X-Men First Class

It was the last day of school and Lauren had her awards assembly.  She dominated and didn’t want to stay at school.  They were just going to watch movies.  So I checked her out and we went on a daddy-daughter date (Took the day off).  She didn’t want to watch movies at school, so what did we do? Went to Chick-Fil-A and watched a movie–X-Men First Class.  This was a risk.  Lauren has seen superhero movies before and she loves them.  However, I always screen them and let her watch ones that are appropriate, but no pre-screen today.

X-Men First Class is an ensemble show with too many characters and actors to mention them all.  It stars Mr. Tumnus (Narnia) as Professor X. He was in 300 but I don’t remember as Magneto, Betty from “I’m not cool enough to watch” Mad Men, and a new addition to the most improbable villain pantheon, which of course includes John Lithgow from Cliffhanger and Dennis Hopper from Speed, we have “he’s been in every movie with everyone” Mr. Footloose as the bad guy.  There were a slew of “I recognize them” and “I think I know who that is” all throughout the movie.

Expectations: Reasons for high expectations–Superhero movie, X-Men, my love for origin movies, and I didn’t know Kevin Bacon and Oliver Platt were in it.  Reasons for low expectations–5th movie in the series, not doing well in theaters and a bunch of relative nobodies starring as the X-men.  You know what pushed me over the edge?  The guy who sold us our tickets giving us a 5-minute movie review from his little cage…not really. No it really happened, but it didn’t persuade me.  Lauren thought that was hilarious.  Overall, my expectations were moderately high.

Reality: I thought it was pretty good.  Origin movies if you like the characters are always great and this one didn’t disappoint.  I watched it through Lauren’s eyes a little and felt bad for her, because it was fairly complicated and in her words, “a lot of characters to keep up with.”  I thought all of the relative new/young actors did well and it was a great blend of action and plot.  However, I could never get over, “Wait, that’s Kevin Bacon.”  That’s my bad though.  It could have used a little more mutant fight scenes, but it was still good.

Get Over Yourself: There is a discontinuity between this prequel and the Jean Grey flashback in X-Men 3.  Who cares?  You do.  Read the category title again.  On the other hand, it was cool how they tied in the Magneto origin flashback from the trilogy.

Appropriateness: This is where I wish that I had pre-screened this.  This was definitely more inappropriate for kids than previous X-Men movies.  There were a lot of scenes of women in their underwear and a lot of language.  This includes one F-bomb.

Rating: (New System–American Idol Style)

Paula: That was fabulous, amazing, and I was touched deeply (Definitely go see it, now)

Randy: It was just aiiight for me, Dawg (Maybe see it, you should rent it)

Simon: That was indulgent nonsense (Bad, but still worth seeing. Redbox it)

Kara: What was the point of Kara, anyway? (Run for the hills, don’t ever see it)

I rate this almost a Paula but better than a Randy. (I’m beginning to think this system doesn’t work) If you are an X-Men fan or even superhero movie fan, you should see it in the theater.  I will definitely have the BluRay.

Other Possibilities:

Ellen: It’s supposed to be good, but it’s not, even though you really want it to be.

Steven: Trainwreck good

Jennifer: At least she can dance, but that’s not what we’re doing. Confusing, but mildly entertaining, nowhere near a Paula.