Hello out there in CBM land, Im here today to bring you a 3 way review of the big comic book movies to have come out so far this summer. Ill be starting with the most recent, X-Men First Class.
First Class was filled with a lot of surprises, the biggest being that I didn't completely hate it.
I sit down the screen goes dark, then the now famous Marvel flipping pages logo flashes on the screen and I feel a twinge of excitement, only to have it snuffed out when the first scene started. I couldnt believe it, I felt robbed. Scammed really, when the images playing before my eyes was non other then the intro to the first of the 2 Singer movies rolled across the screen. Now I have to admit to you, as I was not expecting much from this film I didn't pay attention to most of the articles so this may have been released, but it was news to me and I didn't like it very much. The next big shocker came in a few minuets when they were doing the Xavier intro, this one was the first real sign of what to expect from this movie. Here we see a 12 year old Charles meeting another mutant for the first time, Mystique! People sit back strap in and get ready, cause apparently anything gos with this X-movie. I dont want to ruin it so Ill be brief, Im sure most of you know the storyline, somewhat. Xavier and Magneto meet and join up to form a team(are you ready for this?)With the C.I.A behind the scenes. One of the things that really bugged me about this project from the get go was their choices for team members, half of whom I dont think should have even been old enough at the time period to even have gained the mutations powers yet, much less be on the team. Ok, yes I am a bit of stickler for sticking to the source material but come on Havok? Really? Your gona have Cyclops' baby brother on the "first" X-Men team? Im afraid I wont be able to do this without spoilers so heres the cut down critique,if your not to familiar with the X-Men comics you should be fine. I really think that will be the big seller for this movie, the non comic fan base. Knowing anything about the backstory of any of the X-Men really acts against you with a movie like this. Every 5 minuets it was "really???" and "are they serious?" cant forget my personal fav "are they kidding me?" and Im a DC fan primarily. My roommate on the other hand, a 52 year old thats not a comic book fan at all loved it.
Ill say this for First Class, as far as JUST being a movie, as if the comics had never been, it really was a good watch. For as many times as I couldnt believe the things happening on screen I was able(from time to time)to let myself go and just watch the movie. And I must say, at those times it was an enjoyable experience.
I must start this by admitting I havent read the comic yet, so I can only review the movie as a stand alone entity(like I was talking about how the X-Men movie should be watched). This one starts with a bang, and my only real complaint. The opening sequence is actually quite stereotypical. a group of "priests" enter a sleeping hive of vampires only to be ambushed and have one of their own taken from them. Heres the rub for me: the "fallen" priest as Im sure most of you know is Karl Urban. I feel if they had gotten an unknown instead of going for a name it would have been a much better pay off when you see him as the villain later on. Just seeing him on screen in that opening practically spelled out the whole movie for me. But, I digress. The animated intro was epic, but only made me feel a fully animated movie on that scale would be much more enjoyable, again I digress. The movie fallows the kidnapping of the daughter of a farmer out in the wastelands, we soon find out to be the main characters brother played by(get ready to laugh)Stephen Moyer. The girls boyfriend, who just happens to be sheriff of the town in the wastelands, gos to the walled up city to ask the priest for help to get the vampires that kidnapped his niece. To do this the priest must go against the church who is trying to keep the peace by claiming there are no more Vampires. Along the the priest shares some vampire slaying pearls with the sheriff, and they are even joined by the only other team member from the ambush in the opening a female priest whos a fain love interest, but seeing as they both took vows of chastity who cares. Now heres the interesting bit, the vampires in this movie are not your typical bloodsuckers. They seem to be an entirely different race all together, and yep you guessed it our good buddy Karl is the first ever human vampire! As enjoyable a watch as this was Im afraid it was all very text book, aside from a handfull of thing I could tell what was happening 10 minuets before it did. As Im sure you can all guess the ending(if you haven't already seen it)so I see no point in giving up details.
And now, Ive saved the best for last. In my humble opinion Thor was breathtaking. The visuals the epic scope the performances the score, I loved it all. My only real let down, as Im positive it was for every single other person that has seen this movie to date, is that there was no utterance of the legendary "For Odin! For Asgard!" The movie starts as it should, with Asgard, a prologue really. Odin The All Father is telling he sons of his victory against the Frost Giants many years ago, that cost him his eye but saved the 9 Realms and gave them the Frost Giants ultimate weapon. During Thor's inauguration as the official heir 3 Frost Giants somehow get into Asgard to steal their weapon back but are taken care of by the Destroyer. Without his fathers permission Thor the Warriors Three, Sif and Loki cross the Rainbow Bridge to Yodinhyme home of the Frost Giants to get answers, and almost causes a second war. For this Odin banishes him from Asgard. I will agree with what others have said, the time in with Thor is banished on Earth seem far to short and almost rushed but the interactions between Thor and Jane Foster and her colleagues is really the heart of the film, I think thats why Branagh put it in the middle of the film bookended with bits in Asgard. With brings me to the mind blowing battle at the climax of the movie......
Editors Note - Please put Reviews in the Review section, not News.