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Oh Thank You! Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, X-Men First Class. After X-Men
Oranges Mandarine was so pathetic and dismal, it is such a breath of fresh air to see a
film with an interesting and compelling story with likeable characters, some intense action
and a badass score. Competency, for f**k's sake. Actual film-making
competency is on display here. They haven't just farted out a genetic action-tale and
gotten a relative unknown to direct it. This is a well-crafted origin story that is very
well-paced and very engaging. The debates for this movie revolve around Sins of the
Past and whether we should forgive those that have commited atrocity against us. It's told
mainly through the view-point of Erik Lensherr as he attempts to get revenge for the atrocities
commited in WWII and it serves for a very interesting story as that debate is applied
to other situations. That's not the only one though, there are amazing little sub-plots
that lead to some truly heart-warming moments. Mystique gets the best interactions with other
characters as she is learning to cope with her mutation and decide whether to hide her
appearance or be out and proud of who she is.
A great story needs a great cast and this plethora of mostly unknowns manage to outdo
the original cast. Michael Fassbender gives the greatest performance in this entire series
but only because he has James McAvoy and Kevin Bacon to play off of, allowing for some tremendous
scenes. Even the supporting cast manages to give strong performances, with this being
Jennifer Lawrence's best (Katniss Everdeen can go suck a fat one). From the supporting
cast, as well as Jennifer Lawrence, my shout outs go to Nicholas Hoult, who you teenage
girls may recognise as Tony Stonem from Skins and Lucas Till, who I will get to when I get
to Jason Trost, but this guy even though he has very little screen-time, still manages
to have such a presence to him. That presence is boosted by a tremendous score.
It's less orchestral and more about using electric guitar and a bass to set a rhythm
that just complements the performances so well. It makes the villains more intimidating
and the heroes more badass, just like any score should.
Helming this film is Matthew Vaughn, director of Kick-*** and Layer Cake, among other things.
His use of lighting to enhance colour and an upbeat mood is spectacular and here his
prowess shines. The cinematography is very much inspired by James Bond movies, and just
like how those films had a tendency to be absolutely beautiful, there are times where
this film is visually stunning. However, much like Rattner in X3, there are times where
shakey-cam does start to enter the fight-scenes which are well choreographed, but Millar shows
a lot more restrain and as a result the action is very strong.
My biggest problem with this movie is that the CGI is still terrible. My blame for that
goes straight to the producers though, because FOX has a policy with getting their movies
out on time and this had already been delayed. I'll go with bad CGI for a movie this good
anyday. X-Men First Class is, in my opinion, the strongest
in the X-Men Series. It finally gets back to the compelling debates that elevated the
first three, yet it manages to add the action that X2 had in order to make for a satisfying
X-Men experience. Then again, it might have something to do with the fact that this is
all-round actually competently made, unlike
that last one.