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

[RecklessPrudence]

I actually cringed when Spoiler

Erik forced the coin through Shaw's head while Charles was linked to him.

That was quite effective, with the panning shot over the two characters.
And cliché though it may be, I grinned whenever Charles was protective about his hair - and seeing him trying to pick up chicks with the mutation spiel was chuckle-worthy, too. I also noticed about how their suits were basically the original suits, and I liked the X-Men mutants having an SR-71, like in the ...70s? Although, it strikes me that a VTOL, bomb-carrying version of the SR-71 might be a sign that the Cold War in that universe was even more tense than in ours. What do you think our USSR would have done if the US had've come out with that? It can fly faster than your missiles, take off damn near anywhere, and carry a half-decent payload, if the size of the bay is any indication.

I think it was telling, also, that Charles was perhaps a wee bit overconfident in being able to read someone's minds meaning that he knew all there was to know about them. He screwed up with Raven, at least a bit, and as someone in the thread about the trailers said, his words when Erik was holding the missiles couldn't have been chosen worse. It was a nice touch, I thought. And like has been said here, Erik and Charles, both as individuals and compared to each other, were handled brilliantly. They bonded fairly quickly, but considering Spoiler

Charles was Erik's first friendly contact with a fellow mutant, and Erik was Charles' first apart from Raven,

that's understandable. The differences and similarities between the two were deftly done, and I found myself really caring about Erik and what he'd been through, seeing him as a sympathetic character who just took one too many knocks, which none of the other movies really managed for more than a few fleeting moments. The fact that not only Spoiler

did Erik cripple Charles, but Charles gave Erik his centre and let him truly connect with his powers while Raven, Charles' adopted sister, joined Erik;

all of that was done great, in my opinion. And yes, good to see the over-exposed Wolverine emphatically reject being in the movie for more than a second.

Although there were a few wallbangers - 'the sound waves have to be supersonic', indeed - and how is Alex the younger brother of Scott Summers, assuming that relationship is unchanged? it was, on the whole, quite good. Better than X3 or Wolverine Origins, that's for damn sure!

[RogueIce]

So one little detail I thought was pretty cool is that Beast having his hair be blue makes some sense, considering it was Mystique's DNA that caused it to onset. No idea if that was the explanation in the comics, but if it wasn't kudos to the movie makers (and if the comics came up with it, kudos to the movie makers for using it).

There are a few minor continuity issues with the original trilogy (and I'd have to say much more severe ones with Origins) but they didn't bug me. I can totally live with this being a new series of movies, because it was fairly well done. A few flubs here and there (just before Shaw bursts into the mutant kids room at the CIA base, the guy yelling "I'm a normal human let me go!" felt a little too heavily played out; could have been better written and delivered) but overall a strong movie.

Most of the character stuff is already discussed above, so I'll just add that I loved Wolverine's cameo, and if anyone is going to be the Captain of a battleship, Michael Ironside is definately the man for the job.

[Joe Momma]

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.

He has been reverted back to his normal human appearance at least once in the comics (by an attempted mutant cure serum like the one in the third movie, no less) before the interactions of two different plagues created by mutants with plague-creation abilities returned him to his furry appearance. His human appearance in X2 might be explained away by some similar events happening off-screen during that time period.

[ray245]

For me, I prefer not to see First class as a prequel, but more of a reboot.

[Majin Gojira]

For me, I prefer not to see First class as a prequel, but more of a reboot.

Same here.

X-Men, like a lot of supers, IMO, work best as period pieces. Attempts to revamp, update or modernize them often just don't feel right to me.

Besides, it's easy to go from this film to a film with Sentinels.

[ANGELUS]

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.

He has been reverted back to his normal human appearance at least once in the comics (by an attempted mutant cure serum like the one in the third movie, no less) before the interactions of two different plagues created by mutants with plague-creation abilities returned him to his furry appearance. His human appearance in X2 might be explained away by some similar events happening off-screen during that time period.

Also, we've seen in the comics Magneto joining the X-Men for some time after Secret Wars only to eventually become their enemy again, so that might also explain when Magneto and Xavier go to meet young Jean Grey on X3: For a time he gave up his ways and tried Xavier's, only to go back to his after a while. And heck, I think we've also seen the profesor walking a few times for one reason or the other even if it was briefly (Secret Wars, X-Cutioner's Song...) So that might also apply to X-Men Origins...

That said... I wouldn't like such convoulted explanations to be made to tie in this movie to the previous ones. I'd prefer like many others here for it to be considered a reboot.

[ANGELUS]

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).

That is also my take on it... wich would make it 1973 when Striker recruited them from Vietnam six years earlier

[Simon_Jester]

I actually cringed when Spoiler

Erik forced the coin through Shaw's head while Charles was linked to him.

That was quite effective, with the panning shot over the two characters.
And cliché though it may be, I grinned whenever Charles was protective about his hair - and seeing him trying to pick up chicks with the mutation spiel was chuckle-worthy, too. I also noticed about how their suits were basically the original suits, and I liked the X-Men mutants having an SR-71, like in the ...70s? Although, it strikes me that a VTOL, bomb-carrying version of the SR-71 might be a sign that the Cold War in that universe was even more tense than in ours. What do you think our USSR would have done if the US had've come out with that? It can fly faster than your missiles, take off damn near anywhere, and carry a half-decent payload, if the size of the bay is any indication.

Ah, but is it as fast as the original? I would expect not, or at least see no reason to assume so. And how much of the tooling to make more of such planes is left with the government?

that's understandable. The differences and similarities between the two were deftly done, and I found myself really caring about Erik and what he'd been through, seeing him as a sympathetic character who just took one too many knocks, which none of the other movies really managed for more than a few fleeting moments.

Yes, he was well done. Of course, Magneto is by nature much more sympathetic in terms of his origin story than he is in terms of what he gets up to decades later; being a Holocaust survivor who later goes on to become a genocidal semi-nutcase in his own right, that's par for the course.

[Lurks-no-More]

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.

The bright yellow jackets make sense when you consider they're modified flight suits. Helps with search-and-rescue!

Overall, I really liked the movie. The '60s ambiance was nice, and making it at least as much a spy movie as it was a superhero movie was IMO a great choice. And Erik Lensherr the Nazi Hunter was impressively terrifying. (That Argentinian bar scene gave me a very strong "Inglorious Bastards" vibe, too!)

[2000AD]

Overall I liked it, though my biggest nitpick has to be why in the big finale Azazel just stood there with a dumb look on his face instead of teleporting away.

[Tomzilla]

I liked it.

I do feel like it would've been better if Sebastian Shaw was replaced by Mister Sinister (Kevin Bacon remains, since he performed exceptionally well). It'd make sense given Kevin Bacon's character interest and specialty in human genetics. Triggering World War III would've been Sinister's way to usher in the age of Apocalypse (hint hint!).

[Kojiro]

I did feel like Shaw was a bit of a blend with Sinsiter actually, given that genetic interest. I'd heard originally that Sinister was the villian of this movie and was quite excited as he's one of my favourites. At the start of the film, with him being there from way back and interested in genetics (and posing as a doctor) I actually thought initially it was Sinister.

Regarding the bit at the end when Magneto moves the coin:
Spoiler

I had it ruined for me by a friend. He pointed out that Shaw was under a mental hold from Xavier, something we can reasonably assume requires a functional mind. Given what's done to him it seems necessary that he would have died at some point well before the coin exited. Moreso he pointed out that Shaw was at best balanced, not telekinetically held in place and the coin should have more likely knocked him over (or the kinetic energy should have been absorbed- he can after all ignore bullets).

[Faqa]

I forgot one thing that deeply amused me about this movie - they made a dramatic point of Mystique walking around naked (although they still don't explain why it's so integral to her identity). Any comic backup for that shit, or is it strictly fat movie nerd fanservice?

[Imperial Overlord]

Spoiler

I had it ruined for me by a friend. He pointed out that Shaw was under a mental hold from Xavier, something we can reasonably assume requires a functional mind. Given what's done to him it seems necessary that he would have died at some point well before the coin exited. Moreso he pointed out that Shaw was at best balanced, not telekinetically held in place and the coin should have more likely knocked him over (or the kinetic energy should have been absorbed- he can after all ignore bullets).

Spoiler

Shaw can't absorb the energy because Xavier has jacked his body and can turned off powers.

[Kojiro]

Spoiler

Shaw can't absorb the energy because Xavier has jacked his body and can turned off powers.

Oh I've no doubt that's the case- the question remains as to why he wasn't simply knocked over to fall down like a rigid statue- or if you like why Xavier didn't allow him to move away/withdraw/turn the power on if he's so against Shaw being killed. Seems like Xavier had options outside of keeping him balanced perfectly.

[Imperial Overlord]

Spoiler

Xavier had him stand perfectly still for a minute or so before he was dead and the coin doesn't have much momentum so the coin isn't going to make him fall just by hitting him. Xavier is a bad ass telepath and most of Shaw's brain isn't immediately destroyed, so it doesn't strike me as odd that he stays standing for a bit.

As for why Xavier is cooperating with this, the answer is that Charles is boned. Magneto made no secret of the fact that he was going to kill Shaw and Shaw certainly has it coming. Moreover, Shaw is super charged and intent on starting World War Three. Charles may prefer to take Shaw alive, but if he does release his grip on Shaw, Shaw is likely to kill his friend and then a large chunk of the planet's population and Charles isn't going to make that choice either. Charles is essentially checkmated into allowing Magneto to kill Shaw. Given more time to think of something or a different situation Charles might have a managed to find away to neutralize Shaw while sparing his life, but he didn't have time or better solutions on tap.

[Narkis]

It was a great movie. Better than previous ones in the franchise, and far better than I expected. I loved the interplay between Charles and Erik. Spoiler

And I think it was brilliant how Charles managed to say the worst possible thing at the worst possible time when trying to convince his friend to turn back from the path he chose."Just following orders". Heh.

I've also been reading commentary on some other forums, and I'm thoroughly amused by the nerdrage directed at the filmmakers for ignoring parts of canon in order to make a better movie. Especially when they lament the loss of the stupid parts.

I forgot one thing that deeply amused me about this movie - they made a dramatic point of Mystique walking around naked (although they still don't explain why it's so integral to her identity). Any comic backup for that shit, or is it strictly fat movie nerd fanservice?

Fanservice? She's blue with protrusions all over her body for god's sake. And as for the importance of this: Spoiler

I haven't read any of the comics, but I think it was adequately explained in the movie. It's the point when she finally accepts her true mutant self, rejects the norms of human society and stops trying to be normal. It's a big part of why she joined Magneto. Erik's the only one who considered her natural blue form beautiful, and encouraged her to be herself rather than try to fit in.

[RecklessPrudence]

Ah, but is it as fast as the original? I would expect not, or at least see no reason to assume so.

Well no, while it's not going to be as fast or high, particularly when hauling heavy bombs, but it would have to be pretty damn fast and high, otherwise why use the SR-71 design as a starting point? If you're planning on flying low and slow, there's much better wing designs.

And how much of the tooling to make more of such planes is left with the government?

Well, I doubt it's a case of No Plans, No Prototype, No Backups, but the facility McCoy worked at was compromised - although not destroyed - and I don't think he'd exactly be running to the CIA, since he basically won't match any of his ID... Hmm...