The trailer has arrived.
Travel back in time with me to the late 70s. Yes, I know the movie we're about to discuss takes place in the early 60s. But I wasn't alive yet and neither were many of you. Wee Nathaniel was alive in the 1970s (shut up!). Jump forward to Christmas 1979. In Nathaniel's Christmas stocking, the greatest gift he'd known until that time: The Uncanny X-Men #129. He tore through the pages, died right on the spot from joy and went to heaven. The End.
The point is this: no matter how many bad superhero movies may come, no matter how glutted the superhero genre becomes at the movies, no matter how many bad X-Movies arrive (Hi, X-Men 3 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. You suck!) Nathaniel will always be susceptible to Charles Xavier and the School For Gifted Youngsters. He will always hope that the movies will ever capture the magic of those first comic books. He will always be glad that Bryan Singer's X-2 (the second or third best superhero movie ever made) nearly managed it in a few scenes.
To this point the X-Men movie series has ignored The Hellfire Club, who were all introduced in this very (personally sacred) issue that changed my young life. I was a junkie thereafter for mutants, comic books, and spectacularly-bodied superheroines like Storm & Phoenix and spectacularly-bodied ice queens like Emma Frost, The White Queen. Kitty Pryde was also introduced in this movie but she was only 13. (Even then I preferred the older ladies. Storm and Phoenix were probably only 20 or something but to me that was ADULT. anyway.... reign it in. geezus!
This time the movies are going there, Emma Frost (January Jones) and all.
X-Men: First Class trailer and further anxiety after the jump! Wheeeee
Even though we're an automatic yes (in theory) due to that childhood obsession, let's do our traditional breakdown anyway. The movie proclaims itself a prequel right away with its titles introducing us to Professor X when he was Charles (James McAvoy replacing Patrick Stewart) and Magneto when he was Erik (Michael Fassbender replacing Sir Ian McKellen), two very powerful young men starting their lives as the self-made leaders of the mutant world in the 1960s.
Yes. Superhero movies should be a bit outre given their fantastical nature but they're usually very earthbound and afraid of weird flights of fancy. This shot above featuring a character I'm not familiar with is so weird and I love it. It appears that James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are two pervy ambiguously gay (but only for each other) businessmen who like to visit Lynchian mutant strip clubs. I'm in!
Another thing about this image: CGI is the most pointlessly arrogant of movie tools. It always thinks its wowing you even if its uninspired, familiar and generic. Art direction, costumes, and basic frame composition, on the other hand... these tools of the cinema tend to be more humble; they know they have to work at thrilling audiences.
No. I can't remember when I first found out that the Emma Frost could turn into diamonds (I haven't read the comics in a long time) but I hate it. She couldn't do that back in the 80s! Back then she only had two superpowers to use: insanely powerful psychic abilities (telepathy, telekinises, the works) and the ability to fit her superfreak body into the tiniest sluttiest white corsets you've ever seen.
I hate this frame of the trailer for another reason: Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) looks very generic. In fact everything looks generic here. The trailer frames keep alternately convincing me that the movie is going to be very good looking or very bland. I can't decide which.
Maybe So. Prequels live or die, thrill or bore, based on how well they reimagine characters you think you know, retracing their earliest formative moments. If they connect too many dots, like This Caused This Caused That they generally suck. If they make you reengage with characters in surprising ways that don't contradict your familiarity, they are generally worth the effort.
In short, good luck! At least they cast well: McAvoy and Fassbender are very talented actors.
Your turn in the comments.
Are you a yes, no or maybe so? And why.