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X-Men First Class - Tow Jockey Five Second Review X-Men First Class - Tow Jockey Five Second Review

repoman Written by repoman     July 08, 2012     711     
X-Men First Class - Tow Jockey Five Second Review

So many  super hero movies get released these days that they mush into one big blur. Usually they range from absolute crap (Hang your heads in shame, Green Hornet and Hulk) to the mildly entertaining but utterly forgettable (Hi there Thor, we see you hiding in the corner). However there are a select few that rise above. The ones that place priority on story and character before super powers and special effects and yet still maintain a level of excitement and action (Please put your hands together for Superman and The Dark Knight). Into this latter category belongs X-Men First Class. Rather than devoting 30 minutes of the movie to an origin story that has little or nothing to do with the rest of the plot, X-men First Class is all origin story. That is a good thing for it is cohesive from beginning to end. And it is a good story, devoting as much time and energy to allowing us to understand the motivations of Magneto, Xavier and even Sebastian Shaw and his Hellfire Club as it does to fight scenes and explosions. Even the second tier characters such as Banshee and Havoc get a decent amount of attention. Ok, I admit that Beast looks ridiculous in the final scenes but hey give them some cred for having attempted his appearance with practical effects rather than CGI. Also, seeing January Jones dressed up as the White Queen makes up for it...a lot. Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique is great. I think that girl has real super star quality and Michael Fassbender as Magneto just rocks. He really steals the show.

Netflix Status: DVD only but is on HBO on demand. 

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Comments (4)
  • 2012-07-09 07:50:00 | avatarDair

    My thoughts exactly. I was glad to see an X-Men rebound, after X3 was not up to the prior two movies high bar. This one was very much back to form. Interesting to hear your thoughts on Thor, as that is next in my Netflix queue. I just watched Captain America, so I may wait a bit for another superhero movie. If I'm a comics fan and know Thor's story, should I just skip it and watch the Avengers?

  • 2012-07-09 09:30:55 | avatarhappyjosiah

    Sure, X-3 was not up to par with the first two, but let's also not forget the atrocity that was the Wolverine Origins movie. This movie really brought it back to the level of the original movie.

    I thought Captain America was better than Thor, but I just generally like him better as a superhero anyway, so YMMV.

  • 2012-07-09 09:54:46 | avatarBlack Barney  - My review

    Here's my review that I wrote after I saw it:

    I thought this was pretty good! Lots of fun and keeps it up until the last act where I felt it lost a little steam. One missing element is the humour which is much more present in the other X-Men movies. There is like one or two good jokes in the entire flick (which I would love to talk about here but it would be a big spoiler so I won't).

    Certainly a much better creation movie than that Wolverine:Origins one which was AWFUL. This at least pushes the ball forward, but isn't as strong a superhero movie as, say, Iron Man.

    In terms of casting, I found both Magneto and Mystique to brilliantly cast but I was surprisingly let down a bit by Professor X. Patrick Stewart leaves big shoes to fill, though.

    Still not as strong as X-Men 2 but a great entry nonetheless in the franchise. It's to make an X-Men movie that doesn't feature Logan but I found Magneto filled that gap nicely.
    4.5 stars

  • 2012-07-09 10:22:14 | avatarrepoman

    Thor was ok. If you are a fan of Thor you will probably like it and should see it.. The Asgard stuff is pulled off with proficiency.

    Thor really doesn't shine in the Avengers.

    As to comparing X-Men First Class to X-men 2, I can't as I've never seen X-men 2. I would say that this movie is on a whole different level than X-men 1 which, although I haven't seen in years, I would say was in the entertaining but forgettable category.

    Yes there isn't a lot of humor in it but I don't see that as a draw back. I like it better as the whole tone of the movie dwells upon the nature of evil and persecution. A couple of yucks might have lightened the mood but spoiled the tone.

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