X-Men: First Class Review
Nov. 9th, 2011 03:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaI finally (finally!) saw X-Men: First Class and it was excellent. I loved it. My favourite relationships were Charles/Erik (lol, big surprise!) and Charles/Raven (an actual surprise). Both made me so happy.
I can’t consider it part of the X-Men movie trilogy continuity however because if there is one thing I can’t stand in a series it is the lack of character continuity. So the complete lack of a Xavier/Mystique relationship in those movies would make me like them all a lot less. So for me this is yet another X-Men universe.
Enjoyed / Loved
• I have thus far loved every version of Xavier/Magneto that I have read or watched and this was no exception. God, they were so shippy and awesome.
- I love all those moments where we get to see how affected Erik is by how Charles keeps choosing him/not failing him. Like, the expression on his face when he agrees with Eric instead of the CIA guy about their search, or the look on his face when after Shaw’s attack Charles takes Erik aside and is all ‘they’re children’ and Eric disagrees ‘they’re not anymore’ and then Charles turns around to face the others and basically agrees with Erik – Erik’s expression right there amazed me. Charles was against him but listened to what he said (just a short sentence) and then changed then his mind and supported Erik. That definitely got to him. He’s been alone all his life, never trusting anyone or counting on anyone, and for the first time he has that in Charles.
- I loved that they met when Charles saves Erik’s life. I love how Erik allows Charles into his head so easily, and that Charles ends up teaching him how to better use and control his power, and the chess games, and all those little awesome moments like Erik throwing himself on top of Charles in order to keep him safe when the plane goes into a tailspin. ♥
• I love that final beach scene. I love this version of how Charles became paralyzed. I love that Eric immediately ignored the missiles in order to run to Charles and the way he held him in his arms. When Charles is shot everything just stops. I love Erik’s rage and grief about it.
- I love that Raven went to Charles, and that he told her to go with Erik because it was what she wanted. OMG, so much freaking love! The best thing Charles does in the movie, imo. He could have convinced her to stay even without his powers, kept her tied to him with her love and loyalty but he knew what she wanted and he didn’t try. He set her free so to speak and refused to tie her to him. I loved them clasping hands, and him kissing hers and her kissing his forehead before leaving.
- Also I like to think that Charles was also sending her to be there for Eric so that he wouldn’t be alone again.
- I loved that Erik removed the bullet immediately (though my first thought was ‘don’t do that!’) I now firmly believe that he keeps that bullet for the rest of his life, a representation and reminder of his regret and lack of control.
• I adored Charles/Raven. I knew that it was coming because of the trailers of course but it was even better in a lot of ways then I imagined. I was not expecting to love it as much as I do. You know what it is – I adore friends-turned-enemies-who-still-love-each-other and it’s something that makes me love X/M so much – and now that’s very much a part of the Xavier/Mystique relationship as well. Except they’re also like family.
- I love how casually affectionate they are with each other. Her flopping down on the couch to lean against him, clearly something they do often, and their scene when they first get to the mansion (the kiss!), his arm across her on the plane…
- One thing that did feel a bit off at times was Charles reaction to Raven’s distress and confusion over her looks. I’m choosing to believe obliviousness and self-absorption over him being uncomfortable with her extreme physical mutation because while Charles Xavier has a number of negative traits – including being manipulative – judging mutants on their looks or thinking there’s something wrong with them because of their mutation whichever way it presents is really not one of them. Ever.
So what I think was going on there was that Charles has grown up understanding Raven pretty well despite never reading her mind because of his promise. He gets to the point where he thinks he knows everything about her feelings and never does realise that things have changed (or that he had it wrong from the beginning) – Raven may have started wanting only to be like everyone else but he completely misses when that changes to her wanting to only be accepted and loved for who she is.
• I was definitely seeing some Raven/Charles. He states pretty emphatically that he sees her as a sibling and considers her under his charge/protection but I don’t think that Raven feels the same. Her reaction to him flirting with the girl and then to him calling her his ‘sister’ was not sisterly at all. And then her recreating what he expressed attraction to in the other girl pretty much confirmed to me that she at least saw him as more than family. Maybe it’s just a crush but I could also see it being more. I can see Charles/Raven happening post-movie where he no longer considers her his responsibility and she's grown-up away from him a bit.
• I loved Charles. Charles Xavier has been my favourite X-Men since watching the 90’s cartoon as a kid (well, tied with Rogue then) and I was a bit worried about how he would come off in this movie. But it was for nothing because as always I adored him and he remains my favourite. Even though it was really short I felt like the scenes at the mansion showed really well why people trust, believe in and follow Charles Xavier.
• Assassin!Erik from the beginning was gorgeous and so hot. I loved the scene in Argentina. So badass.
• I think that Erik probably will always hate Moira and even though he lets her live and seemed to accept he’s to blame for the shooting I think he will always blame her as well and hate her for it.
• I love how Beast ends up become the iconic blue beast of the comics – I thought it was really clever and made complete sense. That’s why he’s blue! Aw, and of course poor Hank would want the serum so bad that he would try it on himself.
• Romances:
Beyond Charles/Erik (which I suppose isn’t strictly 100% canon text) there was strikingly little romance happening in the movie. Beyond Raven/Hank what we did see felt mostly tacked on and shallow.
- Raven/Hank was very sweet and their storyline worked really well. I don’t think they ever would have worked out – Raven wants to be accepted for herself while Hank still just wanted to be ‘normal’ – but their initial bonding made me smile. When everything did end up crashing and burning it was expected and understandable and I felt bad for both of them (but Raven more). I liked that they had that little moment during the fight where she distracted Azazel.
- Raven/Erik never really felt romantic to me even with the bedroom scene. The kiss seemed more like him showing her that he accepted her for her true self then because of any attraction and in my mind it didn’t lead anywhere. I did really like the buildup of their relationship, though I wanted more, and his overt acceptance of her true appearance made her desire to go with him at the end make complete sense.
- Emma/Shaw was implied but wasn’t really given any depth. I’m sure he liked having her around but it felt like for him she was a prized possession to show off and not someone he really loved. Her feelings for him were pretty opaque.
- Charles/Moira make nice friends and because of comics canon I was expecting there to be a romance but there never really was. The kiss at the end felt more like the sad goodbye to the possibility – as if they had been friends and they’d liked each other and maybe they each had a bit of a crush and wondered ‘what if’ but were really busy with more important things and so never acted on it and now it will never happen because the window for it has passed but they’ll always think fondly of each other even more because of it.
Then there was the fact that he erased her memory. My first reaction was ‘WTH, Charles?’ But a big chuck of that might have been a Donna flashback because it actually doesn’t bother me so much. I wish that it had been a decision they’d agreed upon together but him doing it was very in character for Xavier and I can understand why he did it.
• I loved the cameos – Rebecca Romjin as an older Raven was completely unexpected but awesome, Logan’s “fuck off”, baby!Ororo.
• I liked how they came up with their names/codenames. It was cute. The whole scene with them goofing off and having fun was cute.
• I liked how Erik got his helmet and thought this movie did very well at giving good explanations for things (though not how the ‘Russians’ managed to create a helmet that worked against telepaths). But what I really want to know is why the hell Erik added mini horns to the front of it? It’s just silly. The colour scheme is fine, very Magneto, but the horns – no. I realise it's comics/anaimated canon but it just looks ridiculous in real life and what was Erik thinking when he chose to add them? What did Raven get him drunk? Did she add it on the night before, giggling as she did, and then it was too late to change it? This is here instead of under ‘issues’ because mainly it makes me LOL and shake my head.
• I loved Moira shooting at Erik on the beach. I thought that was pretty awesome.
Issues
• My main issue is really the compressed timeline – Xavier and Magneto’s friendship was supposed to encompass years not months. (And even though I love Raven/Charles the fact that Charles and Erik were each other’s first mutants was also something that I loved.)
- I think a lot of my issues could have been solved if the movie had been divided into two or three movies with the second movie dealing with Shaw and the Cuban missile crisis and the first movie being all about the beginnings – Charles and Erik meeting and becoming friends and the start of the school, them searching out mutants, getting to know the characters and the various relationships and basically giving the supporting mutants actual story and characterisation (or more then broad brushstrokes). There were just too many people and not enough time spent on many of them.
• Darwin dying first – and really the only significant death minus Shaw - WTH movie? Seriously? Considering that his power was to adapt I like the idea that Charles had him stored in the mansion somewhere during the entirety of the movie as he learned to adapt to the energy Shaw forced into him and that the next movie will start with him waking up and going ‘wtf happened?!’
• The PTB’s choice of mutants, out of the many they could have chosen or even created, and the way they chose to use them. Two women (though really only one since Raven and Charles come as a set) and four men. Only two of them aren’t white – and one dies in the middle and the other joins the evil side. Sigh. So when we get to the training sequence at the mansion it is very monochromatic.
• We really didn’t much insight into what was driving any of the female characters other than Raven.
- I actually wasn’t as bothered with Emma because we didn’t get to know anything about the other Shaw supporters either to the point that I had no idea who the hell the wind guy even was. I kept waiting for a name but they either didn't give one or I missed it. So I can’t complain too much there I suppose.
- I did think that Angel should have been given a little more time since they had her switch teams. Why did she choose Shaw to the extent that she attacked her former friends?
Raven/Angel as a counterpoint to Raven/Hank is something I would have liked to have seen. Hank only wants to be 'normal' while Angel seems to want to be accepted for herself, or at least be left alone to be who she is. We get a moment between them connecting at the CIA and it made me want more. An extended scene of the girls talking about their shared loneliness and not only dealing with their powers but with the sexism they live with would have been nice and it could have given us much needed insight into Angel.
Angel's cynicism and how closed off emotionally she was felt like a mirror into what Raven could have been if she hadn't found Charles and been taken in by him, and surrounded with his love and protection growing up. I doubt Angel had that support in her life. And yet you also get to see that she isn't as hard as she might first appear - her reaction to Charles and Eric's powers and her goofing off with the other newly collected mutants at the CIA.
Basically I wanted more about Angel.
• Moira’s final scene with her dreamy ‘a kiss’ and her boss being all ‘this is why women shouldn’t be agents’ irritated me.
• Charles touching his head every time he used his powers was silly. Unless he was doing it so as to make people associate that gesture with him using his power and thus subconsciously assume he doesn’t use it when not doing that.
• What is Mystique’s age? I’d have thought that she would be the same age group as Charles and Erik if not older (considering she looks younger then she is according to Hank) but then she’s treated as one of the ‘kids’ throughout the movie.
• Not really an issue so much but why was Emma hanging around the cell until Erik showed up? She clearly could have escaped her ‘prison’ at any time – we see her cut a hole in the glass, plus her telepathy – so her staying there had to be on purpose. She was kept in CIA headquarters, right? So that’s pretty good positioning in case something went wrong with Shaw’s plan, I suppose. Was she waiting for further orders, or nuclear war to start, before deciding what to do? But she knew that Charles and Eric were out there planning to stop Shaw so wouldn’t it make more sense to go to his aid? Unless she wasn’t actually on completely on his side – disagreed with his end of the world plans or was just tired of being treated as someone less than him – but was unwilling to make a move against him and so was deciding to sit back and wait to see how it played out?
I can’t consider it part of the X-Men movie trilogy continuity however because if there is one thing I can’t stand in a series it is the lack of character continuity. So the complete lack of a Xavier/Mystique relationship in those movies would make me like them all a lot less. So for me this is yet another X-Men universe.
Enjoyed / Loved
• I have thus far loved every version of Xavier/Magneto that I have read or watched and this was no exception. God, they were so shippy and awesome.
- I love all those moments where we get to see how affected Erik is by how Charles keeps choosing him/not failing him. Like, the expression on his face when he agrees with Eric instead of the CIA guy about their search, or the look on his face when after Shaw’s attack Charles takes Erik aside and is all ‘they’re children’ and Eric disagrees ‘they’re not anymore’ and then Charles turns around to face the others and basically agrees with Erik – Erik’s expression right there amazed me. Charles was against him but listened to what he said (just a short sentence) and then changed then his mind and supported Erik. That definitely got to him. He’s been alone all his life, never trusting anyone or counting on anyone, and for the first time he has that in Charles.
- I loved that they met when Charles saves Erik’s life. I love how Erik allows Charles into his head so easily, and that Charles ends up teaching him how to better use and control his power, and the chess games, and all those little awesome moments like Erik throwing himself on top of Charles in order to keep him safe when the plane goes into a tailspin. ♥
• I love that final beach scene. I love this version of how Charles became paralyzed. I love that Eric immediately ignored the missiles in order to run to Charles and the way he held him in his arms. When Charles is shot everything just stops. I love Erik’s rage and grief about it.
- I love that Raven went to Charles, and that he told her to go with Erik because it was what she wanted. OMG, so much freaking love! The best thing Charles does in the movie, imo. He could have convinced her to stay even without his powers, kept her tied to him with her love and loyalty but he knew what she wanted and he didn’t try. He set her free so to speak and refused to tie her to him. I loved them clasping hands, and him kissing hers and her kissing his forehead before leaving.
- Also I like to think that Charles was also sending her to be there for Eric so that he wouldn’t be alone again.
- I loved that Erik removed the bullet immediately (though my first thought was ‘don’t do that!’) I now firmly believe that he keeps that bullet for the rest of his life, a representation and reminder of his regret and lack of control.
• I adored Charles/Raven. I knew that it was coming because of the trailers of course but it was even better in a lot of ways then I imagined. I was not expecting to love it as much as I do. You know what it is – I adore friends-turned-enemies-who-still-love-each-other and it’s something that makes me love X/M so much – and now that’s very much a part of the Xavier/Mystique relationship as well. Except they’re also like family.
- I love how casually affectionate they are with each other. Her flopping down on the couch to lean against him, clearly something they do often, and their scene when they first get to the mansion (the kiss!), his arm across her on the plane…
- One thing that did feel a bit off at times was Charles reaction to Raven’s distress and confusion over her looks. I’m choosing to believe obliviousness and self-absorption over him being uncomfortable with her extreme physical mutation because while Charles Xavier has a number of negative traits – including being manipulative – judging mutants on their looks or thinking there’s something wrong with them because of their mutation whichever way it presents is really not one of them. Ever.
So what I think was going on there was that Charles has grown up understanding Raven pretty well despite never reading her mind because of his promise. He gets to the point where he thinks he knows everything about her feelings and never does realise that things have changed (or that he had it wrong from the beginning) – Raven may have started wanting only to be like everyone else but he completely misses when that changes to her wanting to only be accepted and loved for who she is.
• I was definitely seeing some Raven/Charles. He states pretty emphatically that he sees her as a sibling and considers her under his charge/protection but I don’t think that Raven feels the same. Her reaction to him flirting with the girl and then to him calling her his ‘sister’ was not sisterly at all. And then her recreating what he expressed attraction to in the other girl pretty much confirmed to me that she at least saw him as more than family. Maybe it’s just a crush but I could also see it being more. I can see Charles/Raven happening post-movie where he no longer considers her his responsibility and she's grown-up away from him a bit.
• I loved Charles. Charles Xavier has been my favourite X-Men since watching the 90’s cartoon as a kid (well, tied with Rogue then) and I was a bit worried about how he would come off in this movie. But it was for nothing because as always I adored him and he remains my favourite. Even though it was really short I felt like the scenes at the mansion showed really well why people trust, believe in and follow Charles Xavier.
• Assassin!Erik from the beginning was gorgeous and so hot. I loved the scene in Argentina. So badass.
• I think that Erik probably will always hate Moira and even though he lets her live and seemed to accept he’s to blame for the shooting I think he will always blame her as well and hate her for it.
• I love how Beast ends up become the iconic blue beast of the comics – I thought it was really clever and made complete sense. That’s why he’s blue! Aw, and of course poor Hank would want the serum so bad that he would try it on himself.
• Romances:
Beyond Charles/Erik (which I suppose isn’t strictly 100% canon text) there was strikingly little romance happening in the movie. Beyond Raven/Hank what we did see felt mostly tacked on and shallow.
- Raven/Hank was very sweet and their storyline worked really well. I don’t think they ever would have worked out – Raven wants to be accepted for herself while Hank still just wanted to be ‘normal’ – but their initial bonding made me smile. When everything did end up crashing and burning it was expected and understandable and I felt bad for both of them (but Raven more). I liked that they had that little moment during the fight where she distracted Azazel.
- Raven/Erik never really felt romantic to me even with the bedroom scene. The kiss seemed more like him showing her that he accepted her for her true self then because of any attraction and in my mind it didn’t lead anywhere. I did really like the buildup of their relationship, though I wanted more, and his overt acceptance of her true appearance made her desire to go with him at the end make complete sense.
- Emma/Shaw was implied but wasn’t really given any depth. I’m sure he liked having her around but it felt like for him she was a prized possession to show off and not someone he really loved. Her feelings for him were pretty opaque.
- Charles/Moira make nice friends and because of comics canon I was expecting there to be a romance but there never really was. The kiss at the end felt more like the sad goodbye to the possibility – as if they had been friends and they’d liked each other and maybe they each had a bit of a crush and wondered ‘what if’ but were really busy with more important things and so never acted on it and now it will never happen because the window for it has passed but they’ll always think fondly of each other even more because of it.
Then there was the fact that he erased her memory. My first reaction was ‘WTH, Charles?’ But a big chuck of that might have been a Donna flashback because it actually doesn’t bother me so much. I wish that it had been a decision they’d agreed upon together but him doing it was very in character for Xavier and I can understand why he did it.
• I loved the cameos – Rebecca Romjin as an older Raven was completely unexpected but awesome, Logan’s “fuck off”, baby!Ororo.
• I liked how they came up with their names/codenames. It was cute. The whole scene with them goofing off and having fun was cute.
• I liked how Erik got his helmet and thought this movie did very well at giving good explanations for things (though not how the ‘Russians’ managed to create a helmet that worked against telepaths). But what I really want to know is why the hell Erik added mini horns to the front of it? It’s just silly. The colour scheme is fine, very Magneto, but the horns – no. I realise it's comics/anaimated canon but it just looks ridiculous in real life and what was Erik thinking when he chose to add them? What did Raven get him drunk? Did she add it on the night before, giggling as she did, and then it was too late to change it? This is here instead of under ‘issues’ because mainly it makes me LOL and shake my head.
• I loved Moira shooting at Erik on the beach. I thought that was pretty awesome.
Issues
• My main issue is really the compressed timeline – Xavier and Magneto’s friendship was supposed to encompass years not months. (And even though I love Raven/Charles the fact that Charles and Erik were each other’s first mutants was also something that I loved.)
- I think a lot of my issues could have been solved if the movie had been divided into two or three movies with the second movie dealing with Shaw and the Cuban missile crisis and the first movie being all about the beginnings – Charles and Erik meeting and becoming friends and the start of the school, them searching out mutants, getting to know the characters and the various relationships and basically giving the supporting mutants actual story and characterisation (or more then broad brushstrokes). There were just too many people and not enough time spent on many of them.
• Darwin dying first – and really the only significant death minus Shaw - WTH movie? Seriously? Considering that his power was to adapt I like the idea that Charles had him stored in the mansion somewhere during the entirety of the movie as he learned to adapt to the energy Shaw forced into him and that the next movie will start with him waking up and going ‘wtf happened?!’
• The PTB’s choice of mutants, out of the many they could have chosen or even created, and the way they chose to use them. Two women (though really only one since Raven and Charles come as a set) and four men. Only two of them aren’t white – and one dies in the middle and the other joins the evil side. Sigh. So when we get to the training sequence at the mansion it is very monochromatic.
• We really didn’t much insight into what was driving any of the female characters other than Raven.
- I actually wasn’t as bothered with Emma because we didn’t get to know anything about the other Shaw supporters either to the point that I had no idea who the hell the wind guy even was. I kept waiting for a name but they either didn't give one or I missed it. So I can’t complain too much there I suppose.
- I did think that Angel should have been given a little more time since they had her switch teams. Why did she choose Shaw to the extent that she attacked her former friends?
Raven/Angel as a counterpoint to Raven/Hank is something I would have liked to have seen. Hank only wants to be 'normal' while Angel seems to want to be accepted for herself, or at least be left alone to be who she is. We get a moment between them connecting at the CIA and it made me want more. An extended scene of the girls talking about their shared loneliness and not only dealing with their powers but with the sexism they live with would have been nice and it could have given us much needed insight into Angel.
Angel's cynicism and how closed off emotionally she was felt like a mirror into what Raven could have been if she hadn't found Charles and been taken in by him, and surrounded with his love and protection growing up. I doubt Angel had that support in her life. And yet you also get to see that she isn't as hard as she might first appear - her reaction to Charles and Eric's powers and her goofing off with the other newly collected mutants at the CIA.
Basically I wanted more about Angel.
• Moira’s final scene with her dreamy ‘a kiss’ and her boss being all ‘this is why women shouldn’t be agents’ irritated me.
• Charles touching his head every time he used his powers was silly. Unless he was doing it so as to make people associate that gesture with him using his power and thus subconsciously assume he doesn’t use it when not doing that.
• What is Mystique’s age? I’d have thought that she would be the same age group as Charles and Erik if not older (considering she looks younger then she is according to Hank) but then she’s treated as one of the ‘kids’ throughout the movie.
• Not really an issue so much but why was Emma hanging around the cell until Erik showed up? She clearly could have escaped her ‘prison’ at any time – we see her cut a hole in the glass, plus her telepathy – so her staying there had to be on purpose. She was kept in CIA headquarters, right? So that’s pretty good positioning in case something went wrong with Shaw’s plan, I suppose. Was she waiting for further orders, or nuclear war to start, before deciding what to do? But she knew that Charles and Eric were out there planning to stop Shaw so wouldn’t it make more sense to go to his aid? Unless she wasn’t actually on completely on his side – disagreed with his end of the world plans or was just tired of being treated as someone less than him – but was unwilling to make a move against him and so was deciding to sit back and wait to see how it played out?
