I just got back from the midnight show, and I had a blast. Historically, I’m much more a fan of midnight premiers than the X-Men movies, so don’t mistake my attendance and enthusiasm for that of a die-hard that would have raved about a lesser movie.
I’ll chip in more as the thread rolls along, but what made this the best X film for me was, in a word, scope. Their world seems bigger and not at all stagey. The first three felt like we just hopped from set piece to set piece in a claustrophobic soundstage sort of way. Even aside from the 40s and 60s history, their approach strove for verisimilitude. Everything right down to the powers were executed much better than the past. They even figured out that it’s possible to balance mutant self loathing with legitimate enjoyment and fascination with one’s powers.
Post spoilers as freely as you please. I’ll start off lightly and say do not read the rest of this thread until you’ve seen the movie, because their are small touches and cameos that are best appreciated fresh.
I had such low expectations for this movie. Fox seems to be trying to run the franchise into the ground after the last two were so terrible. Also, its a prequel, never a good sign in my book, and they have cobbled it together in a mere 11 months, so there were lots of reasons to expect it to be terrible.
All unfounded though. It was a great movie, and I have to give huge props to Matthew Vaughn. For me, it was the energy and pacing of the movie which meant there was literately never a dull moment. Some excellent performances by McAvoy and Fassbender meant that even though you knew Prof X and Magento were destined to be enemies, the plot unfolded in a nicely compelling way. In fact, the whole cast were pretty good.
Overall, I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. I’m not sure where they go from here though. X-men second class, set in the seventies? Or back to the modern day timeline? As long as Matthew Vaughn is involved, I’m sure it will be great.
January Jones is a bit flat, but I think that fits Emma Frost. I always saw her as aloof and unemotional. I though Jennifer Lawrence did a great job, although I have no idea what a katniss is, so can’t comment on that.
Fassbender was a joy to watch. It’s so fantastic when great actors approach these roles seriously and give it their best effort. Also I loved his early scenes being sort of a mash up of Munich and James Bond with Magneto. His large scale stuff was grand, but I found Magneto’s small scale power displays the most compelling.
I also went in with very low expectations and was blown away. Bit unhappy that Darwin died, but I suppose his power might have been too much of a game-changer? All in all, it is now one of my favorite superhero movies, much better than the other X-films. Fassbender and McAvoy were excellent-there really were a lot of strong actors in this film.
[spoiler]Prof X and Magneto enter a bar. Wolverine is drinking something toxic and chomping on a cigar. Prof X starts his spiel on how they’re looking fo-
You left out “Movie audience goes wild”. At least in mine.
I feel so lecherous wanting to do the things I want to do to Nicholas Hoult now after having so thoroughly enjoyed About A Boy. It’s hard to realize it’s the same kid; puberty was more than kind to him. Though it says much that Michael Fassbender can take a scene from him in the eye candy department.
I thought they missed a great furthering of Basic Instinct imagery by not having January Jones part her legs to reveal diamond flash.
I’m not a huge X Men fan by any means- in fact I only saw the first Stewart-McKellen movie- and I liked this one a lot. Presumes no foreknowledge (though I’m sure it’s great if you have some) and is a good self contained plot on its own.
The Auschwitz scenes are almost frame per frame the same as the original. Does anybody know if they used the same footage? (Young Eric was of course the same actor who’s in the later Young Eric scenes, but it would be fairly easy to superimpose his face onto the existing footage.)
I know that Magneto-Xavier having been friends and colleagues is established, but is X’s brother-sister relationship with Mystique canon? And is Havok supposed to be the father of Cyclops?
Yeah, but making him the father of Cyclops is actually easier for audiences to buy as opposed to the comics story, which would involve space pirates and such. I’m assuming the camp scene up to young Erik getting knocked out is the original. Can’t find the name of the kid who played him in the first X-men movie, but I’m glad they used it-it’s such a strong scene.
I really really liked this movie! I enjoy super heroes and I like stories in the 60s Cold War era so this this was right up my alley.
The person above is right. They seemed to recreate the opening of the first movie flawlessly (I am sure it was a recreation) and Erik’s and Charles’ stories dovetailed very well. I have to admit, if I were a mutant (especially a mutant whose mutation was obvious), I really couldn’t say whose side I would be on, which is oen fo the things I like about this Universe.
The first fun (and to me, completely unexpected) cameo was mentioned above but no one has mentioned the other one: there is a scene where someone comments how young Raven (Mystique) looks so she transforms herself into an adult who is played by Rebecca Romijn (at least I am pretty sure it was her).
Me too. I also loved how vain he was about his hair. It seems that his genetics has one more surprise for him in the future…
This was a good movie and greatly exceeded my expectations. The mutant school aspects were fun and the chemistry between Xavier and Eric was very good. You really get the sense that they genuinely care about each other but are divided by opposing ideology.
Do agree that January Jones came off a little flat and seemed to lack any threatening presence.
Nice of Magneto to air brush his helmet before breaking Emma Frost out of CIA quarters. Gotta impress the ladies, you know.
Knowing nothing of the comics, and having only seen the movies, I thought Frost came off well. She’s quite unemotional, and we know Jones can pull that off no problem. Whether that’s in line with the comic books, I have no idea, but it worked well in the movie to me.
Did Lee have a cameo? If so, I didn’t catch it. Anyone care to tell me?
At least in mine.