WARNING minor spoilers!
X Men First Class.
I didn't really see the need for this film when the trailers came out. We've had two great X men film, a mediocre third to end on, and then the appalling Wolverine prequel (I haven't actually seen it, I'm relying on other people's opinions on that one ;) ). So why another prequel?
I was dragged to see it anyway (I didn't mind too much - with Orange Wednesday 2 for 1). I was pleasantly surprised.
The film starts off in the 1940s, showing us the classic Magneto origins story as a poor Jewish boy struggles with the loss of his family at the hands of the Nazis (that good old staple for villains in genre movies), while we get a somewhat warmer start for Charles Xavier and a delightful Mystique.
Jump maybe 20 years later, and the world is heading towards a Cuban Missile Crisis - but I bet you never knew mutants were involved! Magneto and Professor Xavier are brought together to work with the US government to build a team of mutants who can take on a villain (played by Kevin Bacon with relish) who wants to send the world into nuclear war for his own nefarious reasons. The two friends must create a team of their own mutants and train them for war. Cue some great mutant vs mutant fights, and mutant vs war machine struggles. Nicholas Hoult is nothing special as Beast, and while Jennifer Lawrence and January Jones look stunning, they do not shine in the acting department ("Mutant and proud" - we already did that in Xmen 3). It's left to James Mcavoy and Michael Fassbender to get the best lines and scene stealing moments, and they do well with what they're given.
There ARE some continuity errors between this and the original trilogy (why no mention of Xavier and Mystique's previous close relationship, especially given that Mystique happily poisons Xavier in the first film? How could Xavier and Magneto have found Jean Grey, who would have been too young to mentor during this film? Why does Xavier claim Magneto helped him build Cerebro, when it was in fact someone else who made the original?) but that's of no great issue. Nor is the scene where one mutant switches sides (too many characters to give time for the minor ones to effectively show us why they're willing to work with mass murderers).
What matters is it looks great, the cheesy lines are kept to a minimum and we have great villains, heroes and anti heroes. Recommended.
Green Lantern
I'm a big DC fan but I was even more reluctant to see this than X men. I mean, come on, Ryan Reynolds?! He makes me cringe :(
Nonetheless I went to see this tonight (I did NOT wear the Green Lantern tshirt or ring my friend bought me last year).
AGAIN, pleasantly surprised. We get a nice quick intro into the Green Lantern mythos, are shown the bad guy, and then straight into the mess that is Hal Jordan's life. It doesn't take long for them to establish his reputation for being cocky and irresponsible,all the time living in the shadow of his late father. We're also introduced to the love interest, Carol Ferris, all keeping in line with the comic books. What I liked about this, compared to the ridiculous romance between Thor (in his eponymous film) and Natalie Portman's character, was that Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris clearly have a background, a past, a love that was won and lost - Thor and Jane Foster meet for 2 days and are suddenly willing to die for each other, pfft).
We get amusing time with some familiar comic characters (Tomar Re, Kilowog and of course Sinestro) and not one but TWO villains to deal with. We even get an appearance from Amanda Waller (are DC going to start building up a film continuity, the way Marvel has with SHIELD operatives appearing in all their films? Will Waller be showing up in Batman and SUperman films now?).
Special effects were decent (not sure it was necessary to make the GL costumes CGI), the constructs looked good, some nice conflicts, the villains were not that great though, and the key to defeating the bad guy was a bit mundane. Still, Ryan Reynolds did not annoy me, and even managed to emote once in a while, and there was of course the obligatory set up of a villain for the potential sequel if this film makes enough money. I for one do not understand why it has attracted a lot of negative hype. Worth watching for some light entertainment.
