x-men first class: seriously.

x-men first class: movie starring mr. rochester as magneto, the dude from wanted as professor x, kevin bacon, and many others...

why did i delay so long in writing this review?  i saw this movie, twice, like two weeks ago (or maybe it was one week), and i thought it was awesome, so why the delay?  i think it's because there are a lot of things that i thought it did unusually well, and they're kind of complicated to talk about...and i am lazy.  note the entire lack of capitalization in its proper grammatical place anywhere on this blog.

so let's start with the simple stuff.

1. magneto's little soundtrack motif: awesome.  it's an awesomely james bond-esque sound (that rubber band snapping bass sound) without being at all corny.

2. magneto period: awesome.  i knew michael fassbender could do something great if given half a chance.  in x-men first class, he's given that chance, and he takes the heck out of it.

3. kevin bacon speaking russian: not 1000% convincing, but totally awesome.

4. the art on the walls of kevin bacon's blimp: i don't know enough about modern art, but it looked like faux thiebauds or something.  anyway, AMAZING.*

5. BEST USE OF NAZI COIN EVER.

6. young mystique: beautiful, complicated, funny, intelligent performance by jennifer lawrence.

stuff about the movie that was complicated and good:

sexism.  one of the things i loved about this movie was that it depicted without condoning sexism.  professor x's line that he uses on every girl, the way the cia treats its lady operative (threatening her with the typing pool), the way shaw uses emma frost as a glorified ice machine, the way magneto, even, in treating mystique as close to a person, both highlights the sexist conditions she endures and the way she sees herself as enduring them... this is all good stuff, people.  and--and, the way the woman characters don't quite rebel against the treatment.  they take it.  they don't fight it.  the way that the american agent lady deals with it is by ignoring it, focusing her energies away from it, and not begrudging professor x his assumption of her support.  mystique has a complex relationship with being a woman, because she's got a lot more to deal with than just having boobs--her self-esteem is overly wrapped up in a lot of different factors--and hence magneto's call for her to regard herself as lovely in her natural state seems to have something to do with her femininity as well as her mutantinity...  anyway, it was just interesting.

hetero-ism: i have a friend who objects to what he thinks of as closeted attractions between characters who might as well be gay (i may not be doing you justice, brian).  in the case of x-men: first class, i liked the absence of...like, considerations-of-gayness, because i think it made room for the magneto/prof x relationship that there wouldn't have been if the movie were set at a later date.  much as i love a lot of judd apatow's stuff, the question of just how gay the bromances he depicts are is an overriding one ("you know how i know you're gay?  you are eagerly awaiting the response to this question").  they're stories of men trying to love each other in a world in which men loving each other is gay.  they're about more than that, too, but that question--how do we know how gay we are--is a real concern (i'm talking all lit theory right now--i apologize).  but in the world of x-men first class, that question isn't exactly a concern.  gay isn't something that you might be--you either are it, or you aren't.  and so magneto and prof x aren't gay for each other.  they're in love with each other, but they aren't gay for each other.  and that gives their relationship a lot of freedom, and that freedom is explored really thoroughly and honestly by the film.  professor x comes off as a bit of a leightweight who has never suffered for his ideals; magneto comes off as a freaking badass (and much more convincing speaker of german than kevin bacon, much as i laud mr. bacon's attempt).  but magneto's slightly pathetic eagerness to accept professor x's friendship shows how much he needs help, companionship--their relationship may be flawed and in the end unsustainable, but it's based on a really sympathetic platform.

and there totally may be gay characters in x-men: first class.  it's just that gayness isn't part of the landscape yet, so they don't depict it.  mystique could yet become bi; she's just at the beginning of figuring out her own identity.

that's what it is: they all are able to discover as much about themselves as the cultural landscape of the world of the movie will allow.  when homosexuality becomes a part of the discussion, they will probably be able to develop along with the questions it asks.  because those questions haven't been asked yet, they haven't been answered, and prof x and magneto can this healing and growing connection thing and it's cool and stuff.

in short, x-men first class is totally first class in my opinion**.  and it's so much fun to watch, that's the other thing.  really really fun.  of course at this point literally everyone in the world has seen it.  i just hope you all agree with me. 


*i wonder how one would check up on this.  google "art on walls of sebastian shaw submarine?"  i tried it, and didn't come up with much.  oh well, at least i've given my all.

**i had one objection: guess which named character dies first?  yes, by pointing it out in my completely insignificant movie blog, racism in america will someday be wiped out entirely!  you're welcome, dr. king.  you're welcome, sun-ra (space is no longer the only place!).  you're welcome, america.