repeatedly is going to be easier than CGI'ing their body shifting and distorting, or them performing impossible physical feats.

One thing I despise in all remake movies though is the wedging in of named characters that don't need to be there. I would much prefer they made up 'Jane Smith' the CIA agent than redo Moira. They've essentially created a new character anyway- why not give it a new name and add to the X Men lore rather than convolute it?

A fair point.

Spoiler

Another good thing about this film - no costumes. Shaw and his gang don't wear costumes. they wear suits. The X-men were more of a protective suit rather than a costume. Xavier gives a good defense for wearing them when Havok sneers saying they are good protection against G-forces and bullets.

Obviously not that good at stopping bullets.

Spoiler

True. Ballistic fabrics weren't a very advanced technology in the early 1960s.

[Kojiro]

Azazel enough of a... a presence, let's say... that he manages to bring off what he does well.

I should mitigate my comment by saying rather that it was a sticking point. You're quite right he did what he did well. Overall the character was good but all I could think was 'why is Nightcrawler red?'

He's actually the third teleporter we've seen in an X-Men movie; they had one in the Wolverine movie- looking up his name, John Wraith? Teleporters seem to be a recurring theme in those movies. I'd guess it's because it's easy to give them an excellent fight scene with a relatively limited special effects budget- CGI'ing someone just appearing or disappearing in a puff of smoke repeatedly is going to be easier than CGI'ing their body shifting and distorting, or them performing impossible physical feats.

I'd say it also gives some very quick movement for plot purposes.

Edit for tag screw up.

Spoiler

True. Ballistic fabrics weren't a very advanced technology in the early 1960s.

That was mostly tongue in cheek but it did register that the suits are explicitly noted as being bullet resistant- and then promptly fails to stop even an already deflected bullet. To me it's because the boy genius- creator of Cerebro and the modified SR-71 with VTOL- that I expect better technology. I suppose you could theorise that Magneto smacked the bullet away, possibly even enhancing it's speed to account for the penetration. That said, you could leave the line out, say they're purely flight suits and still justify them. Overall I liked the way it happened- accidental but still Magneto's fault.[/spoiler]

[SAMAS]

Azazel enough of a... a presence, let's say... that he manages to bring off what he does well.

I should mitigate my comment by saying rather that it was a sticking point. You're quite right he did what he did well. Overall the character was good but all I could think was 'why is Nightcrawler red?'

I thought that too, until I remembered that Mystique is Nightcrawler's mother.
Spoiler

I double-checked and sure enough, Azazel is in fact Kurt's father.

[Kojiro]

Spoiler

True. Ballistic fabrics weren't a very advanced technology in the early 1960s.

That was mostly tongue in cheek but it did register that the suits are explicitly noted as being bullet resistant- and then promptly fails to stop even an already deflected bullet. To me it's because the boy genius- creator of Cerebro and the modified SR-71 with VTOL- that I expect better technology. I suppose you could theorise that Magneto smacked the bullet away, possibly even enhancing it's speed to account for the penetration. That said, you could leave the line out, say they're purely flight suits and still justify them. Overall I liked the way it happened- accidental but still Magneto's fault.[/quote]

Damn messed up the edit too. Ah well here's what I actually wanted to say.

I thought that too, until I remembered that Mystique is Nightcrawler's mother.

Obviously it's where he gets his blue colouration from. I suppose I'd just liked to have seen a little more variation- after all there are plenty of mutant offspring with no trace of their parental powers.

[Simon_Jester]

Spoiler

OK, yeah, honestly the "riddled by bullets" line was, in hindsight, somewhere between ironic and a bad choice for the script.

Or we could take the "escalation by analysis" route and go "ohmigod those must have been armor piercing bullets!"