If it were releasing straight after X-Men 2 (5/5) took superhero films to stunning new heights back in 2003, X-Men: First Class would have quite a legacy riding on it. Instead, after the dismal attempt to close the action-adventure trilogy with X-Men 3 (2/5) and a failed prequel called X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2.5/5), First Class has little to no pressure on it to get things right. That, however, does not give it an excuse to slack off and look more than a little sub-par, and unless my impressions of the two-minute trailer out now are wrong, that's exactly how the reboot is going to end up. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender look nothing like the men they will one day become (Professor X and Magneto, for those not yet in the know about the strangely hushed flick), the bright yellow costumes they seem to don towards the film's climax are going to garner laughs from everyone except the most hardcore fans in the audience, and some of the CGI is bad- cringe worthy at times. An example of harshly reduced animation quality comes with Nicholas Hoult's Beast, looking like some sort of throwback to the TV incarnations of the X-Men in the past (in other words, not great) and nowhere near the great version played by Kelsey Grammer (who managed to light X-Men 3's morbid tone somewhat). The film's casting managers will probably argue that the whole point of First Class is to show mutants both old and new (to the film franchise) like Xavier and Eric Lenshrr discovering their powers, and as such they look/are much younger than the versions we see in the main trilogy, but that doesn't excuse the fact that even the most dedicated of fans will struggle to picture the McAvoy transition to Patrick Stewart's wheelbound teacher, not to mention that the film is taking some serious continuity risks by introducing Nightcrawler's brother Azrael and rendering Havok, who is known in the comics as Cyclops' brother, to an only child (no, Laser-Eye isn't dead, but they are no longer related). Maybe I'm wrong about First Class, and given the X-Men franchise's current condition I hope I am, but I couldn't shake the feeling from the trailer that the movie is trying to be a mixture of historical and action elements and that at some point it's all going to crumble down!
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Saturday, 12 February 2011
X-Men: First Class Trailer Impressions
If it were releasing straight after X-Men 2 (5/5) took superhero films to stunning new heights back in 2003, X-Men: First Class would have quite a legacy riding on it. Instead, after the dismal attempt to close the action-adventure trilogy with X-Men 3 (2/5) and a failed prequel called X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2.5/5), First Class has little to no pressure on it to get things right. That, however, does not give it an excuse to slack off and look more than a little sub-par, and unless my impressions of the two-minute trailer out now are wrong, that's exactly how the reboot is going to end up. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender look nothing like the men they will one day become (Professor X and Magneto, for those not yet in the know about the strangely hushed flick), the bright yellow costumes they seem to don towards the film's climax are going to garner laughs from everyone except the most hardcore fans in the audience, and some of the CGI is bad- cringe worthy at times. An example of harshly reduced animation quality comes with Nicholas Hoult's Beast, looking like some sort of throwback to the TV incarnations of the X-Men in the past (in other words, not great) and nowhere near the great version played by Kelsey Grammer (who managed to light X-Men 3's morbid tone somewhat). The film's casting managers will probably argue that the whole point of First Class is to show mutants both old and new (to the film franchise) like Xavier and Eric Lenshrr discovering their powers, and as such they look/are much younger than the versions we see in the main trilogy, but that doesn't excuse the fact that even the most dedicated of fans will struggle to picture the McAvoy transition to Patrick Stewart's wheelbound teacher, not to mention that the film is taking some serious continuity risks by introducing Nightcrawler's brother Azrael and rendering Havok, who is known in the comics as Cyclops' brother, to an only child (no, Laser-Eye isn't dead, but they are no longer related). Maybe I'm wrong about First Class, and given the X-Men franchise's current condition I hope I am, but I couldn't shake the feeling from the trailer that the movie is trying to be a mixture of historical and action elements and that at some point it's all going to crumble down!
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