This past week, the trailer to X-Men: First Class made it's debut on Facebook of all things. I gotta say that of all the comic movies coming out, this one was the one I was most curious about. When I first heard that a X-Men prequel was being developed I immediately figured it was just Fox trying to cash in on the series again, and after two less than stellar entries, I had enough of them. But then I heard that Matthew Vaughn had signed on to direct, and I'm a big fan of him. I liked the cast that was assembled for this one (minus James McAvoy, he's always been just "meh" to me) and I liked the 1960s setting. I kept waiting for a trailer because I was curious to see what this would look like.
When I first watched the trailer I was very impressed. It had solid mutant action and hints at what the main arc for Magneto and Xavier will be. I was curious to see what fandom was making of it so I checked the comments the trailer was getting. Many of them were... less than favorable. Then again it seems like every time a trailer for a comic book movie comes out, it gets mixed feedback (unless it's Captain America). I checked out the complaints fans had with the trailer, and here is my response to the common criticisms of it.
Criticism 1: The effects look terrible!
Once again, it seems like every time we get a new comic book trailer, we hear this. CGI effects will never look good, just accept it. Plus many times when we see a trailer, the effects are still unfinished, so most of the time we're seeing a work in progress. I'm sure the effects will get much better once June comes around, or at least passable.
Criticism 2: The suits look terrible!"
I don't think the 60s era suits look that bad, but they aren't amazing. It looks like we'll only see the X-uniforms in one scene so we should be good. I will say that I think Magneto's helmet looks silly from the pictures I've seen, but I thought the helmet looked silly on Ian Mckellen too.
Criticism 3: This looks like Magneto will be the best part of the movie
Is this really a bad thing? Magneto pretty much stole the first three movies as well, and it looks like he'll do it again, especially with an up-and-coming actor like Michael Fassbender playing him. It looks like Magneto's character arc will be the most compelling part of this movie, and it looks like even the filmmakers realized this and chose to focus the trailer mostly on him. I wouldn't be surprised if we find that the movie focuses more on Magneto than Xavier, but once again I don't think that will hurt the movie.
Criticism 4: This doesn't follow the continuity set out by X-Men Origins: Wolverine
This is also true, but both Bryan Singer and Matthew Vaughn openly admitted this, but from the looks of things, no X-Men movie is going to follow the continuity from Origins. Darren Aronofsky has stated that The Wolverine won't be a follow up to the previous film, and Ryan Reynolds has said that the Deadpool script ignores the continuity from Origins as well (thank god). I think that X-Men Origins: Wolverine is just being ignored by all forthcoming X-films, and I gotta say that's probably a good thing, especially since that movie didn't really follow the continuity of the previous movies either.
Criticism 5: It looks boring!
Really? Missiles, fighter jets, and submarines being lifted out of the water are boring? What is your idea of excitement then?
Criticism 6: It takes liberties with the comics!
People are complaining that this doesn't contain the original X-team of Angel, Beast,Ice Man,Cyclops, and Jean Gray. Well, first off, if this team was in the movie it would ignore the continuity set out by previous movies, and lead back to the last criticism. I've also heard criticisms about the character of Havoc and the (most likely true) rumors that he will be Cyclops' father and not his brother. This is a HUGE departure from the comics, I will say that. But I'm not really bothered by this change because I don't really care for Cyclops or any of the Summers family, so they can do whatever they want with them. But I can see why this big change is pissing off fans like it is, but I'll just say this: wait until you see how it is done in the movie before you condemn it.
Well there it is, my response to the most common criticisms of the trailer. Like I said, I was impressed with what I saw and I'll be there in June when this hits. This movie could easily turn things around for the X-Men series, but it can also be just another mark against it. The biggest opponents this film will have this summer is obviously the competition at the box office and the jaded fans. But I loved Layer Cake, Stardust, and Kick-Ass, Matthew Vaughn's previous films, and I want to see what he'll do with a bigger budget. Hopefully this will be a success and return the X-Men films back to respectability, because if not then our hopes lie with The Wolverine next year.