What? Darwin Is Evolving! Wait... Oh

(Please note: the following blog was originally posted on my old blog Why Yes I Am Quite Random, Why Do You Ask?, a blog I can no longer access for some unknown reason. This is being put at the start of each blog I'm uploading, in case anyone comes across the blog and accuses me of plagiarism. This is explained further in my introduction blog.

The following was originally posted on Sunday, December 4th, 2011 at 9:05 pm )

Today is going to be the first blog for a themed week I'm calling “comic book film review” week, in which I will review three of this year's comic book adaptations, now that I have all three on DVD and thus have more time to explore them. Let's kick things off with X-Men: First Class.

I don't think I need to go into great detail about the X-Men, but I'll give a brief overview: the X-Men are mutants, considered by some to be homo superior and they constantly face adversity from the human race, as well as evil mutant teams like the Brotherhood and the Hellfire Club. That is, when they're not engaged in mini-civil wars within their own ranks.

Before X-Men: First Class, there were four X-Men films, and each was a financial, if not critical, success. But after X-Men: The Last Stand, the decision was made to take the franchise in different directions. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a prequel to the original film series, and is usually considered the weakest instalment in the series. As of writing this blog, a sequel is on the way, entitled The Wolverine. In fact, the original series has a fourth film potentially being made. And then there are all the other spin-offs... yeah, these are topics for another blog.

Today, we're looking at the newest addition to the X-Men film franchise. So, will First Class prove too cool for school or will we see it in detention? Let's find out.

Set largely in the 1960's, Sebastian Shaw and his fellow mutants are conspiring to start World War 3, in order to make mutants the dominant species. With the CIA keeping tabs on Shaw and his band, Moira MacTaggert enlists the help of mutant expert (and powerful telepath) Charles Xavier to convince the CIA of the existence of mutants. With the help of a new ally, Erik Lensherr, Charles sets out to find others like them and stop Shaw's plan from coming to fruition.

Like the previous X-Men films, there is a large cast of mutants (albeit this and Wolverine have a slightly smaller roster) so let's start with a brief description of each mutant's power and little details.

Charles Xavier/Professor X (James McAvoy), as noted above, is a telepath. And a very powerful one at that.

Erik Lensherr/ Magneto (Michael Fassbender) is a master manipulator of magnetism. But I bet you knew that.

Raven Darkholme/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) is a shape-shifter. And, in this universe, Charles' adopted sister (of sorts. Kinda complicated.)

Hank McCoy/Beast (Nicholas Hoult) has animal-like physiology and enhanced strength, stamina, agility and a whole bunch of traits (and in this film, he does gain the blue fur he is well known for. And that is not a spoiler.)

Emma Frost (January Jones) is also a telepath, but she has a secondary ability: transforming her body into a diamond form.

Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) absorbs kinetic and radiated energy and controls it.

Angel Salvadore (Zoe Kravitz) can fly (much like the Angel from X-Men we all know and love) and spit acid (yeah, the other Angel can't do that...)

Sean Cassidy/Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones) screams at ultrasonic levels, which he can also use as a form of flight.

Azazel (Jason Flemyng) is a teleporter (and in the comics, the father of Nightcrawler)

Armando Munoz/Darwin (Edi Gathegi) adapts to situations as they come (growing gills in water, becoming heat resistant around fire, that sort of thing.)

Janos Quested/Riptide (Alex Gonzalez) creates whirlwinds.

And Alex Summers/Havok (Lucas Till) absorbs energy and blasts it.

Now, there may be spoilers for the rest of the review, but Charles getting paralyzed and Erik striking out as Magneto are NOT spoilers. You kind of expect this if you know even the slightest of X-Men. Everything else is still fair game for spoilers so I warn you now.

Now, in a film with this many characters, chances are you're going to try and pick your favourites and pick the ones you either hate or just would have cut out of the film. Based on the acting, the characterization and the dialogue, my favourite characters would have to be Erik (I don't call him Magneto because he doesn't really become Magneto until the end), Darwin and Azazel. Michael Fassbender has a hard act to follow with inheriting the role (in a way) from Sir Ian McKellen and he nails it. His anguish, his determination, his hard exterior that hides a heavy heart, Fassbender just gets it. If I had to choose a favourite part, a part in which he truly shines, it's near the end, where he's poised to take on the role we all know him for. After a bullet aimed for him is deflected, it hits Charles in the back. The look of horror on Erik's face just sells it. He's panicking, his best friend in the whole world is in pain, he doesn't know what to do. His dialogue after that only confirms just how good Fassbender is and I really, really hope he gets some excellent roles now.

Darwin didn't get much time to develop but what he did get, he used well. He was funny, laid-back and his power is frickin' awesome. Unfortunately, he gets killed off soon after his introduction. I may joke about it in the title of this blog (as well as referencing Pokemon but that's neither here or there) but in all seriousness, damn. He doesn't even get a big send-off. He dies and then the scene changes. Wow, thanks a lot, movie. Take one of the coolest characters in the movie and get rid of him. Oh well, at least he did try and stand up to the villain. He may not have been a hero for long but he was an X-Man through and through.

Azazel doesn't say much and is treated like a lackey but besides looking cool (it's like if the Devil wore a suit to work. No, no! He's like that one background character from that episode of Angel! Season 5, The Girl In Question. He works in the Italian branch of Wolfram And Hart. Yeah, he looks like that guy! Also, just to clarify, I do not think the Devil is cool, I'm just describing him for anyone who doesn't know who the Hell he is. Pun not intended), he has one of the most super awesome powers (as I mentioned above, teleporting). And what does he use it for? He drops people. From the sky. Yeah. Badass or what?

I'll come back to some of the other characters later, when I go into the negatives.

The action scenes were really damn impressive and they didn't feel overblown, either. The battle toward the end felt really authentic (as authentic as a movie with mutants can be anyway) and I really liked Erik and Charles' confrontation with Emma Frost, in which Erik uses a bed frame to constrict her.

However, there are two very big negatives that keep this film from being one of the truly excellent films of the year.

Going back to the characters now, despite being a new take, I don't think I like the changes made to Xavier and Beast. Neither of them has any tact when talking to Mystique about her power and disregard her feelings. Or, to put it bluntly: they kind of act like dicks. Xavier can't even answer a simple question she directs to him (OK, it might be about if he thinks she's attractive and would they date if they didn't know each other and he responds with “But I do know you”. Dude, it's called a hypothetical. You're a scientist, you should know all about those. The correct response is “You're my sister” because after growing up with you, that's what she IS). And if you want more dickish behaviour, at the end of the movie, he and Moira (Rose Byrne, not playing a mutant and her character's not American in the comics despite being one here, doing a very good job) share a kiss... which he uses to wipe her memory of the existence of mutants. You might be trying to protect yourself and the others but now her credibility is shot to Hell. And you could have trusted her or gone another way. But nooooo, you had to wipe her mind.

And don't give me that “it's an alternate universe, they can do what they want” song and dance or the routine of “he's only young, he'll grow into the guy we know”. You know who else was brain-wipe happy? The Xavier of the Ultimate Universe and that universe is filled with arseholes! This is not a path I want to see Xavier go down.

Beast isn't that much different either. He openly tells Mystique she's beautiful when transformed to the state she normally appears in (not the blue, I mean when she's in public).

I've stated in my X-Men comic review that Beast is my favourite character. Even in the aforementioned Ultimate Universe, Beast escapes arseholeification. But here, he had to be vain and self-centered. And no, I will not take the “young = allowed to make mistakes” argument here either. Being young does not absolve you of everything you do. And at his age, he should know better.

Also, what the Hell is up with Angel pulling a face heel turn? One minute she's happy to be free from the life of a stripper and having fun with her new mutant friends, the next she's off to help bring down humanity. Hell, when Sebastian Shaw makes the offer for any mutant to join him, she takes it up with no hesitation and gives some bullcrap reason. I basically view it as “Oh hai losers, I'm off to join the winning side kthanxbai”. Or, however it would be said in the 60's. Probably involving some dialogue about felines and the shapes of boxing rings.

I reckon she just saw their clothes and powers and wanted to live it up. It's just so poorly executed.

But the biggest gripe I have with the movie: it can't decide if it wants to be a prequel or a reboot. It wants to be both, but it can't happen. The two cancel each other out. If it's a reboot, why did you reuse the footage of Erik in the camps from the first X-Men movie? And why put Hugh Jackman as Wolverine for a cameo if the films aren't connected? (Granted, that scene was funny). Is Hugh Jackman-as-Wolverine a constant in all the multiple universes?

But if you are a prequel, that just raises further questions: why is Charles paralyzed at the end of this movie if he can walk in The Last Stand? And more to the point, why would he and Erik be all chummy for one little girl? And why is Emma Frost an adult when she appears as a teenager in Wolverine?

No, movie. You pick one or the other. Casino Royale did. Sure, Judi Dench portrayed M again but at least they said outright they were rebooting Bond and bringing him back to basics.

Admittedly, they do lean more towards reboot but they don't outright say it and before release, it was even being touted as another prequel. Heck, because of the early Erik scenes at the camps, X-Men Origins: Magneto was scrapped.

All in all, a solid movie, but some things still bug me. Unlike Bridesmaids, I think I rated this one a little too high initially. Thus, I give it 3.5/5 (now it shares that with Bridesmaids)

P.S Still hoping to see Apocalypse one of these days. And can someone please hurry up with the Deadpool spin-off?!

She May Be The Messiah, But She's A Very Very Confused Girl

(Please note: the following blog was originally posted on my old blog Why Yes I Am Quite Random, Why Do You Ask?, a blog I can no longer access for some unknown reason. This is being put at the start of each blog I'm uploading, in case anyone comes across the blog and accuses me of plagiarism. This is explained further in my introduction blog.

The following was originally posted on Friday, November 11th, 2011 at 5:24 pm)

This is going to be a recurring thing for this blog, a blog devoted to reviews of different mediums. Films, seasons of TV shows, etc. Today, we're looking at comics. Now, Australia has never really been a huge market for comics, or at least in my experience. Trade paperbacks are hard to come by and most newsagents only seem to stock Simpsons and Futurama comics. While I do collect and enjoy those, superhero titles aren't all that common. Sure, I'll see issues of Amazing Spider-Man or Action Comics, but I can never be sure if the title will be stocked next month and I've had to rely on mini-series and one shots when going comic shopping.

Luckily, my local library often has plenty of trades for me to indulge in, or at the very least, I can order them from another library at no cost.
So, most of my reviews will be based on what I can find through the library or from what I have read in the past and can remember a lot of. However, I acknowledge that I am nowhere near as good as Lewis Lovhaug (better known as Linkara) at reviewing, he's a frickin' genius and I'm some schmuck with a blog. That being said, I will try my best. Today we're looking at X-Men: Second Coming.

The arc is comprised of at least fifteen issues ranging from three issues of Uncanny X-Men to three issues of X-Force and various in-between.
Now, I've long held the thought that amongst all the different series of comics, past and present, finished and ongoing, the X-Men franchise is the hardest to follow. The biggest reason I have for this is the character roster. I mean, before M-Day (or, the end of the events of House Of M), you couldn't swing a dead cat in the Marvel universe without hitting a mutant (chances are, that dead cat WAS a mutant). And not only did you have the various X-Teams and the Brotherhood, but various Avenger teams had mutants at one time or another (most famous of those being Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Beast and Wolverine, though what team hasn't he been on?). Then you have your mutants that strike out on their own, whether they be hero, villain or in-between. Mutants like Apocalypse, Proteus, Namor, Sebastian Shaw and the ever-loveable Merc With The Mouth, Deadpool (who, incidentally, is one of my absolute favourite comic book characters).
There are so many characters within these comics (and let's not forget the non-mutant supporting cast and antagonists, like Moira MacTaggert and Arcade) that its easy to get lost. Often, I've played the game of “Wait, Who's That Guy? And You, What's Your Power?” while reading an X-Men comic, that's how out of the loop I am with modern X-Men comics. And this was AFTER the numbers were reduced to under two hundred mutants. New X-Teams spout up all the time, then disband, then reform with new members. It's hard enough keeping up with rebooted volumes, how can we be expected to keep up with the constantly changing line-ups?
Reducing the population to under two hundred didn't exactly help, because now the game changes to “Who Kept Their Powers?”, even though we all know most of the A-listers would have because you can't change status quo TOO much, lest you actually try and be daring.
Though, on that subject, that is one thing I'll give the Marvel universe credit for. While these days I slant more towards the DC universe (having Batman is a major drawcard, though heavy hitters like Green Lantern and the Flash help, not to mention wonderful series like 52 and Identity Crisis), Marvel almost always tries to keep its changes stuck the way they are and if they don't stick, the resolution is at least either acceptable or was always planted from the start so at least they put some thought into it. Unlike DC, which seems to say “This is boring. Reboot, reboot, REEEEEBOOOOOOT!” and push a big red button. Of course, sometimes Marvel gets an attack of the stupid (or, in the case of One More Day, a near fatal case of total freaking moron. I really, really hate that story. Like All-Star Batman And Robin, the beautiful art is the sole redeeming feature to a story that makes my brain want to cry) but sometimes the changes in one story escalate to something more universal and the resolution seems natural in light of those events (like the events of Civil War kind of being resolved after Siege, with the Superhuman Registration Act being abolished. It didn't take magic or time travel to fix it, just pure simple logic.)

Also, another part of what makes the X-Men hard to follow is all the allegiance changing. Juggernaut kept flip-flopping around for a while, though I believe he's currently a freelancer who'll be on either side provided they pay for him; Gambit, for a time, was one of Apocalypse's Horsemen; and Magneto, well, he goes all over the spectrum any given day (currently, he's kinda-sorta not a villain, but I wouldn't say he's an anti-hero or anti-villain either).

But anyway, enough rambling about that. Time to ramble about the arc itself

So, the plot is laid out thusly: Hope Summers (ugh, that's yet another confusing thing, the goddamn Summers family tree. I'm not going into that here) is the first new mutant born since M-Day. Cyclops' son Cable (damn it, I said I'm not going into it!) has taken her into the future (...not going into that either) to protect her and train her.
Well, that's actually the set up to this story. This arc deals with her coming back and being hunted by a highly evolved Sentinel known as Bastion and various human factions bent on eliminating the so called “Mutant Messiah”. Cyclops is leading the X-Men against all those who wish to see the mutant race ended once and for all but not every decision he makes is being followed without question.

Overall, it's a good story. I wouldn't say great, partly due to its length (it really, really feels a lot longer) and the fact that some of the villains can have their dialogue replaced with “Those muties are nuthin' but scum, we gotta git them keeeeled, yeeeee-haw!” and you'd get the same thing. Really, that's partly why I like the DC universe more: the humans are a lot more appreciative of their superheroes and crimefighters, which was a huge point in 52. But the Marvel universe is filled with ungrateful assholes. I mean, I know that mutants are basically racism and homophobia parallels in comics but if people are willing to accept a chemically enhanced soldier, a man who can go giant and ant-size and a thunder god, it just comes across as petty jealousy and that's why they smear mutants. Humans are just pissed that they got their special status taken away and don't like the fact that some mutants ARE better than they are, because of their attitude.

Anyway, I quite liked the relationship between Hope and Cable, it's reminiscent of Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor, only making the relationship one of surrogate father and daughter, rather than a romantic one (which would be really squicky). Hope's in a world she doesn't know and Cable's the only one she feels comfortable with and while she's with him, her character is tolerable. When he's not... well, let's just say, the words “You better be worth this, I swear to God” sum her up really well. She had better improve next time, or I won't bother reading about a petulant child. She may be confused and scared but it doesn't give her the right to act like Dawn Summers (different Summers family this time, not comic related) circa Buffy Seasons 5-6.
Cyclops I really liked in this story. For a long time, Cyclops was treated like the butt monkey of the X-Men and barely anyone (in-universe or out of it) gave him the time of day. Now, I think he started getting really awesome around the time Joss Whedon began an X-Men title, Astonishing X-Men. I've read a few of his arcs and damn if they don't kick ass. Now he's the full-fledged leader of the X-Men. But it seems a few of his long time friends don't see things the way he does and they let him know about it.

But now, for what I actually hate about this book. There will be spoilers, I warn you now.

Death in comics is pretty common. So common it gets joked about. And the X-Men has one of the most well known with Jean Grey (I think she's dead as of this blog... possibly?)
But that doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt when a beloved character dies. Whether it's pointlessly (see the Atop The Fourth Wall review of Cry For Justice for an example, and Lewis is right on with the reasons why these deaths can hurt us so much)
And, it is within this arc, one of the most beloved X-Men, Nightcrawler, dies. He dies the death of a hero, teleporting in between Hope and Bastion to take Hope to safety and gets impaled by Bastion because of it. He gets a worthy send-off, with so many of his comrades speaking about his warmth and compassion, his sense of humor. Even Wolverine has his moment, when he says that Nightcrawler always treated him like a man and with respect. “He was my best friend and he never treated me like a damn animal.”
Beast calls Cyclops out at the funeral, saying: “This is yours. You own this. Now and forever. Do you understand? Do. You. Understand?”, further cementing that there are those who question Cyclops' methods
Now, it may be asked, why do I hate this if Nightcrawler died valiantly and he was given a heartwarming send-off? Well, remember that quote I posted earlier about Hope? That is the reason. Since I found the character uneven, I have to wonder if his death is in vain. I guess time will tell, but so far, I'm not impressed.
Also, well, he's one of my favourite X-Men. In fact, second only to Beast. He had a wonderful heart, he was courageous, he had a great sense of humor and a kick-ass power. He had his hang-ups, but he never let them defeat him.
And, like Linkara says in the Cry For Justice review, not everybody comes back to life in comics. Hell, it took over twenty years for Barry Allen to return to the world, and I don't think anyone actually saw that coming.
So, who knows if he's coming back or not? Especially with Marvel supposedly having a “dead is dead” policy now. That being said, at least this is a better send-off than the logic-bending death of Nightcrawler of the Ultimate Universe. I mean, death by drowning? A teleporter dying by drowning? Maybe if they were weakened or knocked out or something, but come on!

So, all in all, mutantkind looks to the future with new mutants popping up, perhaps suggesting that while not every former mutant will get their powers back, they also will not be going extinct. But whether or not Hope is a messiah remains to be seen.

While I did have a few problems (especially with the length), I do recommend the story. Out of 5, I'd give it a 3. However, if your knowledge of X-Men is from the movies only, I'd suggest boning up on X-Men history first.