I'm a long time fan of comic books, having been collecting various titles for the best part of 20 years. One of my favourites being The X-Men. I devoured the various titles Uncanny X-Men, New X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, X-Factor, Generation-X, basically anything with an 'X' (Sasha Grey not withstanding - noooooooooooooooooooooooooooch ). Being such a huge fan I ate up the 'X' movies, I absolutely loved X2 (Nightcrawlers attack on the White House is incredible) and I even found some love for the lacklusture Last Stand and Wolverine. However, last night I watched X-Men: First Class and now have a new favourite in the 'X' series. The movie is a prequel and explores the origins of Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr, who eventally become Professor X and Magneto. Fans of the movies will love the knowing nods to the existing trilogy and will be in rapture during some inspired cameos scenes. Comic book fans, will of course be picky - Darwin and Angel Salvadore in that era? Not according to the comic books. An American Moira MacTaggert and Sean Cassidy? Do me a favour! However, as a comic book fan, there's more than enough there to get even the most anal 'X' fan clapping - I'm looking at you Emma Frost and the Hellfire Club! In a movie full of standout moments there is one thing that shines out more, no, not Mystique running about blue and nekkid, well, yes that, but also Michael Fassbender who plays Erik/Magneto. As the movie press says, surely he's a shoe in as a future James Bond? 4/5 stars.
I'm not a comic-book reader but I've just got back from seeing First Class (yay for finding a Vue cinema gift card thingy!) so I'll have my say. Overall it was a very canny film and the effects were spot on (though is it me or have they just recycled Nightcrawler's teleport effect for Azazel?). I liked the links and even "throw away" comments that link to the established movies. Xavier helping Lehnsherr to focus his power was a brilliant scene. Oh, and any movie with Boris the Blade from Snatch in gets my vote
If I remember my comic books, I believe Azazel is Nightcrawler's father (Mystique being his mother), but yeah, they probably could have used a mutant with powers we haven't seen yet. There's a lot of continuity errors, not just deviations from the source but also from the original quadriliogy (I forget that Wolverine is also an X movie), but, if you take it as a prequel but in a pocket universe (Marvel loves pocket universes) to the movie universe, then it all works, kinda, especially if you ignore Last Stand and Wolverine... Anyway, it's worth a punt for comic book and action fans.
although there were continuity WTHs, was a pretty good film. i like the idea of a 1960s setting with today's special effects tech, that was cool and hope to see more of that and the 50s. Magneto & Xavier meeting Wolverine at the bar = comedy gold. although Vulcan is the youngest Summers, i think if thier gonna screw up continuity, they shoulda used Vulcan instead of Havok. Emma Frost showed up way too early, what happened to the Black queen, should've used her instead. Emma Frost is in Wolverine......WTF @ the continuity lol. but still good film.
What got me was that Havok is Cyclops's younger brother. Based on the timeline in that film when they recruit Havok, in the present day Cyclops would have been as old as Xavier, no?
They took a lot of 'creative issues' with this regarding the Xmen timeline. But its still a good film. As a fan of the books myself, I'm no X-pert, but its an interesting choice of characters. When I saw Havok in the trailer, to be honest he was my only gripe, as said above, he is Scott Summer's brother. Matthew Vaughn and the other film-makers kept saying this is to be treated as separate from the rest. Its a reboot so its fluid. The performances from Fassenbender and MacAvoy were amazing. "True focus is somewhere between serenity and anger" scene nearly bought a tear to my eye. My advice is dont let a near 60yr long comic book timeline take away from the performances. (oh and Moira McTaggert...NOT SCOTTISH? or a DOCTOR?)
Although the movie is billed as a prequel there are glaring continuity errors, but, if you ignore Last Stand and Wolverine as I've said it works a bit better in that timeline. Or treat it as a reboot with no ties to the original quadrilogy. I think Fassenbender is one to watch and I do see him as James Bond when/if Craig hangs up his vodka martini...
Finally saw this and really enjoyed it. You do have to accept that it exists within its own continuity and ignore the comic or other film timelines, otherwise there are some fanboy irks (which I'm prone to with X-Men stuff because it used to be my favourite comic, although I haven't read one for years now) - e.g. the non-Scottish Moira MacTaggart being 10 years older than the non-Irish Sean Cassidy, who should really have been closer to the Professor's age? Havok firing red hula-hoops? Ignoring all that, though, it's a good, enjoyable film with some nice action and a good dynamic between Xavier and Magneto. They pretty much managed to nail the background to how angry young Michael Fassbender could grow into bitter old Ian McKellen.
And here was me thinking Havok was Cyclops' dad. Though who thought it was weird Mystique doesn't have nipples? And who here will be watching that specific scene repeatedly on hi-def Blu-Ray?
I love the Mystique character, spent ages hunting down the Ms. Marvel issues featuring her cameo and first full appearances.