X-Men: First Class (2011) Rewatch and Thoughts.

[Castle]

Some stuff to unload here about this film.

My feelings have sure changed a bit unlike X-Men 3 last stand. I will now put the film as a tie between X2/DOFP as the best in the main series. I also have a new appreciation for the film because of the content, maybe I took this for granted but at the same time, I would not have predicted the road comic films would have taken by the time the decade was over.


Strengths

The cast. It almost rivals the cast of the 2000’s movie. Michael Fassbender and James Mcavoy brought their A games, the only little issue I may have is , they don’t actually look like the younger versions of Ian Mckellen and Patrick Stewart.

Story-Plot. the screenplay was sharp, aware and mostly well written with compelling characters. this is one of the strongest screenplays for a comic book movie, as the movie can still be a proper film if we take away the most common generic comic bookie part in your standard superhero film.

Technical aspect. First Class has some of the best use of score, cinematography and VFX from the entire series. Magneto pulling a submarine from the sea (VFX and score), Magneto in Argentina, Xavier in a london Victorian settings bar, (Cinematography),

Mathew Vaughn really forged his path as a director. He never shot the film to be obsessively grounded like only Singer could but he still kept the essential realism that was expected for an X-Men movie.

I personally think Magneto pulling a submarine from the sea was a better VFX moment in the series than the nightcrawler scene or the quicksilver scene from X2/DOFP because it had character development for Magneto.

The themes, politics and 60s Era. this is the strongest part of the film, the series interplayed the real events of the 60s, juggling the cold war and the civil rights story and interlinking them with superpowered mutants. Very well put together, the writers of this film made this the core part of the entire story from the beginning to the end, the cold war took up 85% of the entire plot, while it interplayed some of the call backs of the civil rights era, sometimes even in excellent subtle ways compared to the come out scene from X2 with Iceman.

Magneto vs Xavier: This is the best movie of the Magneto vs Xavier relationship. It is also the only movie they come to physical blows with eachother in the original timeline.

Moreover this is the one movie we do see the deepest extent of their differences that was dispalyed without magneto acting too much like the mostly cynical person Ian Mckellen's Magneto became.

Good tone with some humor. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t hate jokes, this film had some but still found the balance to keep its drama set narrative, it is not as dark as the mixed-negative reception of X-men Last Stand, but the middle-road tone even with some of the dark parts resonates stronger unlike X3.

Plotlines for Supporting characters. If I was assuming that Mcavoy and Fassbender where the main characters, the other characters got to do something that held my interest. Beast, mystique and Moria , all 3 characters had issues to deal with that are familiar, the person that sticks out most is Moria working in the CIA as a woman and dealing with constant sexism. Also A very good background for Mystique’s rebellion that leads to the sequel and Beast and his cure invention was a ‘’sad’’ moment. the second heaviest as Magneto's mum is shot.

Almost perfect third act. Magneto killing shaw and trying to blow up the USA and USSR submarines soldiers. I rest the case. (however I will also list other parts of the 3rd act as a weakness ).


Weaknesses

Timeline. As much as some have said, the film was a return to form after the lows of X3 and Wolverine Origins. The movie started the timeline mess of the entire series, a downward spiral path that the series will never recover from. Which is ironic because the opening scene of first class is one of the best scenes in the series, since it is an extension from the opening scene of X-Men 1.


3rd Act Battle. I did not like the final mini battle between the new xmen team and the hellfire club I felt it was just put there because comic films are just meant to have some sort of fight in the last act, (generic) also the fight was not necessary. Xavier could have put the hellfire gang to sleep.

However, the 3rd act is extremely saved by the final showdown between Magneto , Shaw and Cold war soldiers.

Emma Frost. I never cared much about January Jones performance, I know some fans complained about her. However I just hated how Emma was around in the 60s and as a one done deal.

Darwin’s death.

The Mystique Problem: I don’t know if I should call this a true negative but rewatching the film , I see Jennifer through that blue makeup now.

She also lacked the grace of Rebecca Romjin, however I am not sure Rebecca would have acted how mystique was characterised in the film. I will take into account, this was mystique when she was young. Nonetheless, I still prefer Rebecca to Jennifer if I take all the movies into consideration.

please feel free to add more positives and negatives of the film.

While I really cannot say for a fact that this is the best main X-Men movie, First Class is the best political and social conscious X-Men film and arguably the best of the marvel films in that era ever done to date.

It is also very essential in the series film history because it was a good but never-to-be-repeated entry again, only Deadpool 1 competes with it.

X1, X2, DOFP all have the same familiarity and so did The Wolverine/Logan because those directors came back for more than one film. Mathew Vaughn directed only once and possibly made the best in the series.