Movie Review: X-Men: First Class, Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon

It's been awhile since I've done any movie reviews at all! So the movies I caught lately were mainly the blockbusters. But no, I didn't watch Green Lantern, though I did hear from some that it wasn't a bad film. 

X-Men: First Class

This movie was released while I was still having exams but nothing was gonna stop me from catching it since I'm a big X-Men fan, so thank God it was a big hit so it was still showing in the theatres even after two weeks (caught it with one of my besties!). 

It's pretty interesting how the movie gave an insight to the background of each X-Men, in particular, the friendship between Professor X aka Charles Xavier, and Magneto aka Erik Lehnsherr. Personally, Michael Fassbender (known for his roles in 300 and Inglorious Bastards) was almost perfect for Magneto. He smelt entirely evil from the beginning, though we now know the reason behind his angsty-ness and his hatred for humans. Fassbender certainly deserves credit for his marvelous portrayal of Magneto.

I couldn't quite say the same for James McAvoy who played the teenage Professor X. McAvoy is a great actor, don't get me wrong - I thought he was really great in Wanted (also starred Angelina Jolie), and some of you may not know this but he also starred in The Last King of Scotland and was the voice of Gnomeo in Gnomeo & Juliet. 

But from the moment the trailer was released, it just didn't feel right for me. Professor X always came across to me as a very calm and decent man, but it wasn't so with McAvoy as the young Professor, who was portrayed to be someone who would chat girls up in bars and best friends with Mystique! Maybe Charles Xavier's personality was different when he was young, so that's fine, but I was pretty surprised to see him and Raven (Mystique) as such good friends before they turned enemies. The X-Men trilogy certainly hinted nothing towards such a relationship.

That brings me to another thing I found odd: Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique. The bubbly persona was great, matching up to Mystique's playful-ness but it just didn't feel like she was the best choice for the role. On top of that, her almost-romantic relationship with Beast (never mind that she flirted with Erik - ugh)?! That was just totally awkward. Once again, you wouldn't have thought of that if you had caught the X-Men movies before First Class was released. Oh yes, the cameo appearance by Rebecca Romjin (the adult Mystique in the trilogy) was really weird too. Totally a "huh?!" moment right there. But the appearance by Hugh Jackman/Wolverine was pretty cute and funny.

The overall plot was good, I must say, though it seemed like a pretty desperate attempt to tie everything together. It was another awkward moment when the young mutants were fooling around when they came up with the nicknames or alter-egos for themselves and for Professor X and Magneto. Good try, but it felt really random.

For me, the cast didn't quite bring out the best of the origins of the X-Men, and the characters which made their appearances wasn't quite impressive. Beast, in particular, played by Nicholas Hoult - I couldn't quite link the young Beast and the matured one (a diplomat between the humans and mutants at that) played by Kelsey Grammer. 

But of course, these are my personal points of view, there may be many of you who may disagree, but it was probably the high expectations that I had held from the X-Men trilogy that led to the slight disappointment that, while good on its own, First Class didn't live up to the prevailing X-Men flicks.

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon

I LOVED THIS! Watched it in 3D and it was simply the best out of the entire Transformers series - yes, despite Megan Fox being replaced by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. I am Team Megan, by the way, but I have nothing against the Victoria's Secrets model. Rosie Huntington actually did an alright job with her role in the movie, her expressions were good, but I was just disappointed with how Michael Bay just wanted her portrayal to be too much of a sex symbol, period. Megan Fox's character was definitely more hands-on and less of a wallflower in the previous two instalments, though definitely still a sex symbol.

I also thought that Patrick Dempsey made for an awkward fit with his role in the film. He just doesn't seem evil enough, but then again, maybe that was the whole point: the charming, good-looking boss who turns out to be evil. Nonetheless, I thought there could've been some other actor better for the character.

The plot was great and it seemed like a perfect closure to the trilogy. At least, a closure is what I think it would be since Shia LeBeouf didn't sign on for any more Transformers movie. Shia LeBeouf is such a great actor. I started noticing him since he played a young boy in Constantine alongside Keanu Reeves. He has such great skills and expressions that watching him just pulls me deeper and deeper into the movie. I felt a very deep connection between Sam (Shia LeBeouf) and Bumblebee, all the way since the first Transformers movie, so it was particularly heart-breaking for me (I confess: I teared) during the scene (SPOILER ALERT) when Bumblebee bade goodbye to Sam (who also cried, so it's not just me LOL) and also towards the end when Bumblebee was almost destroyed by one of the Decepticons. 

So, I was pretty sad at the end of the almost-three-hour-long movie, but came out rather satisfied with the ending. Seeing that it was the end of Transformers was like the end of Star Wars Prequel Trilogy after Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith, very upsetting. I probably need to start collecting the DVDs now.

So if you haven't caught any of these flicks, PLEASE DO! And do give Transformers a shot in 3D, or if you can afford it, the IMAX version. I'm sure it'll be a blast! :)