Yeah I know this movie was just the runner up of my top of 2011, but I don't have Real Steel on DVD plus I'm kinda scared that seeing it on DVD it'll be a bit shitty... Plus if you're assuming 'well I read your comment on your top seven list, why do I need to read this review?'. Well firstly, you don't need to read this review and secondly that comment was a paragraph long and written when I hadn't seen the movie in about six months, so who knows what I'll discover when I sit down with it on the small screen. If I can even manage to study it with January Jones two large distractions... Enjoy!
If there was ever a better example of comics convulsion, look no further than the X-Men. With a huge cast of characters all with detailed back stories and personalities, with reams of reboots, different dimensions and story wide arc events it's about as penetrable as dicking a concrete slab and although the cartoons do a pretty good job at trying to simplify the characters and the stories to try and give you a window into the wacky world of the X-men franchise, the movies barely manage to hold continuity together from one movie to the next let alone try and explain all the X-Men continuity.
I think the first X-Men movie is a masterpiece, pure and simple and I actually enjoy all the four movies. Even Origins to some degree. But by the time the third movie rolled in, continuity had been prolapsed across the floor and this gleaming franchise was dwindling... it then took the dying corpse, dragging itself across the ground and shot it with an Adamantium bullet to the head with Origins. But for whatever reason, they really didn't want the franchise to die, they wanted a hero to save them. Fox couldn't have Marvel take the rights back! It'll be Sony and Spiderman all over again.
And so, in steps First Class. Its aim? To delete the continuity mindfuck that were the third and fourth movies of the franchise, rekindle the fire for the franchise and be just all round awesome. And my God does it succeed.
Before we get onto anything, can we just talk about Magneto? He has always confused me, aren't his powers well...kinda shit? He's the main villain, as far as I know - and to be fair I know very little of the franchise but he's basically like any other kinetic only his powers are limited solely to metal. So can't other kinetics, who can move anything with their mind or whatever else, be more powerful than him downright in every fight? I woulda thought the big bad would have been given something more substantial. And you could argue it is what he does with it that makes him a threat, but he never expresses the ability to do anything unique with his metalkinesis as any other kind of kinetic could. And before someone drops in with some huge rant about how he did this or that in the comics, this is what I mean, the movie should be showing us this as well! Xavier is a far more fascinating character when it comes to powers, although he is a mindreader he also is able to control people with his powers and freeze people in place...for reasons never properly explained. He seems much more dangerous than Magneto, is that the point?
Plus in general, is there any logic to mutants? Some seem the same as any other super powered being and yet others are bright blue scaly women, will someone please just make some outlining rules? I understand this is comics, but at least for the film can you not make up shit as you go. Please? I mean why can Mystique for example shape shift clothes over herself? I guess I could understand if she created the pattern of clothes on her skin, but it looks like she can actually shape shift into materials, why? And then can he turn into weapons and stuff as well?
I find the entire cast of this movie strange, most of the actors are British and haven't really been in many big, Hollywood productions or even many big screen productions at all. I mean did you ever expect Tony from Skins to play Hank McCoy? Well I certainly didn't. In some cases it works, like Fassbender and McAvoy are both great actors, so they fit into their roles well. But I still found both of them hard to take seriously at first, considering where I saw them before. Plus the fact that McAvoy looks to be one of the youngest of the cast but we know from the first three movies he is one of the oldest, I think they hiccuped a little on time continuity, especially with characters like Hank or Havok, I mean Havok is Cyclops younger brother, so why is he here?
I've never said anything like this before but, the green screens are just awful in this movie. Normally I have a pretty hard time working out where sets start and end, but the backgrounds in this film always look awful. Same with whenever January Jones is in diamond form and talking to other characters in the same shot. They also apparently made only one model of Jones in her diamond form, because no matter what she is wearing and what hair she has, it always goes back to the clothes and hair from the start of the movie when she goes in the diamond form for the first time. Stay classy, First Class (been waiting to say this).
First Class is a really fucking cool movie, with most of it being set in the 60's the movie has style by the abundance. However as mentioned before, the style of this movie is rather uneven. For every bit of 60's fashion and sets, we get some poorly integrated stock footage or shitty CGI with a wonky sense of style. But I can ignore that for the fact First Class feels a lot like what James Bond would be, if they decided to give everyone super powers. I mean 60's espionage thrillers were always goofy, which is I guess why this works so well. I guess it also borrows a little slasher cliche too, considering the black mutant is the first to die.
How does Magneto find Shaw? We see him go to a bank and take someone's filling, we see him go to a bar and kill everyone and then he just turns up on Sebastian's boat, the fuck is going on? Not that I'm really complaining, in this scene we get to see Magneto fuck up a boat by attacking it with its own anchor, this is the kind of comic book violence us nerds have been waiting for years to see on our screens! Sadly, this is then ruined by the weird bromance between Xavier and Charles, in the original three movies they just seemed like old friends. In this movie, they seem inches from tearing off eachothers clothes. I mean great for fanfiction writers I suppose, but it's awfully distracting for everyone else...
So the story goes that a group of mutants called the Hellfire Club want to start world war three in an attempt to wipe out humanity and leave only the mutants behind because humans are inferior or something. Government Agents manage to drag Xavier in on the thing being that he is an expert in genetic mutations and he builds a team of mutants to take down the Hellfire Club and avert world war three. In between all this we have huge senses of style, excellent action scenes and 60's espionage cliches.
The action in this movie is incredible, the CGI isn't brilliant, but it just has such a spot on comic book feel. Every action sequence has a real sense of scale, everyone is using their powers at once, things are blowing up, people are going flying. It's all so crazy, it's just brilliant. So much fun. And when two super powered characters go head to head...you'll know it. This is the kind of comic book conversion to the big screen action I've been waiting for.
So do I recommend this? Ultimately the only problem with First Class is much like any recent superhero movie, the CGI just isn't ready yet. Although First Class brings to the table action set pieces closer to the comics than any other superhero movie, it still often looks like you are watching a game cutscene. That aside though, First Class is a fucking great movie. The oddball cast is brilliant, the story is great, the acting is great, it's just an all round brilliant film. Just a shame about the special effects.
Think About It!
-Locke
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