X-MEN FIRST CLASS REVIEW

X-MEN FIRST CLASS REVIEW

By Barry Dutter
As always, instead of doing a straight review of the movie, I’m just going to list some random thoughts/observations…

1) So it was Magneto’s idea for Mystique to walk around naked all the time, eh? Erik, you dirty dog!

2) The movie has two surprise cameos, one of which was ruined for me by the L.A. Times and has popped up elsewhere online. The other is more of a secret, so I won’t say who it is, but she was a big surprise.

3) Michael Fassbinder is so good as Magneto, he blows away every other actor on the screen. This may be the best performance by any actor in any X-Men movie. The actor who plays Prof. X is pretty good, but his part is more whiney. He spends most of the second half of the movie trying to convince Magneto not to do things that you know Mags is gonna do anyway, so Prof. X comes across as pretty ineffectual for a guy who can read minds and control people’s thoughts.

4) The new origin for how Prof. X got in the wheelchair is pretty good, much better than the one that was shown in the comics back in the 60s.

5) If they were going to introduce a new character who has wings like a dragonfly, wouldn’t it have made more sense to call her Dragonfly, instead of Angel? (I mean, the X-Men movie Universe already has a male hero called Angel, and the Marvel Universe does have a female villain called Dragonfly!)

6) Usually whenever I see a movie based on a comic book, I gripe about all the changes they made for the movie. With this movie, my only gripe is that the Beast is supposed to have big hands and big feet, and in this movie, he only had big feet. I know, pretty minor gripe, right?

7) Of course, my other little gripe is that I still want to see a movie with the REAL First Class of X-Men: Beast, Angel, Iceman, Cyclops and Marvel Girl. I guess I will have to wait a while for that one.

8) In the first X-MEN movie, there was a scene where Wolverine referred to Sabretooth as a “pussy.” I get that he was making a cat joke, but still, it was jarring to see a Marvel Comics super-hero use a dirty word. In this movie, one of the heroes uses the “F” word, and it feels so out of place, I wish they had gone with a different line. (The character could have said “Get lost!” or “Beat it!” and the scene would have been just as effective.) In over 50 years of X-Men comics, none of the characters has ever cursed. Why do it here? Just to be cool?

9) Jennifer Lawrence has really grown into quite a cutie. Her Rogue even outshines January Jones as Emma Frost in the hotness dept, and that is not an easy thing to do!

10) I liked the 60s setting. It reminded me of a James Bond movie. Makes me think that all future James Bond movies should be set in the 60s! And they should get the director of X-MEN FIRST CLASS to direct them!

11) I had heard that this movie is set in an alternate universe, apart from all the other X-MEN movies. But it seems to dovetail nicely into the other movies. I didn't notice any glaring discrepancies.

12) This was easily the best film of the series. Clearly producer/co-writer Bryan Singer needs to stay far away from SUPERMAN and just focus on the X-MEN instead!