Marvelous Mondays AND Blindspot series 2015: X-Men: First Class (2011)

Plot: In 1962, the United States government enlists the help of Mutants with superhuman abilities to stop a malicious dictator who is determined to start world war III.

Rating: 7.5/10

 

Now this is what I call killing two birds with one stone! My Blindspot choice for March is incidentally a Marvel movie so I was really happy to watch it and get both done.

In typical Natasha Fashion, I watched Days of Future Past first and liked it so much I needed to see the movie that came before it.  I did, and although First Class was really good it has nothing on Days of Future past. I think Future Past carries such a punch because the world of the X-Men is falling apart and that they are down to their last hope.

I once again loved James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender in their respective roles. They are both so good at what they need to portray – McAvoy is a brilliant scholar and Fassbender is a powerful man determined to get his revenge on those who hurt him. Fassbender was slightly lame when he finally killed Shaw – he was immediately into the “villain” mode, and I think he worked too hard on reflecting the now slightly dark side of his character.

I also really enjoyed Mystique in here – she is still young and fresh and not as angry as she is in Days of Future Past. Jennifer Lawrence did a really good job with her – Mystique’s youth is evident but she’s faced the world’s intolerance her whole life because of her condition. I really liked how she undergoes transformation – you can see her skin changing. I do think Mystique’s skin looked way cooler in here, I read that Jennifer Lawrence had make-up for this role but her reprisal of Mystique in Days of Future Past wore a suit because she was so allergic to the makeup.

I still think Nicholas Hoult is way too adorable for it to be legal, and his struggle with what he is as Beast was sad and authentic.  It was nice to see Rose Byrne where she’s not being and idiot in some comedy – she can obviously do better than that and I would love to see her in more movies where she has a role and character development.

Kevin Bacon was entertaining as Sebastian Shaw – he was cold and ruthless and cruel. I thought the fact that he was also a mutant was a nice little twist to the story.

My biggest problem with First Class was the length – it was exceptionally long and not strong enough to carry it. It didn’t carry the emotional punch that Days of Future Past carried, and McAvoy’s broken charm in DoFP was more compelling than the roguish ego he had in First Class.

Overall a great film, but I still think that Days of Future Past was better done.

March 16, 2015March 14, 2015 by Natasha Categories: Marvelous Mondays, Movies, ReviewsTags: James McAvoy, Magneto, Marvelous Mondays, Michael Fassbender, Movies, Professor X, Reviews, Rose Byrne, X-men First Class 13 Comments

Marvelous Mondays: X-Men: The Last Stand by FilmTruths blog

Today we have the lovely Melissa of  Filmtruthsblog who is going to tell us all about her impression of Last Stand. Thanks for taking part, Melissa! (PS: Go follow her blog here if you haven’t yet!)

The third film in what was part of the original trilogy of the franchise tells the story of a threat for mutant kind. A newly discovered ‘cure’ that can rid them of their genetic disposition they see as ‘not normal’. This leads to a collision of opinions from both sides, and more pressure is put on mutants whose abilities affects them physically. It forces them to choose between giving up their unique abilities to settle for being ordinary, and pledging allegiance to the human race, who see them as a threat to mankind or continue to be victimised for being different. When you summarise the story like this, the plot actually sounds pretty good. Especially considering the success of the first two installments, I think I speak for a lot of Marvel fans, who expected this one to be the icing on the cake to a great franchise. However, something always felt lacking with this one and I wasn’t 100% pleased with how things turned out.

The film was directed by Brett Ratner who stepped in for Bryan Singer. If I had to judge this film alone without the previous films already ingrained into my mind, then this film is decent – yet somehow feels more silly. I think its because of some of the mutants involved, we saw Vinnie Jones as the Juggernaut : with his only memorable line being “I’m the Juggernaut, bitch”. The film itself is filled with action packed scenes where more focus was on the use of mutant powers, it may not have led to an in depth story development, but the thrills and excitement that comes from watching the mutants was entertaining . 

What we have to remember is that at the time, we had no clue the X Men universe would be expanded, to two Wolverine films and now a prequel franchise of the mutants in their youth. Therefore, X Men: The Last Stand was supposed to be the climax to the trilogy, yet annoyingly it failed to reach the pinnacle point of satisfaction. It irks me that I can’t quite decide why it is I didn’t fully enjoy this film, but it has to be the fact that the story was very two dimensional and predictable. With a superhero film like this, there should have been twists and turns until the final moment, keeping the audience on the edge of their seat.

It’s by no means a bad thing to have an entertaining film, but in this instance the arrival of new characters after the loss of original members such as Nighcrawler, made it difficult for me to appreciate the new arrivals. However there were amazing visual effects, especially the scene with the Golden Gate Bridge – that was pretty spectacular the first time I saw it. Another highlight, was the return of Jean as the Phoenix. I’m not going to pretend it didn’t sting little, when she sacrificed herself at the end of the second film in order to protect her mutant comrades. When she returned that was the best and only twist of the film.

 However, I was less than enthused with how the Jean Grey storyline played out. If your going to bring back a character of such significance, then make her be the most bad-ass character, don’t just sit her on the sidelines watching. I think that was a complete mis – step and lost opportunity to add something more to the story.

 It’s evident that this installment is merely a shell of of its predecessors, who managed to pull of something brilliant, but the true potential was never fully realised. What’s even more annoying is that since the expansion of the X Men universe, its made the narrative irrelevant thereby making this film completely obsolete.

Thanks for taking part, Melissa! You are a star!

March 9, 2015March 8, 2015 by Natasha Categories: Marvelous Mondays, Movies, ReviewsTags: Brett Rattner, Ian McKellan, Magnetto, Marvelous Mondays, Movies, Professor X, Reviews, Wolverine, X-Men: Last Stand 5 Comments

Marvelous Mondays: X-Men 3: The Last Stand (2006) by MovieRob

Hey everyone!!!

Today we have the awesome Rob posting again with another X-Men. He reviewed the first two here and here. Thanks for always being willing to contribute Rob! #youRock

Let’s see what Rob has to say about this movie!

“Since the dawn of existence, there have always been moments when the course of history shifted. Such a turning point is upon us now: the conflict between the better and worst angels of our very nature, whose outcome will change our world so greatly there will be no going back. I do not know if victory is possible. I only know that great sacrifice will be required. And because the fate of many will depend on a few, we must make the last stand. ” – Professor X

Number of Times Seen – 4  (2007, DVD, 5 Mar 2013 and 6 Jan 2015)

Brief Synopsis – After a medical cure is discovered to stop the “Mutant X” gene, forces of good and evil face off in order to stop the military from using the drug

My Take on it – One of the things that I have always enjoyed about the X-Men series is how the mutants are basically stand-ins for minorities and how the stories fit into the world we live in that is filled with prejudice and hate.

This movie raises the ultimate question in those situations: what would we all do if there was a way to take away the “differences” between everyone in the world?

Will it make things better?

or worse?

There really is no true answer to that question but it is great to see how this kind of scenario would play out in the world of Mutants.

This story is still the weakest of the original X-Men trilogy, but I think that has more to do with the fact that as the popularity (and budgets) of these movies got greater, they felt it was necessary to introduce many new characters to the story-lines which as we all know lessens the character development in a movie and hence muddles too much along the way.

It was nice to see the holdovers from the previous films, but most of them have little to nothing to do here.

Another issue I had with this film is that it feels as if they wanted to try and tie up too many loose ends, but ultimately, they created too many new questions that would allow for an opening for further sequels which defeats the benefit of tying up those loose ends.

The action and special effects are still top notch and makes for a fun superhero movie.

Ultimately, this is a fun fast paced X-Men movie that just can’t live up to the greatness of its predecessors and if it wasn’t a third part, would have been perceived much better than it was.

Bottom Line – Nice to see the X-Men again, but this story is the weakest of the original trilogy and slightly ruins the series by trying to add in too many new characters.  They tried to tie up a lot of loose ends here, but just raised even more questions, which left things too open-ended. Very action packed and still a fun superhero movie. Recommended!

Rating – Globe Worthy 8/10

January 19, 2015January 19, 2015 by Natasha Categories: Marvelous Mondays, Movies, ReviewsTags: guest posts, Marvelous Mondays, MovieRob, Professor X, Reviews, X-Men 9 Comments