I saw X-Men: First Class last night at my movie stomping grounds Loews Waterfront. If you remember my comic book background based on my review of "Thor" you will know that I do not deem myself a comic book aficionado, but I have enough background to know a good movie when I see it. "X-Men: First Class" was exactly that, a good movie.
I always remember reading X-Men comics, playing the video games, and watching the cartoon, but the X-Men that I grew up with had already been portrayed in the theatre around 10 years ago. I knew the background of the Professor X vs. Magneto rivalry, but I guess it never occurred to me that there was a story line revolving around how they began on the same team. At a running time of 2 hours and 15 minutes, I was a bit weary thinking that this was too long for a comic book movie. Again, I was wrong. The plot was intriguing and moved at a fast pace with just enough action, special effects, and emotions so that my interest was always held. There were fabulous cameos spread throughout the movie which gave comic book fan boys ample opportunities to cheer or laugh at parts of the film that only comic book readers would understand.
The story line beginning with a young Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto) showing his mutant strength within a Nazi concentration camp set the tone for a dark side of X-Men that I was not familiar with. There, young Erik developed his hatred for his rival throughout the film, Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon). The movie perfectly balanced the themes of good vs. evil, racism, acceptance, revenge, living in harmony, and evolution. These themes played played well as they took place during the Cold War Era and allowed people to see how the X-Men wanted to work for the good of their country, mankind, or the future mutant race. This then built into the classic rival that most people know between Professor X and Magneto.
"X-Men: First Class" will be a tough movie to beat as the Summer 2011 blockbuster films have already begun.
I rate this movie 4/5 stars.
R Korn said...
ReplyDeleteEven saw Pirates Ryan Doumit and Garrett Jones at the theater. They kept a seat open next to each other in a crowded theater
R Korn said...
ReplyDeleteI agree, this was a good movie and I typically am bored with comic book movies sans Batman. I liked the first X Men but thought the second one sucked and didnt bother with the third. This was probably the best one.
First Class is awesome, the best in the series. R Korn, I disagree about the original trilogy. I prefer X2 to X-Men, but it was a wise decision to skip X3 it sucks.
ReplyDeleteThe statement ' Polish concentration camp' is offensive and incorrect. The Nazi Germans established the 'concentration camps' on occupied Polish soil. They were not Polish as implied by the comment. Please correct the statement.
ReplyDeleteThe concentration camps were not Polish.
ReplyDeleteThese were German concentration camps located on German-occupied territory throughout their period of operation.
Please kindly correct your content immediately, changing the word Polish to the word German.
Take that statement out now, damnit! Just kidding, haha
ReplyDeleteThere were no Polish concentration camps. There were German concentration camps in occupied Poland. Please change the text as it is offensive to the millions of Poles and their families murdered, tortured, terrorized, enslaved, deported and starved by the brutal and inhuman German occupation of Poland.
ReplyDeleteR Korn said...
ReplyDeleteStefan, you are a little late to the party, the sentence was changed on Friday. I believe all of us on this blog know our WWII era history fairly well and know that many Nazi concentration camps were located in Poland and it was the Nazi's who created them.
I'm glad we are getting a lot of readers to this simple little blog.
Pills said...
ReplyDeleteSome boil this down to semantics, but we do understand that this wording was offensive. I think you can make an intelligent judgment and see that we are neither Holocaust deniers nor supporters of any of the ideals of Nazi Germany. It was simply a movie review, let's have some perspective.