Posts Tagged ‘James McAvoy’
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I know I’ve been posting a lot about comic book movies, so please excuse this rant. But X-Men: First Class is a mess.
First a little bit of a recap. Two days ago and awkwardly posed (and obviously Photoshopped) picture of the cast showed up on MSN before quickly being taken down. It was for naught as the photo made it’s way around the internet in no time.
From left to right, it features Michael Fassbender as Magneto, Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggert, January Jones as Emma Frost, Jason Flemyng as Azazel, Nicholas Hoult as Beast, Lucas Till as Havok, Zoë Kravitz as Angel Salvadore, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique and James McAvoy as Professor X.
As a result, Fox ended up distributing 3 new photos from production to media outlets yesterday that show the cast in more traditional clothing, Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw chatting it up with Jones’s Emma Frost and a quaint shot of McAvoy and Fassbender playing chess.
Serviceable photos, but a little ho-hum. As bad as the leaked cast photo was, at least it gave us something to sink our teeth into. In fact, they kind of make X-Men: First Class look… well, boring.
That brings us to today. Now we have a conversation with director Matthew Vaughn who was so incensed about the original promo shot being leaked, he reached out to SlashFilm and provided them with a pair of HIS OWN exclusive images – including one of Fassbender wearing his Magneto helmet.
“I freaked out on them yesterday,” said Vaughn. “I don’t know where the hell that came from. I don’t think it’s a Fox image. It’s not a pre-approved image. When I found out, I said, ‘What the f*** is this s***?’ and Fox is running around trying to figure out what happened as well. I agree. It’s like a bad Photoshop, which maybe it was by someone. It didn’t reflect the movie. I was shocked when I saw it. I was like ‘Jesus Christ’…”
Vaughn goes on in the interview to assert that he loves the X-Men, that they are not bastardizing the concept, that the tone of the film is serious, more realistic and basically the most awesome thing since sliced bread.
Pardon me if this sounds like a load of crap.
Clearly Vaughn and Fox are scrambling to adjust perception of the film in the wake of the leaked cast photo. That’s admirable. They’re trying to manage expectations for the film and that leak undermined it.
But at the same time, I can’t help but think all of this scurrying around is nothing but a huge cluster-eff and it really hasn’t done much to change my perception of the film.
I understand it, the plot revolves around Professor X and Magneto jointly establishing their “School For Gifted Youngsters” and the ideological differences that drive them – and the student body – apart. Framed within the context of the social upheaval of the 1960’s this makes sense.
But it over-complicates things.
Why do we need Angel Salvadore and Azazel in the mix? Modern characters that even most comic book fans aren’t familiar with. For that matter, why do we need Havok or Mystique?
What’s wrong with telling the origin story of the X-Men and using Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Angel and Beast? Why does there have to be this manufactured conflict or behind-the-scenes view of the school’s foundation that depicts the how and why of Magneto and Professor X’s falling out?
In the words of Patton Oswalt, “I don’t give a s*** where the things I love come from! I just love the things I love!”
Mostly I think I’m worried about Fox’s flimsy adherence to continuity. I don’t need the movies to be exactly like the books, but Fox seems to have trouble following character development in their own films.
In X-Men 2, Hank McCoy (AKA Beast) had a cameo in human form as a mutant rights activist. In X-Men 3, he shows up in his more well-known furry blue form and is played by Kelsey Grammar. If the leaked promo shot is to be believed, Beast shows up blue and furry almost 20 years prior to the events of X-Men 2. Um, okay.
In the comics, Havok is the younger brother of Cyclops. But in Wolverine: Origins, we see Cyclops recruited by Professor X while he’s still in high school. So I guess I’ll be interested to see how they explain that – if at all.
I’ll also be interested to see if they make any mention of Emma Frost’s relationship to Silver Fox – a plot contrivance that was also laid bare by Wolverine: Origins. Or are they just going to continue doing what they want?
Vaughn seems to hint as much.
“I’d say this is more like Casino Royale than [JJ Abrams] Star Trek. If you think about it, Casino Royale just totally rebooted Bond — they kept what they wanted and got rid of what didn’t work. You sort of saw Bond become a double O for the first time and yet it didn’t seem to matter [what they changed]. I think my rule is to make a stand alone movie that is as good as possible and do as many nods and winks towards the comics and the other films, but not get tied up in knots worrying about that.”
So, in other words, another hatchet job that will leave fans of the comics dissatisfied and Bryan Singer’s X-Men 2 the high water mark of the franchise.
What’s your take to the pictures that have been released? What do you anticipate from X-Men: First Class? Are you optimistic about the film or do you have reservations? Do you think Fox and Vaughn can salvage the negative emerging perception of the film? Leave your comments below!
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The new trailer for X-Men: First Class hit the internet today. Take a peek, won’t you?
Here is what X-Men: First Class gets right:
- Casting of James McAvoy
- Casting Michael Fassbender
- The design of Magneto’s helmet
Here’s what X-Men: First Class gets wrong:
- Everything else
Thoughts?
[ 11 Comments ]
If you’ve been following this blog at all, then you know that I’ve been having a good time taking the piss out of X-Men: First Class for the last couple of months.
Some of it I think was deserved. While I will admit that the marketing for the film has gotten better in the last few weeks, this movie was practically tripping over itself as it tried to make itself look appealing to an audience who had become VERY skeptical of 20th Century Fox helming another X-Men movie after the debacle that was Wolverine: Origins.
I will admit to having my bias. Wolverine: Origins was a colossal cluster eff because the producers of that film essentially decided to throw out three movies worth of continuity and start over with their own while still trying to toss in callbacks to the original films. It was a sloppy mess and it didn’t make very much sense.
On the surface, X-Men: First Class appears to do the same thing. As any comic book geek worth their weight in adamantium will tell you, the first class of X-Men was Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel and Beast. Not Banshee, Havok, Beast, and Mystique.
But, in truth, the film is a slave to continuity in an unexpected way. Very easily you can see the rag-tag group of mutants Professor X has grouped together to be the beta version of the classic X-Men lineup. The film appeared to have ignored the fans to service its own selfish whims. When really it creates a foundation for the X-Men franchise that could potentially pay huge dividends going forward.
In other words, X-Men: First Class is an reboot of the franchise with a head on its shoulders. It does this by answering questions you never thought to ask like “How did the X-Men get their hands on a super-sonic jet?” or “Where did Magneto get his helmet from?” or “When did Mystique decide to align with Magneto and why?”
The film also creates relationships where you don’t expect them. I was kind of confused by the relationship between Professor X and Mystique at the beginning, but ultimately, it works. That detail plus several others ALL work because the film sets rules for itself and explores those areas carefully. We’re not confronted with a big crazy monster at the end just because the heroes need something to fight. The characters have motivation and the stakes feel real.
There are a couple of duds and dead ends in he film, of course. January Jones as the telepath Emma Frost gives the worst performance in the movie. She’s wooden and unconvincing – an unfortunate prop to hang lingerie from.
In fact, most of the bad guys in the movie don’t really go anywhere or do anything. The sword-wielding teleporter Azazel I think gets two lines in the whole movie. Another baddie who and create massive winds (apparently Riptide) doesn’t speak at all. It feels like a waster opportunity.
Kevin Bacon doesn’t exactly bring the aristocratic smarm to Sebastian Shaw that I would have liked but they put an interesting spin on the character that makes him more of a hidden threat.
The film’s best performances go to it’s two leads – James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. They bring a noble conviction to their roles that makes them a pleasure to watch. They have a natural chemistry that I hope can be bottled and recaptured in a second movie very soon.
Fassbender in particular makes Magneto a tragic figure. Driven by hatred and revenge, we don’t really fault him for his negative world view. Like every great (potential) villain, he is the hero in his own story.
There was talk of a Magneto: Origins movie at one point. We see a little bit of his origins in this movie. Or, at least what became of Magneto during the time between his experiences as a child in World War II and his time with the X-Men.
I will say this… Erik Lehnsherr: Nazi Hunter is a movie I would totally pay to see.
Believe the hype, people. X-Men: First Class is the real deal.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be over here in the corner… eating crow.
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Crow. Crow. Crow.
All weekend long I was thinking about how much of it I would have to eat after seeing X-Men: First Class. Instead, I thought I would just own up to it.
If you’ve been keeping up with the Bonus Materials blog here on the site (and if you haven’t, seriously, why not?) I’ve been crapping all over X-Men: First Class since the first promotional stills came out. The film just looked… goofy. And desperate. There was absolutely no indication that Fox had abandoned the slapdash “every obscure mutant and the kitchen sink” approach that made their last outing – Wolverine: Origins – such an abysmal failure.
How wrong I was.
I won’t go into all the details. If you want to read my review, I posted it online late Saturday night after watching the movie. But I will say this much: If I was going to rank the X-Men films, I’d still put Bryan Singer’s X-Men 2 at the top of the list. But Matthew Vaughn’s efforts with X-Men: First Class are a close second.
How good is this movie? It made me forget that Wolverine: Origins ever happened. That’s significant, people.
Some critics are wetting their pants and saying that X-Men: First Class is the best film in the series. That might be a case of lowered expectations talking. My praise doesn’t go that far. The film has some dead spots. Most glaringly, January Jones as The White Queen. You could have pinned a couple of water balloons to a 2 x 4 and been given a more scintillating performance. Kevin Bacon seemed to be having a lot of fun as the main bad guy. But Azazel and Riptide? Seriously? You couldn’t have gotten better henchmen?
There are also some contrivances in the plot that feel fine when you’re watching the movie, but don’t really hold water if you think about them. Like how Mystique and Professor X met as children, or how Charles Xavier somehow convinced his family to adopt her? It’s never really explained.
The one thing I expected to have the biggest complaint about – the characters included in the “First Class” – wasn’t really a problem at all. From the outset, it seemed weird that the film would sacrifice the First Class of the comic books – Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Iceman and Beast – for the totally odd assembly of Mystique, Havok, Banshee and Beast. But the more I think about it, the more I’m convinced it was a smart move.
Long-time fans of the comics might care about those characters individually (I know I’m a fan of Havok and Banshee) but they don’t really care about them as a team. As a result, it forces the focus on Professor X and Magneto, their relationship and where their paths separated. It’s very clever, really. Because if you had stocked the film with Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Iceman and Beast, I would have wanted to know more about them, their histories and how they got along as a team. Professor X would be almost entirely incidental.
So, in that respect, X-Men: First Class isn’t really about the First Class at all. And, truthfully, when you have James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as your leads, you wouldn’t want it to be. The movie is about establishing the X-Men as a concept and creating the context where they are necessary.
Making a film that featured Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Iceman and Beast would be pointless. Because, in the comics, the team was already recruited and the only reason given was because they were mutants. It wasn’t long before they were sent into battle with Magneto. But there’s never really any motivation give. “Here are the good guys and here’s the bad guy. Now fight!” is the context. X-Men: First Class gives us SO. MUCH. MORE. to sink our teeth into. Think of it as the prequel before the prequel.
With that said, did you see X-Men: First Class this weekend? If so, what did you think and how much crow did you have to eat? Maybe you were one of those smarties who thought it looked great all along? Either way, leave your comments below!
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