The Dark Knight, in many people's eyes, is the best movie based on a comic book. No doubt, it's a thrilling crime drama that transcends the source material and makes Batman as digestible for non-fans as it does for die hards. It also contains arguably the best performance by an actor in the history of the genre.
That said, X-Men: First Class is the best comic book movie I've ever seen. I was in shock when the credits rolled. The one word I could think of was "incredible." Matthew Vaughan nailed it. All of it. The marketing team really fucked up on this one. They didn't know how to sell this flick at all and it's been documented how agitated Vaughan was with the folks at 20th Century Fox. I really hope bad marketing doesn't hurt the film's ticket sales because as far as I'm concerned First Class sets the standard for excellence this summer.
EDIT: This is what shitty marketing can do to a great product.
Weekend haul of $56M while the "find and replace" Hangover 2 broke records.
I really want to get a good dialogue going about First Class. First of all, where do they go from here? I felt like they really straddled the line between making this film a prequel and a reboot. There are obvious ties to the first two, but also minor inconsistencies that make First Class feel like it exists in a different continuity. Obviously you can't connect the dots completely (i.e. how was Singer to know Mystique and Xavier would have the backstory they did), but I'd like to know if they will move forward in an attempt to bridge the gap as seamlessly as possible (i.e. Xavier says in X-MEN that Magneto helped build Cerebro - and maybe he does build the mansion version).
Another part of me thinks that the only direction for this franchise is down. I find it incredibly hard to believe they're not going to fuck this up with sequels. It works on its own as a self-contained origin story and there's really nothing they can do story wise except rehash what we've already got in the first trilogy of X-men movies. This film, to me, was the long rumoured "X-men Origins: Magneto/Xavier." Charles is in his chair and Magneto has assembled the Brotherhood: now what? They're not going to bring back these actors just to mirror what Patrick Stewert and Ian McKellen did 10 years ago.
As for Wolverine's cameo - loved it. Classic Wolverine. I'm not going to tell parents how to raise their kids, but here's my perspective on "the word": a) it's not a children's movie. There's violence, a degree of sexuality and mature themes. If you're fine with your child being exposed to this, but disturbed at the use of the word "fuck" then you're a hypocrite.
This isn't a PG movie. When you take your kids to a PG-13 movie, you should be aware of the risks. If you have Ned Flanders-like concerns about the effect of media on children, then don't take your >13 year old kid to see these movies. b) the single use of the word "fuck" is not going to point your child on a path towards hell raising. If you think this movie will introduce children to the word "fuck" then you're naive. They've heard it before, probably from you, in much harsher contexts.
I'm sure this will derail the thread although I hope it doesn't. We have a truly great film to discuss. Where does Marvel (and Matthew Vaughan/Singer) go from here?
this looks shiteous! except for the blonde with breasts that is.
a viewing and you will like what you see.