It's hard to believe that it's been over three months since X-Men First Class was in theaters. Now that the movie is available on Blu-ray, it's time to watch it again. I had some doubts over the movie (as many did) but ended up enjoying it (here's my original review of the film).
These days it's hard for comic book readers to go into a movie without expecting the worse. We know there is absolutely no way the movie could be true to the comics. The fact is, it can't and shouldn't. What ends up happening is I'm often surprised that the movie is better than I feared and I find myself somewhat enjoying the movie.
That was partly the case with First Class. It was entertaining. Watching it again, I found myself getting more angry than I did the first time. I was more critical over the little discrepancies that I was originally. Why was Sebastian Shaw mixed with Mister Sinister? Why did Moira lose her accent and somehow become an FBI agent? Why did we see so little of the kids bonding and Angel so quickly change sides? Who decided January Jones could pull off an accurate portrayal of Emma Frost?
== TEASER ==
But it was a good effort all around. Watching the special features gives an understanding what the filmmakers had in mind. The twenty minute "X Marks the Spot" feature gives behind the scenes videos that can be viewed during the movie or separately. There's an interesting feature on recreating the young Magneto scene from the original X-Men.
For those interested in the music, there is a Composer's Isolated Score in 5.1 Dolby Digital.
If you enjoy interactive features, there is a Cerebro Mutant Tracker. It's purpose is "to enhance your telepathic abilities." As the video flashes through different mutants (as seen in the movies), you can click and learn about the different ones and how they relate to the movie continuity. This is were it gets a little interesting. We know there are some discrepancies with this, the other X-films and the Wolverine movie. It's not really a spoiler but the mutants you can read about are Jean Grey, Cyclops, Rogue, Wolverine, Sabretooth (from Wolverine Origins), Angel (Warren Worthington), Professor X, Storm, Pyro, Iceman, Juggernaut, Gambit, Mystique, Emma Frost (but no mention of her appearance in Wolverine Origins), Colossus, Beast, Jason Stryker (Jason 143) and Magneto.
It's strange to see footage from the other movies here. Trying to figure out all the differences in the movies (and comics) just isn't worth the time or headaches. We just have to roll with the punches. It does make you wonder what they might have in mind for the next outing. How will they continue to tie things together (or ignore them completely if that works for them).
There is also a series of other features focusing on different areas that run a combined total of one hour and ten minutes. The features include "Second Genesis," "Pulling Off the Impossible," "Transformation" (on creating Beast's look), "Suiting Up" (designing the costumes and coming up with a reason for them to wear them) and so on. There is mention that they originally considered doing a young X-Men movie during the filming of X-2 but it didn't happen the way they planned. They also mention the possibility of a sequel delving into the 70s. The Xavier Institute still needs to be fully set up. They also add that there's more mutants and historical events they could cover.
And of course there are the deleted scenes. There are thirteen for a total of fourteen minutes and seven seconds. You might have seen the extended scene with Charles, Erik and Angel in the back room at the club she worked. It's worth checking out. There are also some scenes with Charles and Moira getting more...affectionate.
Overall, I think my original rating on the movie still stands, for the most part. Again, I found myself getting more upset this time through but it's just something you have to let go of. The movie can't be true to the original source. We have to look at it as being inspired by the characters from the comics. Essentially it was a movie about Charles and Erik. The other kids almost felt like they were just thrown in for background scenery. I would like to see a sequel and find out where they will take this version of the characters. The behind the scenes features are nice and give you a better appreciation for the filmmakers. The fact that they readily admit they can't be true to the comics is reassuring in some ways. It tells us that they aren't oblivious to what we might want. They just do what they can and what they feel they need to. For a comic book movie, it does a pretty good job filling in the void of new movies for the rest of this year.
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