"X-Men Origins: First Class" (1 Viewer)

[Jerome Grate]

Wow, 5 stars. I may have to add this one to the list with my son for viewing. Thanks for the input.

 

[Cory S.]

It's easily the best film of the summer. It's a stunner of film that's very efficient even if it makes two crucial mistakes that keep it from surpassing X2. But, just as easily as McAvoy and Fassbender anchor the film, the backbone and soul of the film is the stunning performance of Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique. Jennifer Lawrence is the real deal. No more questions about it. She's a star and a hell of an actress. After this film, you'll look at Mystique in a whole new light when watching Singer's first two films. It's absolutely tragic, yet essential what happens to her and how it connects to Xavier and his philosophy for the rest of the series. Everyone is great, even if its in the smaller supporting roles. The action is good but it isn't as well staged as X2. The score is okay, nothing memorable until the last 15 minutes. Still, at over 2 hours, it goes by at a fast clip that kind of hinders the film. It doesn't give itself enough time to take it all in and breathe. It's got plenty of genuine character beats but it doesn't give us time to contemplate them. The final flaw is the ending of the film. Essentially, the film places our characters in the positions they need to be in to fall in line with Singer's first film, which hinders the potential of sequels. Because the film is so good and the chemistry between McAvoy and Fassbender is so good, we hate that they break at the end of this film. I think we needed another film about their alliance before the eventual death of the friendship. The film earns its ending but it's not really the right ending. Still, easily better than X-Men The Last Stand and Origins Wolverine. From a continuity perspective, it pretty much takes its cues from X-Men and X2, leaving the last two films out in the cold.

 

[TerryRL]

4.5 stars.


Not much to say other than that 'First Class' is a fantastic movie.

 

[Jose Martinez]

Loved it. Just a notch behind X2 but definitely far ahead of the other 3 movies.


Oh, and I loved the cameos! Totally surprised by them.

 

[mattCR]

A load of fun. Best Ticket so far. Superb acting.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Best use of the f-word in a PG-13 movie since Anchorman. Loved the film. Stylistically perfect. The heart of the film is in the triumvirate of performances from McAvoy, Fassbender and Lawrence.

 

[JonZ]

I was pretty happy with it. Only real complaint would be a couple uninteresting mutants. Loved having a Xmen film without Wolverine being the focus.



Bring on the sequel.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Loved it!


Was there more than one cameo beyond a certain one? I mean by actors from the previous films not certain characters.







Crawdaddy

 

[JonZ]

RC, 2 previous actors appear....


For some reason the spoiler tags arent working .....


SPOILERS BELOW IF YOU HAVENT SEEN THE MOVIE





Jackman as Wolverine and Rebecca Romijn as a older Mystique when shes in bed and tries to seduce Magneto. Erik mentions that shes too young and she turns into Rebecca Romjin saying "Is this better?". A cool little cameo IMHO.

 

[mike caronia]

I thought it was just OK.

Seemed unintentionally funny (campy) in way too many places.

And I thought the make-up was wasn't all that fantastic for a huge studio film as well.


The acting was top notch, and I did enjoy it....just not as much as I've been reading from folks all over the 'net.

I actually enjoyed Thor more, maybe due to lower expectations for that one.


And don't stick around for the credits to finish expecting a clip...nothing to see.

 

[TravisR]

I thought the trailer looked cool but I still expected to be lukewarm towards the movie but I was pretty impressed. There's very few comic book movies that I would ever really be interested in owning or even rewatching but this is one of them.

 

[DaveB]

From someone that mostly enjoyed X-men and *hated* X2 -- and after Superman Returns had nearly lost all faith in Mr. Singer to produce anything worthy of its admission fare ever again -- First Class was outstanding and bests the previous X-movies by a Grand Canyonesque margin.

 

[WadeLil]

This one is the best nd entire series.It was the most balanced where the other was weak 4 various parts.As far as im concerned this is the first XMEN movie.

 

[Will_B]

Spoiler free review of X-Men: Does it fill in the backstory properly? Yes, it does.

Does it have any sense of tension or drama? Not really.

Are the CGI tears distracting? Yes - let the actors act.

Could it have been an hour montage instead of a 2-hour movie? Oh yes.


More importantly -- movies are not "where it's at" any more. Miniseries are the way to tell interesting stories. You need 12 hours to tell a story and actually develop emotional connections with the characters. That is not provided in a film, though this film has a couple moments of it (at the start with the child Magneto, and at the start with Xavier and his "sister"), but not enough. Sorry but films are just too superficial for the kind of involvement in these characters' lives that this story deserves.


This film was a fine Preface, a rich, detailed preface -- but oddly rather than these qualities making X-Men Origins a great film, it only makes X-Men and X-Men2 greater films, while leaving itself still a bit out in the cold.


---


Also:


How many people thought that was Jack Nicholson for a moment?


Also:


WTF? There was no indication that Kevin Bacon's character was what he was, and there was no explanation for how he turned into what he was, if he was not what he was at the beginning. That was weirdly written.

 

[Will_B]

Oh and I forgot to conclude with:


Is it worth $10.25 admission?


No.


I'd value it at $4 to $5.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Quick thoughts: I thought it was okay, but it felt like a rushed production, script-wise, and it just didn't quite do enough to juggle so many characters. Plus January Jones's line-reading was laughably bad. Fassbender has small hands, so when he was using them to imply magnetism in use, they looked that that Burger King guy with the little hands. They should have moved some predictable dramatic turns into the mid-section of the film so that there was more suspense in the final act. Perhaps too much bromance going on with Alex and Darwin, and also Charles and Erik. Heh.


I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.

 

[Will_B]

Originally Posted by Patrick Sun They should have moved some predictable dramatic turns into the mid-section of the film so that there was more suspense in the final act. Perhaps too much bromance going on with Alex and Darwin, and also Charles and Erik. Heh.
I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.

That's an interesting idea -- break up the team earlier in the film, so in the last act Xavier and Eric would come together -- and maybe even swear they'd always stick together, letting the audience enjoy their "advance knowledge" that they will fall apart again. Indeed, replace the scene of Kevin Bacon breaking up the "first class" and replace it with Eric doing the same. Would have worked.

 

[montrealfilmguy]

Saw it yesterday,and i'm going out on a limb saying if i see 15 other films this summer,they won't be as good.


Personally,i like how the relationships are developed and loyalties are divided based on viewpoints of "us " humans.


and..SPOILERSSPOILERSPOILERS...







Sebastian Shaw is a major villain in the comics and had a huge impact on Jean Grey and the Dark phoenix character

which is only slightly hinted at at the end of X-Men 3.That character wouldve played marvously for sequel material.


Really ? the black guy (Darwin ) doesnt even have time to find out he's wearing the red shirt from Star trek and dies ? Really ?


and my one major beef is,although i know it can somewhat be explained up to a degree,im thinking the whole film is

basically Magneto wanting to kill Sebastian Shaw right ?


So why does he destroy a lab full of metal but not Shaw RIGHT after he's killed his mom..plus he lets Shaw put his arm around him ? this is

why we need a WTF smiley.


I'm gonna go and paraphrase farmer Bean from Fantastic mr.Fox here


"thats just bad screenwriting here Petey."

 

[TravisR]

Plus January Jones's line-reading was laughably bad.

She can do Betty Draper (her Mad Men character) perfectly but that's apparently the end of her range.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Really ? the black guy (Darwin ) doesnt even have time to find out he's wearing the red shirt from Star trek and dies ? Really ?

My memory of sixties action/horror pictures tells me that if there's a black guy in the movie, he'll always die first.