X-Men First Class was better than I thought it would be, but not as good as I had hoped. I'm not a big Marvel fan, but from what I do know of the X-Men comic-- this movie doesn't follow it. However, this is still a decent movie, not a great one, but a decent one. It was certainly more enjoyable to watch than Thor.
Plot: As in the first film, the film starts with Erik Lensherr (future Magneto) as a child in 1944 in a concentration camp in Poland. Little Erik manages to bend the gates when he's separated from his parents. What we didn't see in the previous film was what happened to Magneto afterward. In this film we learn that he caught the eye of a wicked Nazi doctor, Schmidt, future Sebastian Shaw (played by Kevin Bacon). Kevin would not have been my first choice for the character, but he does a fantastic job as the villain of this story. After 30 years, Kevin Bacon continues to be one of the most underrated actors and unlike his fellow actors from that era, Kevin has aged well. He looked quite good in this film.
James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Zoe Kravitz |
Meanwhile in a story arc far, far away, CIA agent, Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) is following a U.S. Colonel into the Hellfire Club in Las Vegas, where she sees Sabastian Shaw (aka Dr. Schmidt), Emma Frost (January Jones), and their crew abduct the colonel to do their bidding. Seeing things she doesn't understand, Moira enlists the help of Charles Xavier, as he is the premiere expert on mutation.
James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender playing chess |
However, considering the long and interesting histories of Professor X and Magneto, I was expecting a little bit more. At some point, the writers threw the comic book in the trash and proceeded to burn it. If the story had focused on Charles and Erik and their relationship, then this film could have been great, but alas, lazy writers. Again, it's not a bad comic book film, but it's not a great one either. It's somewhere in the region of adequate.
THREE OUT OF FIVE STARS
It's very interesting reading your opinion about this film.
ReplyDeleteHa, I'm sure. I'm pretty hard on films. I've been rewriting and changing things around a bit. I think I'm finally finished. I liked it, but I thought it could have been better.
ReplyDeleteI did like Super 8. Although it was total melodramatic Spielberg towards the end, but overall really good.