kiev4am | Finally saw X-Men: First Class...

Random thoughts:

1. That was a way better film than I was expecting it to be. Mainly because of Michael Fassbender, who carried his own 'totally different movie' field with him into every scene, and then stole that scene.

2. Early 60s decor and fashion, fun. X-kids hanging out and showing off, fun. Evil Kevin Bacon, hell yeah fun.

3. Killing the black man and having the black woman defect to the bad guys in the same scene, less fun. Even for Hollywood that's pretty special. Two infinitely editable, non-essential plot points that do nothing but gratuitously alienate people and make it a lesser film. So much for the 60s civil rights allegory. And it's Darwin. Evolve to survive != die, ffs.

4. The good guys want Mystique to change her body or hide it forever and the future bad guy doesn't. Yeah, I like the future bad guy right now.

5. Oh, so that's where all the Erik/Xavier fic is coming from. I most definitely get it.

6. I want someone to take the scale, style, fun and actorishness of this film, throw away the crap from #3 and #4, and make X-Factor Investigations, The Movie. They can do that silly acronym thing and call it XFI if they want to. Get PAD on the script. It would be awesome.

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Oh, I could definitely see X-Factor as TV show, something on HBO maybe. That's one thing about a movie that's always a drawback when it comes to ongoing comics - they have to cut so much out to make it fit a film, when it's really, by nature, a serial. So yeah, a TV show would be awesome. I expect it'll never happen, because if Marvel were ever going to throw the resources at a TV show they'd want it to feature their A-list and not the scrappy underdogs. Which is a great shame, as the underdogs are where the characterisation and subtlety is at.

Yes, I did like MacAvoy - for all I sniped a bit in the above post, I actually thought it was a positive thing that he wasn't perfectly likeable and reasonable, and that he suffered from his own prejudices. I'm pretty sure we were *meant* to be angry on Mystique's behalf when he was all 'cover yourself up' etc. I'm not sure I can see him physically as Jamie, though (I keep seeing Ryan Reynolds, but that's more because Val De Landro seems to use him for Jamie reference rather than because I like him!)

I'm still championing Jensen Ackles as Jamie. Didn't notice De Landro's use of Ryan Reynolds, but now that I think about it I can totally see it.

I don't think I noticed the Reynolds resemblance until someone else pointed it out, and then I couldn't unsee it ;)

After they announced the sequel, I got to thinking about who out of our beloved team has a chance of being included as a cameo. I'm ruling out Shatterstar and Longshot, unfortunately, as well as Layla. I'm waffling back and forth on Guido. Jamie would be a possibility, but I think the first trilogy is still canon, and so Jamie showing up this early would be very strange unless he was a baby. If we're counting the girl they called Siryn in the third movie and if Banshee is still her father, she's out as well. Which leaves us with Rictor, Monet (with a simplified power set), and Rahne.

So, basically, I'm hoping and also dreading that one of those three get a cameo in the next movie, because there are so many ways to screw with their characters. Especially considering how they treated minorities in this movie.

Ohhh... yeah, I have to say, after seeing how 'nonessential personnel' i.e. not the 'core X-men' got treated in First Class I think I'd be happier if they just left our crew out of it. I facepalmed so hard at the scene with Darwin and Angel; I couldn't believe the writers made such a clunking, avoidable, offensive misstep. I'd known Darwin died, but I hadn't expected it to be in quite such a jobbing fashion (he just got through explaining he could survive anything and then couldn't survive, what, an explosion?), and I hadn't expected Angel to go over to Shaw without a murmur. It was so weak, and it looked so much like the bad old days of 'OK, here's your minorities, now quit moaning' style of tokenism. Ack. So although there were big chunks of the film I loved, I feel like I'd rather not see Ric and co. than see them getting fridged to make drama for the Big Important Characters :|

OTOH, if Rictor was in it and he was well-cast and got to be mouthy and badass even for five minutes, I'd probably make noises only dogs can hear :lol:

If Darwin doesn't somehow come back, even just a little throwaway line about him re-forming, I will be very angry. Even if it is already my head-canon.

I'd probably make those same noises, too. ^.^ I wonder if they've ever considered using him at some point. I mean, his powers are pretty cinematic, and he seems like a good character to use, at least in my incredibly biased eyes.

OH GOD WHAT IF THE NEXT MOVIE IS SET A FEW YEARS LATER (AT LEAST) AND THEY DO PICK RICTOR AND HE'S IN HIS PUNK LOOK.

OH YES MOHAWK FTW :D

And I agree, Ric's powers would work really well in a modern blockbuster movie context, good special effects fodder and widescreenage. I'd just be worried the whole time that because he's not a Proper Important Core X-Man in the movieverse (or out of it for that matter) he'd get killed in some really stupid headdesking way to provide motivation for somebody 'bigger' cf. Darwin.

But you've got me thinking now how great a sequel could be if they went for 80s nostalgia rather than 60s. There could be a bunch of more-or-less current characters who started out in the 80s and 90s and there would be bad outfits and dorkiness. Now I have to stop being naively optimistic that we may even see 'Star in a movie - he's pretty cinematic too after all XD

(randomly, I'd love to see Warlock in a movie. I love him, and his powers could look fantastic in today's CGI!)

Finally saw X-Men: First Class...

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