Ghostt Revisits X-Men: First Class

Man, I was one upset fanboy after I watched X-men: First Class at the movie theater on opening weekend. I came home, fists clenched, and promptly wrote my first CBM movie review. My wife inquired curiously what was so furiously typing on the computer; she had never seen my index fingers pound so passionately on the keyboard. I gave the movie a proper thrashing and would have wrought more damage if not due to time constraints (wife and kids were nagging). But then I was stunned to see that I was in the minority on my disdain of the movie. It seemed as though my peers were saying this was one of the best CBMs ever. There were comparisons to The Dark Knight and it was certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes! 'How could everyone have got it so wrong', I thought, secretly pitying the masses poor taste in cinema while convincing myself what a fair and reasonable critic I was. I argued on this very website that the masses were wrong and that First Class was terrible and in time they would see it my way.

When X-men was released on Blu-ray I knew I had to see it, nay, I had to buy it and revisit this embarrassing reboot/prequel. My wife was perplexed that I would spend $24.00 to watch a movie I greatly disliked. Deep down I thought she was right, but, well, I am not exactly rational when it comes to CBMs (for example I watch Daredevil often and bitch the whole time...)

So, I sat down with the family and watched X-Men First Class on Blu ray. AS I watched, something strange happened, something unexpected--I really enjoyed the movie. The family was into it, even the wifey, who is not into CBMs. I noticed the cool cinematography and stylish colors and scenes this time. I dug the outfits and the dialogue. I was in awe of Fassbender's performance as Magneto and realized how intense and scary he was as a Nazi hunter. The bar scene in South AMerica was perfect. The respected the pace, action, and humor. The things that bothered me about the movie before didn't particularly bother me as much now. There were still problems to be sure (Beast still looked stupid), it was not a perfect specimen, and I still do not think it is up there with The Dark Knight (which is, by the way, a movie made for adults), but at least it was as good as X1 and X2.

Why the change of heart? The truth is that I do not know. I am beginning to think that I like movies less at the theater, partly because of the high price to get in, the theaters are not comfortable, and quite frankly movies look better on my HD TV. Also, I am hypercritical of CBMs. I grew up with comics and they were magical when I read them. Most CBMs are not magical to watch, unfortunately. Hell, maybe I am too old for magical, but I at least hope they are magical for my kids.