I have eagerly been anticipating another X-men film since I walked out halfway through the horrible turd X-Men: The Last Stand back in 2006. The film premiered Friday across the country and I woke up Saturday morning excited to read critic and user reviews online. Upon logging into my computer I checked my email and ignored a few facebook friend requests from girls with profile pics holding cellphone cameras, infront of bathroom mirrors...ew. I calmed myself and moved on to the movie review. I was thrilled to read message board posts boasting claims like "greatest comic book film ever" and "film of the year so far". It was just past 2 PM so I ran into the bedroom side stepping clothes, Cranium game pieces and beer bottles to awake my boyfriend and inform him of this incredible news. He sat on the couch dumbfounded scrolling through reviews stating "11/10", "better than The Dark Knight" etc. We immediately checked the showtimes and decided on 6 PM, so we could enjoy sushi rolls and sake smashing time downtown beforehand. Of course we then decided to pick up a few airplane bottles from the ABC store on the way, almost in a last ditch effort to prepare for the suffering through another 2 hours of pathetic Hollywood drivel.
We arrived after the lights had dimmed and stumbled our way to a pair of seats about halfway up on the left side. The film started and it was not until about a third of the way in I realized we had not even made a liquor drink, then it hit me that I was REALLY enjoying this movie.
X-Men: First Class is set during the middle of the Cold War - when, according to the story, just now are the highest ranking military officials learning of the existance of mutants. Professor X is played by a fully haired, ambilant James McAvoy who does a perfect job portraying the early days of the founder of the X-Men. McAvoy is serious in his cause but also takes time to enjoy a pint at the local pub and talk to the ladies between his professorly duties. Michael Fassbender is the real gem of the movie, playing Xavier's then sidekick Erik Lensher. The young Magneto is hell bent on revenge for the death of his mother and balances his rage with serenity to control his incredible powers. Anytime McAvoy and Fassbender are onscreen at the same time is terrific. Kevin Bacon also turns in a great performance as the film's main villain. The action is non-stop in this cool, smart, stylish summer revival of the X-Men franchise. Although I would not say it will go down as one of the greatest films of all time, it is now one of my favorite super hero movies and definately worth the price of admission.
This makes me so happy! I am such an X-Men fan and was wondering if this one would be as good as most of the previous ones. I've been planning on going to the Carmike in the afternoon since it's only $5 before 4 and I'm totally broke. There are so many good movies out that I've been wanting to see, but X-Men: First Class is definitely on the top of my list. Especially because James McAvoy is one of my favorite actors! I'm happy you enjoyed it overall!
ReplyDeleteHey Lydia,
ReplyDeleteHow good was this movie!? I saw it on sunday with a few of my friends and I just thought it was epic. You're totally right with Fassbender being the gem of the film. That guy clearly has a lot of talent when it comes to acting. The whole movie I just felt like everything he did was so badass. The casting in general was awesome actually now that I think about it. I saw it on sunday and am still depressed even now at tuesday that I don't have super powers.
I feel like everyone right now is on an X-Men craze. I saw at midnight when it first came out, and I was blown away. I was expecting to fall asleep because of how late it was, but I didn't even think about sleep once. I also thought that X-Men: The Last Stand completely sucked, and so at first I was hesitant to give this one a chance but I'm sure glad I did. Your right, it's NOT the best movie ever but it certainly is a perfect summer action movie. I thought the casting was stellar. I love James McAvoy, and he portrayed the young Professor X exactly how I imagined Professor X would be in his younger days. Michael Fassbender is an amazing actor. As Danny already mentioned everything he did in the movie was so badass. He was the perfect fit to bring Magneto to life. I remember seeing him in the movie Inglorious Bastards and thinking how talented of an actor he was.
ReplyDeleteI have been kind of wary about this recent XMEN movie as well. The last one was at best, ok. I enjoyed some of the new mutant powers but other than that the acting was disappointing as well as the story line. When they came out with Wovlerine's story I also watched it begrudgingly. It was surprisingly really good! I enjoyed almost every minute and it was nice (since I am not a comic book reader)to figure out what really happened to Logan. This looks just as great as that movie was. It's going to be great to see where it all started and where everything seemed to split off. I had no idea that Kevin Bacon was in this! That's great! Alas I will not be seeing this in the theater for I am saving my big screen movie time for part two of The Deathly Hallows (my inner nerd is jumping for joy right now). Once it's on video though, I am sure I will enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteI LOVED IT! Haha, my parents and I needed to kill some time last Saturday and I had totally forgotten that it was in theatres so I was super pumped when we got our tickets. I was pleasantly surprised with the funny moments in the film. The Hugh Jackman cameo was so classic. I wish that just a little more time had been spent on the "bad" characters because I wanted to know about the guy with the tornado hands (I don't even remember his name). January Jones was also a little flat throughout the film. Other than that, I was really impressed and I thought it was a great film for fans and people who have no idea about the franchise. I think now is probably the time to stop making movies though. I don't even know what other avenue they could go down but Hollywood is always scrambling for money it seems. I really enjoyed your descriptions in your post too. I'll have to consider those ABC bottles as backup from now on.
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