Whenever I think of a movie franchise “rebooting,” my first knee-jerk reaction is some incoherent—and often profane—gripe about Hollywood not having any original ideas, a reaction that is, ironically, not terribly unique. Actually thinking about the matter forces one to consider the Batman reboot, which went rather well, and the James Bond reboot, which went stunningly well (for the first movie, at least). Not a half-bad track record for the institution of the reboot. X-Men: First Class appears, from this quite cool trailer, to continue that trend nicely.
20th Century Fox, in its release, said “X-Men: First Class charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga, and reveals a secret history of famous global events.” It also seems to be about James McAvoy being very sensitive as Charles Xavier and Michael Fassbender being absolutely awesome as Erik Lehnsherr (small sample size, but that bit where he crunches the dude’s chest with his mind gets a solid thumbs-up). The supporting cast features a number of solid pros as well (Kevin Bacon, January Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, Oliver Platt, Ray Wise, et al).
Matthew Vaughn demonstrated his ability to direct comic-book action in Kick-Ass, and did a fairly good, much more PG-13, job with Stardust (however frustrating some of his departures from Neil Gaiman’s book were to fans, the movie itself was a fine piece of craft)…so now the test is, can he do both at once? The X-Men: First Class trailer is an indication that that answer may very well be yes.
Danny Bowes is a playwright, filmmaker and blogger. He is also a contributor to nytheatre.com and Premiere.com.
Is this really a “reboot”? Based on the trailer, it really looked like it was simply a prequel. I didn’t get the same impression about throwing out the early ones that I did with the Craig Bond movies or the Nolan Batman ones. The trailer seemed to suggest that these are the same characters played by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, just earlier in their lives. Do you know something I don’t?
Beyond that, the trailer has piqued my curiousity. It was not so wonderful I thought, “Must buy ticket now”, but I’ll be looking forward to more information about it.
While I’ll admit that the trailer had some cool moments to it, there is something fundamentally wrong with this movie (for me) due to their choice of characters in a movie called “First Class”. I’m a huge fan of the original five and I don’t understand why they attempted to stay in the previous continuity when X-Men Origins destroys that anyway by showing a young White Queen meet Professor X (already bald) at the end of the movie.
Also, Havok is a member of the X-Men before his brother Cyclops?…no thank you. I just think it was very bad decision not to go with the source material. However, I have to say that Magneto crushing the guy’s chest while walking by was kind of awesome.
Full Disclosure: Iceman has been my favorite X-Man since childhood so I may be slightly biased.
I’m going to take it as a prequel/reboot. I think that they wanted to showcase different mutants and that is why they just decided to grab a few random ones and shove them into this movie.
I happen to have a question, though. Why, in the picture above, does Kevin Bacon (Sebastian Shaw) look like Mr. Sinister? The two aren’t the same.
http://marvel.com/universe/Mister_Sinister
http://marvel.com/universe/Shaw,_Sebastian
Eventhough I’m a fan of comics and comic book movies I don’t like all of these constant reboots, remakes, and reimaginings.
@@@@@ ShiningArmor – If you look carefully, the soldier is coming at Magneto with a knife in his left hand. Magneto stops the knife and then forces it into the soldiers chest.
The idea of “Charles” and “Erik” running around kicking ass reminds me of the decision to take the wise leader Yoda and turn him into a bouncing ninja warrior. Which a lot of people, myself included, thought was sacreligious. But this trailer actually looks interesting. SR71? Sold!
I was worried by those leaked promo pictures, but was holding out hope for this one still – mostly because I credit Singer’s X-Men movies as making superhero movies credible again, and also because I think Matthew Vaughan’s an excellent and underrated director.
And wow. Yeah, I’m pretty pumped for this now.
Mister ethan,
I always thought yoda was tough when he was youmger…but I also thought he’d be TALLER as a younger muppet!
@tgosstree I saw that on a rewatch, thanks for the tip. Still awesome though :)
@5 Charles and Erik running around kicking ass is actually legitimate from the comics. That part I’m fine with. It’s just the complete restructuring of who came first in the school that sets off my nerd spider-sense.
One thing I heard from somewhere else is that the shot of Mystique in bed may be her hooking up with Azazel and making baby Nightcrawler. Despite other things I dislike, that is actually kind of a cool nod if it’s true.
After re-watching the trailer a couple times, there are parts that really excite me. I’ll still go see it in the theaters and give it the benefit of the doubt because of the people involved, but I’m very wary of how this might turn out. Plus, they want this to be the start of a new trilogy and I’m unsure on that.
… I’d rather not recommend it for amateurs ( real ones, i mean!). Given the number of gross errors directly related to the basics of the subject ( people who are born with paranormal powers and/or physiological abnormalities, and their difficulties to live into a society that rejects them). No fan of the original concept can be satisfied with this… Hu! Movie, let’s say…
Mystic, Darwin and Emma are morphing THEIR CLOTES as well as their bodys!! Zero out of ten, Mr Singer: this is not Harry Potter!
Shaw wants to strike a nuclear holocaust to promote the mutant race! That’s so stupid, it speaks for itself!
Hank is an aviation technician, a biochemeist and he can buil you a Cerebro in a few weeks… That’s reed Richard with blue hairs!
Magneto is full of hatred for humanity because Shaw killed his mommy ( opening scene easy and highly touted!): if it is not simplistic -even insulting!… But Lucas ( Georges!) already done the same to explain Anakin’s choice of The Dark Side of The Force. Never silly enough for the masses.
And what about the immediate disappearance of the ONLY Afro-American of the whole cast? And the instant turnaround ( no more explanations than that!) of that go-go-girl wich seems to have a more marginal life than the others?! If it is not a message as eavy as reactionary, i wonder what it means…
Finally, note also the total absence of any form of esthetism: just compare the graphic effect of Havock’s blasts of energy in the comic and that poor pathetic hulla-hoop performance here. the “queer” looks of the Beast ( he’s wearing lipsticks!) and the cheap rendering of Angel’s wings ( and flight!)… and i don’t even mension Emma’s grotesque wardrobe! Oops! Too late, i did!
Using real facts ( and even archival documents!) to try to make the story more authentic falls into the water facing the pile of illogical facts that dot this blockbuster. Besides, rewriting history IS WRONG! You’ll see they’ll show the same lack of respect in the sequel and JFK will be their next victim.
Bold reaction, yes, but i’m sure many fans will live their disappointement as hard as i do for X-Men First Class is a betrayal of everything the comic ever promoted. Please, do yourself a favor and read again the 70’s/80’s era.
In addition, it is badly installed ( as skits!), poorly played ( Moïra, Magneto and Emma are terrible!) and without any kind of atmosphere. Nothing to save here but Banshee, flying like a madman in the air, and this beautiful picture of the Blackbird and the submarine, magically suspended between the sky and the sea… Still, it’s a bit light for a subject that rich of possibilities.