Thanks for checking out our X-Men: First Class Review
Genre: Comic Book Action
Directed by: Matthew Vaughn
Staring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence
Released: June 3rd, 2011
THE GENERAL IDEA
Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-MEN.
THE GOOD
The setting is likely my favourite part of the movie. They really push into the 60s with an almost campy feel but never quite get into the over the top caracature of the decade as pop culture would remember it. Despite adding a totally foreign element into that decade, we are constantly aware that this is certainly in the 60s.
The twist to the Cuban Missle Crisis was a risky one but one that they pull off very well. They insert “unknowns” into what is already historically recorded to the event.
Every comic book film needs its villain, but with an origin story that villain cannot overshadow the development, and in this we get Sebastian Shaw, wonderfully played by Kevin Bacon. He is effective enough without being too much of the movie. Seeing Magneto oppose Shaw is delicious to watch as they illustrate how similar the two men are in their ideals about Mutant Supremacy.
Buf Fassbender steals this film and his portrayal of Erik Lensher is hauntingly foreshadowing Ian McKellan’s portrayal. And I wouldn’t be the first person to say that Fassbender could easily be the next Bond if Craig gives up the gig. This can also be said of James McAvoy, who easily fits the role of the caring nurturing father figure of the mutant race.
And all of this is just the icing on the cake for some great cinematic style action scenes. The special effects are incredible, and add more than just some beams of light and prosthetics. Really top knotch fun visuals here.
THE BAD
The supporting cast is great but the “first class” students are just window dressing and a purpose to showcase the creation of Xavier’s school and the relationship. I don’t mind these characters being so secondary as I would rather see the ProfessorX/Megneto relationship play out.
I didn’t like January Jones in this at all. Her costumes were attempting to be sexy revealing and just looked like they didn’t fit. And her acting was supposed to be cold and stern, but end up being stiff and flat. If they do more in this era, I hope she is recast.
Jennifer Lawrence still looks awkward to me. She might be a Mystique before the sex appeal, but still the character doesn’t work for me in this movie. Thankfully her “I just want to feel normal” contribution to the student’s theme in the film is more than fulfilled with Hank McCoy and his evolution into the Beast.
Most of the students are background noise, and just there to fill out the roster. Riptide had no character development at all. Maybe they an get more into these roles in future installments. Not an overwhelming bad thing, as this left room for the core character’s story.
OVERALL
Prequels tend to suffer from the “we know what inevitably happens” syndrome, but this film works WITH that and does it so well. This really works into the more current films and I really hope that they make more X-Films in this era.
Lots of action and fun, with some show-off moments and good character developement all make this film worth seeing.
I give X-Men:First Class a 9 out of 10 and is now my new favourite X-Film.
this film is a true marvel studio film i have always been a fan of X men and marvel for that matter this film slightly dissapointed to many mistakes they should stay more loyal to the comics like in xmen last stand xaivier and magneto seem freinds good freind and he can walk so if you have both had different ideas about wether mutants should kill or help wich is happening in the middle cold war i dont think you would stay thata good freinds but still lots of action so i liked it as i am 11 but still cool film
This is one of the best X-Men movies. I hope they continue movies like this. I like it as much as X-2.
The most overrated movie of the year, im glad its not doing well at the boxoffice!!
VERY overrated. MEH.
Y’know when you give a film a 9/10 it jumps straight up to the top of my must see list. I agree completely with the majority of your reviews and can’t wait to see the new X-Men film now.
loved finding out magneto’s history, where all his hatred came from. His mission to rid the nazis, the forging of the friendship and the embarkment of it, some seriously great cinematography going on, brilliant cinema moments, notably, shaw/xavier coin going through head, and the missile finale.
Loved the setting, 60’s era always looks and works great, if its done properly, and it did work for this film, the art deco and villain submarine interiors and war room was sick.
But in the context, even for a film, went horribly wrong, nowhere near enough information or screen time was shown for any character development or dismay of nuclear war breaking out from the civilian side of things.
Just didnt fit for me.
The entire costume and choreography department as well as script and screenplay writers need to be fired. What was going on with mystique and beast? they looked as bad as their campy chemisty ? she wasn’t hot enough, blue or normal. We had frost, but she didn’t get near enough screen time. And again with the matching spandex, and magneto’s final costume! Jeasus.
terrible terible bald gags…
Loved kick-ass and dont get me wrong, vaughn did a great job at the helm of that one, but i dont know whether it was the him, the execs or tiger blood, but it really felt mediocre on his part, during most of the low key action scenes i was constantly criticizing to myslef how poorly they were done, from the powers, to the training, to the fight scenes.
I greatly apologise about the rant chaps, I love x-men and I’m just peeees’d to see it go down the same road again. I’m just suprised at The Rod, been right on everything he’s said, cept this one, but i can understand if it still worked for him, It almost did for me, but it didn’t follow through.
Sorry again bloggers
The interaction between Xavier and Magneto made the entire film for me. Just loved the whole back and forth on the morality and so forth, damn James McAvoy was just money. Filling Patrick Stewarts shoes was an immense feat if you ask me and he did a remarkable job!
9/10 really? So for you this is one of the best movies of all time/one of your all time favorite films? I thought it was a fun film, but I don’t think it deserves anything higher than a 7/10 personally. If this is a 9/10 then where does “The Godfather” stand? How about “Shawshank Redemption”? I mean when I see 9/10 that’s basically saying that film is almost as perfect as it can be and I just didn’t see that at all with “X-Men FC”. It’s your review, but I’ve gotta say that for me that’s way to high of a score.
I personally put this in the top 5 of the year so far, maybe even as high as number 2 right behind McAvoy’s other movie, The Conspirator.
I loved the movie! I haven’t had that much fun watching an X-Men movie since the very first film when everything was new and exciting. But I’ve always been disappointed by the X-Men movies. Very little heart, passion and character development that made me feel like part of the film and really root for them. Matthew Vaughn, just as he did with Kick-Ass, made me love the characters, feel what they felt, and root for them the whole way. Now that the technology is there to make the kind of crazy movies they should be, and with a director like Vaughn that really puts heart into the movie, I think we can see some great X movies now. The movie was just plain fun to watch! The only minus I can give was January Jones. I want to like her so bad cuz she’s just so hot! But every time she opened her mouth she took me out of the moment, even with her little outfits that I should have liked, but didn’t. She needs to be cooler and less…. weird.
Well I agree with your review on some terms Rodney. But the way I see the film is not neccessarily a prequel to the past three films but almost as a revamp on the X-Men franchise. I think if they continued on the next films with this premise than maybe fanboys wouldn’t bitch about it so much. One of things that bothered me about Mystique was that she was trying to get affections from differnt characters whether it was Xavier or Hank it seems like all she wanted was to someone like her. And her fatuations quickly kept changing from one guy to the next. Most of the students were pretty forgetable they didn’t really seem to develop them much but hopefully if there is a sequel then can work on the Teams chemistry. Kevin Bacon and Michael Fassbender rocked, I was amazed at how well they did. You can clearly see the differences between the two and their goals. And I didn’t really like the Beasts creature effects on this one. I preferred Kelsey Grahmer’s makeup from X3, who knows maybe I’m wierd.
I agree about the differences in Beast’s make up, but in my mind I justified it as this being a much much younger, awkward, nerdy Beast. In a manner of speaking, nobody looks at 25 the same way they look in their mid 50’s. Same with animals when they’re young and when they get older. So he kinda had to have a little shorter hair and be punky and kinda off-looking. He’s a kid! When he is much older and dignified as Beast was and Kelsey nailed spot on, then he’ll look different. Good point, bro!
His intro moment (Beast) felt a little teen-wolfish to me.
he looked coolest flying the jet with the camera giving us the “Top Gun” angle. other than that it felt funny. but thats just me, I always thought one blue mutant is enough for the same frame once you put 2 up there it looks cheap. same for X2 with Night Crawler and Mystic in the same shot.
movie still rocked though.
my biggest quip was Emma Frost’s non-impact role and wooden acting and the other would be that a stripper with “Wasp” wings and coughing up fireballs didn’t give me the sense of danger that it should of :)
just saying.
Yeah, your right. Mystic IS a slut!
I wouldn’t say she is a slut because they didn’t show her sleep with anybody except have a near kiss moment with Hank. She was more of that clingy girl that quickly falls for any guy that simply smiles at her. You know, that one that constantly follows you and laughs at anything you say and thinks you are like sooooooooooo awesome and like soooooooooooo cool. And Art I can see you point on how you justify the younger Beast which again, I didn’t have a problem with his performance at all. It’s just the make up made him look like a blue werewolf or knockoff wookie.
Dude! She wanted to “Shag” magneto too, and he says:”Maybee in a couple of years”. (sweet!)
she was ripe dude…….ripe!
“but end up being stiff and flat. If they do more in this era, I hope she is recast.” haha I just watched Unknown and have been a fan of Mad Men since day 1. JJ has always been a crap actress that can only play one role…. she is as robotic as a gifted 10 year old Asian violin prodigy.
Great movie, I would say 9 out of 10 as well. However its not doing gangbusters at the BO. Rodney, do you think they will make a sequel or is their a dollar amount (180 Million or higher) they have to hit before they will greenlight it?
The movie is already sitting at $120m worldwide and its been out for 4 days. I think it will do just fine.
This was DEFINITELY one of the most entertaining comic films in a while, possibly the best of the X-Men series.
Hey Rodney, did the studio’s decision to Americanize Banshee (originally Irish) and Moira McTaggert (Scottish) bother you at all? It’s not a major complaint, but it just irks me.
A 9 out of 10?! 9s are reserved for the very best films…this one ain’t one of them.
Entertaining? Yes. A 9? Not quite.
While you are free to disagree with my opinion and make up your own mind, keep in mind that you do not get to make up my mind for me.
This film was a 9 to me.
I would have to agree with Ouija. I was surprised at how high of a rating you gave this movie, Rodney, since there was quite a bit you said didn’t quite work.
It is, of course, up to you how high of a rating you give this film, but I would have given it a 7.5 or an 8.
What didn’t work is far outweighed by what DID work. That the supporting mutants of the class were not fleshed out much is very secondary to the real plot.
Emma Frost was a sidekick to Shaw in this, and she’s my biggest complaint.
Everything else is minor compared to what is done well in this. I stand by my rating.
Question: Who was the black guy supposed to be anyways?
they killed him off pretty quick, 80’s slasher flick style!
thought he was the only misfit of the bunch.
Darwin a Latino and African American mutant from the comics, who I believe was a member of X-force…. (He looks like a alien in the Comic book..)
And there are many different timeline issues in the film that don’t add up when compared to the series as a whole. But as a standalone film it was pretty damn good, I call it the Uncanny X Men of the film series…
Actually he was in X-men then in X-factor, and him getting killed was the only thing that truly upset me in this movie. Since he’s one of my fav characters in the marvel universe. With his power he shouldn’t have been killed like that. Other than that I actually enjoyed the movie, although a lot of things angered me as a comic fan I still enjoyed it.
I liked this flick a lot. Fassbender and McAvoy were awesome. 9 out of 10 stars. Hope they’ll feature Wolverine(Hugh Jackman), Bishop(Idris Elba perhaps), XFactor and Cable (Stephen Lang hopefully) in future sequels.
There is a huge campaign to get Stephen Lang in as Cable. But if there Cable (and/or Bishop) then there has to be this shape-shifting mutant and he’d be as big as Michael Clarke Duncan…
I’d like to see Stephen Lang play Cable, based on the strength of his bad-ass performance as Col. Quaritch in “Avatar”. He’s perfect as Cable.
He’ll be AWESOME as Slade Wilson/Deathstroke the Terminator as well, if DC/Warner Bros were to make him a villain in a Batman movie or a JLA movie.
I’d like to see XForce and the New Mutants as well in future sequels.
I agree completely with everything you said. I loved the film, and I was impressed with essentially all the same things you mentioned (visuals, Fassbender/McAvoy, overall story).
I especially agree with what you said didn’t quite work in this film. Many of the first class students annoyed me, especially in that scene where they all pick nicknames (it seemed like that scene was meant to be comic relief, I just found it obnoxious). I was particularly annoyed with Zoë Kravitz’s character. They had potential there with her switching sides to help Kevin Bacon’s character, but then she pretty much just disappears. Now, I understand that the movie was pretty full, so maybe Vaughn just didn’t want the film to be too long by adding more to her character development. That being said, why did he even have her in at all? It was like they tried to make her a rounded character, but instead she was just an unnecessary annoyance.
I was also very unimpressed by January Jones’ acting, but I honestly wasn’t expecting much. I have yet to be blown away by any of her film roles.
Wow, you like it more than X2 — that’s saying a lot. I look forward to seeing it.
AFAIK, Vaughn has already about possible sequels, so it seems likely they’ll do one. Hopefully there won’t be much fall-off going into week 2, because while it did okay, it didn’t open as well as others in the past. Methinks the Wolverine movie turned a lot of people off from the franchise that need to be won back through positive word of mouth.
That and this didnt have many of the known muntants in it.
Fassbender owned this one! I was waiting to see him order 3 more beers (the correct way!) before issuing his justice. :)
great vibe between both Proffessor X and Magneto. makes the other films even more heavier with the scenes between them.
Banshee was my favorite this time around.
epic hilarious cameo
January Jones was the only bad thing in the film.
not sexy either (they could of used the sex-bots from Austin Powers and have better results)
great fun
I love that Inglorious Basterds reference there.
great movie, my only concern it’s about the discrepancies with the other x-men movies, but it doesn’t affect the fact that it stands on its own merits…
The only discrepancies I see are with the source material. Compared to the other movies this holds up.
Emma in Woverine is not the white queen (though it was intended to be at first) so that’s the only confusing part.
This one actually fits pretty nicely with the others.
the only part that doesn’t is with X3 in the beginning when Charles and Eric take a ride to see Jean Grey to recruit her. take that out and its pretty fluid. (does Ratners count anyways? haha)
In Wolverine Prof X was walking with no hair. I think that one was in the 80s.
I believe that a Hank Maccoy was on tv in human form in x-men 1.
I don’t get the confusion myself, actually. Besides, worst comes to worse, they could throw in a Days Of Futures Past storyline where something in the previous films timeline (leading up to Kelly’s death) could alter.
But here’s the way I see it regarding Xavier/Magneto in XO Wolverine and Last Stand:
There’s a possibility that a truce was called between Xavier and Lensherr. They very well have put aside some differences and briefly work together again. Something (we don’t know yet) in the late 80 or 90s where that divide happened again but on a more severe note.
Since Lensherr is with Charles while visiting a young Jean, I consider the possibility that Charles has some sort of metal brace around his legs or something like that. That’s how Lensherr defies gravity, after all, metal in his boots/ under his feet.
Wolverine had him outside, standing. No Lensherr. Could be flying the…ah…how about that one little scene in First Class where Xavier uses his telepathy to create an illusion (making it look like nobody is in back of the truck) so who is to say that Xavier is on the helio in Wolverine- and is projecting an image of himself!
(I’ll probably catch hell for that)
this was not good serebro was made by prof x & magneto not hank and magneto made the helmet not some Russian dude and who was that guy that Emma frost was working with i give it 2 maby 3 stars
i will be bloging more if you like this comment
All those things might be true in the comics, but this is not the comics. This is an adaptation based on the comics and this remains true to the current films.
You review is pretty spot on with my take. I really liked the movie, but was also frustrated by it. The X-Men films always played fast and lose with adaptation fidelity…but this film was the worst of all.
This film was a poor prequel to the other films. Vaughn has over and over again said that he wasn’t trying to created a prequel, but this film was full of characters, plot devices and dialogue which links it to all four of the other films. The problem is he wasn’t really paying attention the whole time.
Frodo is spot on. In the first film Xavier says he made Cerebro with Magneto, and was surprised he had a helmet that could block him. Striker and Emma Frost are both older in this than they are in Wolverine.
This film gets a 7 or 8 at best for lazy story telling.
In the existing X-Men films Xavier said that Magneto helped him BUILD Cerebro. He did not say Magneto and him invented it. Furthermore, Xavier was not “surprised” to see Magneto’s helmet protected him from mental attacks, but rather Magneto teases Xavier by tapping on it.
Vaughn has already clarified that the Emma in Wolverine is not Emma Frost (she is even listed in the credits as Kayla’s sister / Emma – no last name) Of course she was intended to be THAT Emma at first (TV and Trailer ads said as much), but they retconned her character to be a different Emma. She only exhibits the diamond skin power and never shows mental abilities at all.
And Stryker in this film is credited as William Stryker Sr, so no issue there.
Is Riptide supposed to be some kind of major character? From what I saw he was just another villain who didn’t need any kind of character development. He was just there.
I have to admit that I enjoyed it even though there were some elements of the story that made the comic book purest in me slightly cringe. I think that McAvoy and Fassbender were amazing. I have to say, without giving anything away, that the small cameo of a particular mutant with an attitude made me laugh out loud…haha.
Rodney, we had our disagreement about this film earlier this year but I stand corrected. Although my comic book purest side was critical at times, the movie was very entertaining and the performances were amazing.
The first half of the movie when Magneto just globe trots issuing out his justice is just so damn awesome I think I squealed a couple times. The big one line cameo was so great too. This movie is number 2 on my comic movie list with BMB being #1.
1.BMB
2.1st Class
3.TDK
4.X2
5.Iron Man
BMB = Batman Beyond?
Begins
Finally, someone else agrees Batman Begins trumps all other comic book films. The Dark Knight was great; don’t get me wrong…but Begins was just a little better. Thank you for the breath of fresh air.
Pretty easy to do considering one superhero (Batman) is basically a regular guy trained in martial arts fighting crazy criminals with gadgets (something that is totally feasible in reality) compared to mutants using special power to levitate subs out of the ocean….
There is a simple set of reasons why BMB is the greatest comic book movie.
1. Batman
2. Ninjas
3. Liam Neeson
4. Liam Neeson as a Ninja
Batman Begins is still my favorite comic book adaptation to date. Same reasons as mentioned, Ninjas/Batman/Liam Neeson.
Awesome!
I’m stealing this line from a coworker but “Liam Neeson IS Ninja”.
Great review and completely agree. Something about the Mystique character bothered me and just gave me that “it doesn’t feel right”. I enjoyed Beast and Havoc out of the first class and even Banshee at times seemed right for the role. For me the entire movie was the conflict between Xavier and Magneto. It was played perfectly and I give kudos to James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender for playing their parts so well.
I can’t agree with you more Aanio. McAvoy and Fassbender played Professor X and Magneto perfectly which is why I hope they make another First Class movie.