I would like to continue my reviews of the Batman films, but first I had to make sure someone saw the new X-Men movie. X-Men: First Class came out on June 3, was directed by Matthew Vaughn, and stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Jennifer Lawrence. I know a lot of people who enjoyed this film, but if you read my other X-Men reviews, you'll know that I'm really picky when it comes to these mutants.
The initial scenes of Magneto and Charles weren't terribly bad or good. It was kind of nice to see the same Magneto scene from the first X-Men movie, but seeing a young Mystique coming to live with Charles really wasn't that desirable. If this movie is supposed to be in continuity (which it kind of tries to be) then it doesn't make much sense for Mystique to be Charles' "sister." I think there are several things about the other films that would have been quite different if they had that relationship. So the good balances the bad here, and we'll keep it at a 5.
I will add a point for Sebastian Shaw. He was portrayed well by Kevin Bacon, and I really liked the idea of him participating in the Holocaust just so he could find more mutants. That is really creepy and evil, which is exactly what good movies need.
I also liked Charles' early attempts to make mutants more acceptable by telling people that everybody has some kind of mutation, which isn't bad, but groovy. This young Charles really was a likable character, and the score is now a 7.
Perhaps the best part of this movie was Eric's relentless pursuit of the Nazis who ruined his life. It was great watching him rip out a guy's filling and ruthlessly murder three men in a bar. If only there were a few more scenes like this ... anyway, we're up to an 8 now.
Now I have to take away a point for the special effects. The movie seemed to be hastily made, and the effects (an important part for superhero films) were sloppy and unimpressive, especially Shaw's powers. I guess it was a neat concept, it just looked really strange.
I also really didn't like the Hellfire Club that much. I don't know who the tornado guy was, or why they even had him, and I really didn't like the evil red Nightcrawler, who was a little bit too powerful for my taste. Emma Frost was all right, except for when she caught a knife thrown by Magneto. We've already seen that Magneto uses his powers to throw things much faster and stronger than a normal person, so it makes no sense for a non-fighter like Emma Frost to be able to deflect it. And you can't say that she used her psychic powers because she was in her diamond form at the time. We're now down to a 6.
I did not like at all what they did with Hank McCoy. They had him design the most advanced aircraft in the nation and be able to fly it, create Cerebra (which is a continuity error), develop a serum to cure his mutation (which backfired), create custom outfits for everyone, and be able to run as fast as Quicksilver. That is way too much stuff for one person to do. We're back down to a 5.
As much as liked Charles in this movie, there are a couple of things that bugged me. I wouldn't have minded him having hair so much, if they didn't bring it up several times. It's like the producers were saying, "We know he's supposed to be bald, but we don't care!" Originally, Charles loses his hair at a young age due to the stress caused by him not being able to control his powers. But we don't see one instant in this movie where he isn't in complete control of his abilities. Everyone has to work at their powers, even Magneto, but never Charles. The score is now a 4.
One scene that bugged me was when the young mutants are partying together. For the first time in their lives, they can be completely open about their abilities and they're having a little bit of fun. But then they randomly get in trouble and Charles says, "I'm so disappointed in you." Why? Just because they blew up a statue? I also wasn't terribly happy with the selection of mutants. Alex Summers is supposed to be Cyclops' younger brother, and this "Angel" girl and "Darwin" either don't exist at all or are extremely obscure. And what kind of a mutation is "I adapt to survive"? We're at a 3.
The pacing of this movie was too fast. Everything happens so quickly. Charles and Eric become very fast friends and then split apart even faster. Mystique abandons Charles in a split second after spending more than a decade living with him. The mutant gathering and training montages were nice, but really quick. I think they just tried to do too much in this movie. They should have waited to make Magneto go evil until the next movie (unless they knew they wouldn't be able to make a sequel, which is looking unlikely right now). For rushing too much, I'll take the score down to a 2.
I will add a point for the exciting build up to the climax. There was good tension as all the pieces started falling into place and each mutant used their unique abilities. It wasn't necessarily the best, but I did get drawn in.
However, I found it rather random how quickly the Soviets and Americans decided to join forces to kill the mutants. They were on the brink of a nuclear war two minutes ago, and suddenly they decide to combine forces to launch an all-out offensive against a handful of mutants? Come on!
The score will fall to a 1 because of the worthless character of Moira MacTaggert. She is not originally a CIA agent, and she truthfully did not accomplish one thing in this movie. I guess they wanted a "love interest," but they really didn't develop it at all. If they took her out of the movie, everything could have happened exactly the same. In fact, she causes more harm than good, when she fires her gun multiple times at Magneto, even though she knows full well that he can deflect bullets at point-blank range. I echo the words of one of her bosses, "This is why the CIA is no place for a woman!"
I will bring the score back up to a 2 for the neat-looking Magneto at the very end of the film. He actually looked better than Magneto in the other three X-Men movies. The costume alone is enough for me to want a sequel, but I don't know how they'll be able to do that without further convoluting the already messed up X-Men movie universe.
If I wasn't an X-Men fan, I probably would have enjoyed this movie more, but as it is, I can't overlook the inconsistencies not just from the comics, but also the movies. This movie half-heartedly tried to be connected to the three other X-Men films and the Wolverine origin movie, but it didn't care when something was blatantly wrong. They should not have tried to be connected to those other films at all, and just given the whole universe a complete reboot. Now we'll have to wait and see if this new rumored Wolverine movie will be able to help bring these five movies closer together or spread them further apart.
Final score: 2 out of 10
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