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Sunday, June 5, 2011

MOVIE REVIEW: X-MEN FIRST CLASS

IN THEATERS

X-MEN FIRST CLASS



Set in the era before Professor Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr became mortal enemies as Professor X and Magneto, respectively, director Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class follows the two former allies as they lead a powerful team of mutants on a mission to save the planet from nuclear annihilation. Charles (James McAvoy) and Erik (Michael Fassbender) were just young men when it began to appear as if the world was careening toward destruction. And as the Doomsday Clock ticks faster toward midnight, the time comes to take action. In the process of saving humanity, however, Charles and Erik clash. In the years that followed, Professor X would lead the X-Men in the fight for good, as Magneto and the Brotherhood spread chaos and destruction throughout the land. Kevin Bacon, Caleb Landry Jones, Nicholas Hoult, January Jones, and Lucas Till star in a film directed by Matthew Vaughn and adapted from a story by Bryan Singer. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence

Release Date: Jun 03, 2011

Rated PG-13 for Intense sequences of action and violence, some sexual content including brief partial nudity and language

Runtime: 2 hr. 20 min.

Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Review:

X-Men First Class is a movie that I had serious skepticism about from inception. Matthew Vaughn being given the directing reigns quelled some of those fears but not all. Any fan of the franchise would be hard pressed to have any sort of hope after X-Men The Last Stand and the criminally atrocious Wolverine X-men Origins film. This prequel faced plenty of challenges and somehow someway it overcame them all. Vaughn delivered one of the best superhero movies ever, just shy of The Dark Knight. A stellar cast working from a strong script brings a thoroughly engaging experience that rarely drags. Michael Fassbender leads the cast with a performance that brings all the rare and pain that his character suffers. Fassbender’s matched by a spot of James McAvoy who’s performance as Charles Xavier is respectful of Patrick Stewart’s original run yet singular in of itself. Jennifer Lawrence taking up the reigns as Mystique is a more than capable and its always good to see certain characters get fleshed out a bit more, ditto for Beast. Kevin Bacon is appropriately sinister and nefarious as the villain. January Jones, who can’t seem to stretch beyond the stepford wife persona, has perfected the art of acting via blinking and cleavage. Vaughn stages the action in epic fashion and even with a few questionable musical choices they never cease to impress. The scale and scope of the story are huge and impressive, A perfect way to restart the series.

A

PostScript

How I paid 90 dollars to see X-men First Class

In case if wasn’t terribly obvious I’m a bit of a nerd. So in perfect nerdish fashion I looked for the first showing of First Class in Las Vegas where I’d be for the week. Nothing says Vegas more than checking out the latest superhero movie afterall. Through a series of missteps and google confusion thing became terribly confused and expensive. I boarded a taxi and handed the cabby the directions. I should have been worried that he wasn’t familiar with the address but not enough to do anything about it. The cabby punched the address into his phone and headed off, still unsure of where he was taking me. Down the strip and on to the freeway, he rushed to try and make my 10am deadline. The more he drove the more I became worried there might have been a slight mistake. 20 minutes later and 40 bucks later he dropped me off at the theater quite literally in the middle of nowhere, later in the weekend I would walk by about 4 theaters that were pretty close to Caesars which we were staying at. Watched the movie which was a first showing so that saved a little cash because I like being thrifty when possible. Once the film ended, I had to ask the manager for a taxi cab number which he happily gave and waited a good 20 minutes for and then paid another 40 dollars to get back to The Strip. One the bright side I did get to see a lot of the Rocky Mountains in my extended trip around the outer reaches of Vegas…..


14 comments:

  1. At least your Vegas Cab ride wasn't the start of the third Hangover movie.
    I aso enjyed this movie. I was bummed that their was no tag or trailer at the end.
    AH

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  2. Brent.

    I was very surprised by how good this was. I'm not a big fan of the franchise so wasn't expecting much but it is a very solid movie. I think the cast was very good and the acting very good. At least it didn't rely solely on CGI as a movie.

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  3. Nice write-up. Definitely agree with your review. This was really entertaining and a lot better than i thought it was going to be. The confrontation with Erik and Shaw was very suspenseful.

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  4. Yeah that cab ride was an interesting experience and one that will be funnier in momory.

    It really impressed me, I love Fassbender and was really happy to see him shine.

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  5. I am so glad you loved this film!

    I liked Fassbender and McAvoy before X-Men but I love them now. Fassbender was so good as Magneto.

    January Jones "perfected the art of acting via blinking and cleavage" - wish I thought of this line ;-)

    Fingers crossed this is the start of a fresh run of X-Men films.

    Fingers are double crossed that Vaughn ignores Jackman's phone calls.

    **

    Your Vegas story sounds like something which would happen to us lol. At least you got to see Vegas

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  6. Ditto on Fassbender and McAvoy, I was already fans of them beforehand but this just put them over the top for me, Fassbender in particular.

    Funny thing is I like January Jones on Mad Men, she actully ccan act, but her movie roles have been just horrible.

    Sure hope Vaughn is allowed to do more, think we've had enough of Wolverine up to this point.

    It's so like something that will happen again, for now it'll make a funny story. The parts of Vegas we saw aren't the ones you'd want to see on our endless trek to the movies.....

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  7. I really like the Vaughn/Goldman partnership so hopefully they will both come back to make another one.

    Mad Men is one of those shows that I probably should watch but I never did.....it's part of a long list.

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  8. I agree, I hope the same team comes back for a sequel. Mad Men is an excellent show, I held back on watching it forever as well but it's really impressive.

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  9. Best fucking movie ever! the guy who played Magneto gave me goosebumps he was so good!

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  10. Glad you like it! I really thought he rocked it too!

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  11. We went to see this again today and it holds up on a second viewing.

    I appreciated Kevin Bacon more 2nd time around, although unfortunately Michael Fassbender's Irish accent was all the more noticeable as I was waiting for its arrival during the 3rd act.

    Still loved every minute of it though

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  12. Bacon is almost a Bond Villian in this, it's great. I want to see it again as well!

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  13. Sorry to hear about this misadventure with getting to the theater... Glad to hear that you enjoyed the film! And I love the rating you gave it.

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  14. Thank ya, if anything it made for a funny story to tell down the road! It's a hellva film, made all the trouble I went through to see it worth it, almost...

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