X-Men: First Class reviews

[leafinsectman (Dan)]

Just saw it. Loved it! FUCKING LOVED IT! I'm warning you now, don't click on the spoilers because I spoil a lot of things.

Lets get the bad out of the way, some of the acting performances weren't all that great. X1 & X2 had better acting performances in my opinion, maybe Bryan Singer is able to squeeze more out of his actors than Michael Vaughn. Maybe they just didn't have enough time to do it well. Not a big deal though. I think Kevin Bacon was awesome though, I liked him a lot. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender were also great, they did a good job portraying two close brothers with differing world views. The chess scene with them talking was nice.

I think Beast and Mystique had better costumes/makeup on the previous X-Men movies. And with regards to one of the costumes in the final scene...

was it really necessary for Magneto to have a cape?

But no big deal. I fucking loved the yellow costumes! Another criticism with regards to one of the characters...

did the black mutant (Darwin) really had to die? They couldn't have killed someone else? His mutant power is to evolve so I'm sure he survived somehow (although they didn't show that on film) and I actually liked his death scene. And maybe they figured that having him and his power set throughout the movie would imbalance things a bit. But dammit, did they really have to kill the black mutant?

Not too happy with the musical score either. But I think that's all the bad stuff I can think of.

What's awesome about this movie is that it didn't seem like there was a single moment that was wasted. At no point did I feel like I'm just waiting for the next cool scene or action scene or whatever. There's always something cool and interesting going on.

Also, the cameos! Holy shit, I so did not expect to see...

Hughverine!! I love how he tells Charles and Erik to "fuck off" when they try to recruit him. AWESOME!! Also nice to see Rebecca Romijn The next one is more of an easter egg but it was nice how Stryker's dad was one of the CIA dudes.

A lot of awesome scenes in the movie too and not all were spoiled by the trailers.

Azazel teleporting people to the sky and dropping them was great, I've always wondered why Nightcrawler didn't do that more often so it was nice to see it happen.

Charles holding a gun to Erik's head was a brief WTF moment.

Anytime Kevin Bacon absorbs energy is also cool.

Charles 'unlocking' a happy memory from Erik's past was a nice moment.

The gang taking turns at hitting Darwin with a bat was fun

This movie also had one of the best death scenes I have ever seen!

It creeped me the fuck out when Erik pushed the coin through Kevin Bacon's skull. Yeesh!

And I really really liked the final scene...

with Erik sending the missiles back and Charles trying to stop him. Rose Byrne shooting Erik repeatedly was sexy as fuck. And what results from Erik deflecting those bullets was a really nice touch.

Like I said, I fucking loved it!

[elemental]

Also, the cameos! Holy shit, I so did not expect to see...

Hughverine!! I love how he tells Charles and Erik to "fuck off" when they try to recruit him. AWESOME!!

Like I said, I fucking loved it!

That Cameo was great and one that everyone needs to see without it been spoiled, got a great reaction from everyone watching it.

The more I think about the film the better i feel about it, its usually the other way around with me.

[leafinsectman (Dan)]

That Cameo was great and one that everyone needs to see without it been spoiled, got a great reaction from everyone watching it.

Yes definitely. I totally didn't see it coming and it works better that way in my opinion.

The more I think about the film the better i feel about it, its usually the other way around with me.

Yeah I love it when I watch a movie and I like it more as time goes on.

[lugaru]

Early scores are always a lot better than they will be though because now it seems that studios only prescreen for the generally uncritical fanboy press and not actual movie critics. It's sneaky and kinda drives me nuts.

That is why I posted a link to the "top critics" rather than the whole biomass of rotten tomatoes. You will get people for a small paper who are just happy to go to the movies and will write great reviews of shit movies every time, but the top critics tend to bring some more analysis to the table, and are pickier (often to a fault).

[deadcowaroma]

That is why I posted a link to the "top critics" rather than the whole biomass of rotten tomatoes. You will get people for a small paper who are just happy to go to the movies and will write great reviews of shit movies every time, but the top critics tend to bring some more analysis to the table, and are pickier (often to a fault).

Hrm, fair enough. I hadn't looked at X-men's score yet. That is fairly good news if it's top critics. I was just thinking about how high Thor's score was to begin with because of reviews from sites like "ThorUberFans.com" or stuff like that.

[steve bryant]

Also, the cameos! Holy shit, I so did not expect to see...

Hughverine!! I love how he tells Charles and Erik to "fuck off" when they try to recruit him. AWESOME!! Also nice to see Rebecca Romijn The next one is more of an easter egg but it was nice how Stryker's dad was one of the CIA dudes.

I was so glad to have had that spoiled elsewhere. Cartoon Network has been running tons of commercials for the movie and my 10 year-old son really wants to see it.

Knowing that a comic character who is on tons of items produced for kids drops an F-bomb assures me that he won't be seeing this flick for a few more years.

The good reviews insure my interest, but he'll have to miss this one.

[leafinsectman (Dan)]

I was so glad to have had that spoiled elsewhere.

Yeah to be honest, part of me thought the f-word was out of place since I don't remember anyone else in the movie swearing. The scene still could've worked without it.

Alternatively, maybe you can take him to the restroom during that scene

[Bluestreak]

I really enjoyed the film too. it had an X2 vibe for it. The best thing about the movie is, without a doubt the Fassbinder-McEvoy dynamic. Coming a close second was Mystique's 'fall'. I thought it was touching and believable.
Although I would have liked the X-Men to have had a bit more screen time, I wouldn't have wanted it to be at the expense of Fassbinder, McEvoy or Bacon.

There are little fanboy things I would have liked to have have seen, like more of the Hellfire club and the whole hierarchy there but it clipped along at a great pace, had a solid story and the 60s vibe was neat. Makes me wish they hadn't back themselves into such a corner after X3  .

[malpractice]

I was so glad to have had that spoiled elsewhere. Cartoon Network has been running tons of commercials for the movie and my 10 year-old son really wants to see it.

Knowing that a comic character who is on tons of items produced for kids drops an F-bomb assures me that he won't be seeing this flick for a few more years.

The good reviews insure my interest, but he'll have to miss this one.

oh you are one of THOSE parents 

I was watching Scarface, Goodfellas, and every horror movie under the sun by that age so go figure.

[Brian G]

In my opinion, it was the best X-Men movie by far. Great performances by Fassbender, McAvoy, and Kevin Bacon. The costumes looked great. More importantly it reminded me that the main theme of X-Men is not the characters, but the counter philosophies of Magneto and Xavier.

Lots of fun! I wasn't expecting anything, so it was a nice little summer surprise.

[petedrags]

Yeah I loved it too.  I went with my wife, and while she didn't enjoy it as much as I did, she said she liked it also.  She liked Thor more, and even though I really liked Thor, something about this one just hooked me more.  The scene of them putting together the team was great. And I thought the scene with Xavier and Magneto in front of the satellite dish was really well done.  We both thought the nuclear plot, while necessary to tie things together, was the weakest part of the movie.  The small things they drop in to tie it into the movie universe were better than expected.

For the most part, I thought casting was great.  McAvoy & Fassbender were really close to perfect.  Kevin Bacon was a pleasant surprise (I normally don't like him), and most of the kids were just fine.  At least their performances weren't jarring.  While I LOVE January Jones, I thought she was a little flat in the part.  I could still watch her all day though.  I thought the selection of Banshee and Havok was fun.  My wife hated Azazel because he was the "cheesy devil guy", but he was pretty accurate to the comic. 

Overall I really dug it.  As an origin to the "movie X-men", it worked really well. 

[BurlIves]

I was so glad to have had that spoiled elsewhere. Cartoon Network has been running tons of commercials for the movie and my 10 year-old son really wants to see it.

Knowing that a comic character who is on tons of items produced for kids drops an F-bomb assures me that he won't be seeing this flick for a few more years.

The good reviews insure my interest, but he'll have to miss this one.

To be fair, if you are worried about him hearing that, there are plenty of other things that might give you pause, including:

Heavy Spoiler territory...

Scantily clad hellfire chicks entertaining men, Angel working the strip club, the implied torture instruments of Shaw, the coin scene, Darwin's "death" scene, Mystique's seduction attempt, Magneto's mother getting shot in front of him, Emma mind-humping the Russkie, etc.

I guess I'm saying it's probably rated PG-13 for a reason (YMMV on what you think is appropriate for a 10 vs 13 year old obviously).  It's not like they are dropping an F-bomb that ruins an otherwise kid friendly movie.  

[Dean S.]

I thought it was awesome.  Sure they screw around with a few origins here and there, but I'm fine with the movies having their own continuity.  I used to like the movies to be 100% faithful, but sometimes they trip all over themselves doing that and I'd rather just see a good movie. 

The thing I want to see now is a bunch of 60's Magneto: Nazi-Hunter movies or comics. 

[Brian G]

The thing I want to see now is a bunch of 60's Magneto: Nazi-Hunter movies or comics. 

I don't mind when the movies are completely different from the comics, but it bugs me a bit when the movies get into the comics. That being said, Nazi-hunter Magneto comics? Hell yes.