X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (2011) (a review)

X-MEN FIRST CLASS (2011) (a review)

This is the reboot of the X-Men franchise after two successful X-Men films by Bryan Singer, a less successful movie by Brett Ratner, and a semi-successful Wolverine movie. It features a young group of X-Men and an all new cast, but with cameos by the original Wolverine and Mystique. It stars James McAvoy, Michael Fastbender, January Jones, Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Lawrence and a bunch of others. Directed by Matthew Vaughn (who was going to direct X3 but left the project).

The story: A young Erik Lensherr (who will become Magneto) sees his mother is killed in a concentration camp as the camp leader, Sebastian Shaw tries to get him to exhibit his powers. Meanwhile, a young Charles Xavier and a young girl he takes in named Raven (later to become Mystique) are studying mutations. Xavier is brought into a government project about mutants and Erik comes to join him as they gather a team of mutants. Shaw is trying to escalate the tension between USA and USSR to invoke a new world war from which mutants will rise as the dominant species. Xavier and Erik and their young mutants go to stop them and prevent the war, even as humanity is turning on mutants and even as Xavier and Erik begin to turn on each other.

Was it good?

Kind of? I mean, in some ways it was campy fun, it some ways it was pretty cool, and in some ways it felt pretty dumb. The problem these origin stories have is that we know how they will all end up, so unless you have something really cool in there a lot of it feel kind of hokey -- like when Xavier gets shot and then can't feel his legs. It's a tough line to walk -- part of the fun is seeing how people get to where we know they will be, but since we already know it the twists and turns can feel like obligation than storytelling.

I also didn't really understand the whole evil mutant plot. I mean, a nuclear war? How is that good for mutants? A world without tv and pro sports -- that's what they want? None of it really made sense to me.

There was a lot of good stuff. One nice things about the X-Men movies is that it makes it easy to talk about being an outsider and wanting acceptance and what that means. It makes them instantly work on levels that many, many action/blockbuster type movie don't. Here, it was a lot of stuff we have already heard before, some of which worked and some didn't. The problem is that the movie just didn't feel well constructed around it's theme. And for a movie that was supposed to launch a new franchise it was weird that they essentially solved all the "how they got there" questions in the first movie.

Still, there was a lot to enjoy. It isn't the best X-Men movie, but it's worth a watch.

*** RECOMMEND ***

UNKNOWN (2011) (a review)

UNKNOWN (2011) (a review)

This is the action/thriller starring Liam Neeson he made as a follow-up to his hit film TAKEN. Also stars Diane Kruger and January Jones.

The story: Dr Martin Harris arrives in Germany for a conference. He leaves his briefcase at the airport and has to go back for it, but his car gets into an accident and he goes into a coma for four days. When he awakens and tries to find his wife, she denies knowing him and is with another man who claims that HE is Dr Martin Harris. Now he has to unravel the mystery to get his life back even as mysterious men begin to follow him.

Was it good?

It was okay. Not bad, but completely forgettable. The movie is light a brainless version of THE NET (with Sandra Bullock) or FLIGHT PLAN (with Jodie Foster). Both of those movies packed a much stronger punch because they really hammered where it hurts -- the feeling of losing something precious to you. In THE NET it was her life and her identity. She was someone who did everything on computer/over the internet and so had very few physical contacts with people and then suddenly she is on the outside of her own life. In FLIGHT PLAN it was a woman who had lost her husband and now was missing her daughter and no one believes her. This movie hits some of the same chords, but they never seem to resonate as hard. When his wife says she doesn't recognize him, they shuttle him off and the two are seperated quickly. There just wasn't much emotion there.

The other problem the movie has is the antagonist. In NET and FLIGHT PLAN, the antagonists seemed much more active, much more aggressive. In THE NET, they steal her identity to make her come to them after she received a disk, so we know what they are after at least. In FLIGHT PLAN, they try very hard to convince her she is crazy, but then use her daughter as bait because they need something from her. In UNKNOWN, they don't need him and they don't want him. Even when they are coming after him it feels more like an after thought. So while there is some tension, it just isn't that strong because their pursuit of him seems more like an after thought instead of him being an important part of their plan.

Still, it has a lot of fun stuff. It's great seeing Neeson in stuff like this (which I liked a lot more than AFTERLIFE or CHLOE). So if you are up for brain dead actiony fun, this is okay (but forgetable).

*** RENTAL ***