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Saw X-Men First Class today. That was a good movie. Not perfect, but definitely good. Especially their handling of Charles and Erik. (Though I expect the usual sites are already flooded with slash.) The best bit was, of course, that one cameo... but everyone loved that.
It was cool, too, that they brought in some good characters who hadn't made it to the previous films. (I'm still confused about whether this is starting a new continuity or is an introduction to the existing one. I'd heard the latter, but the movie seems to have indications pointing to both alternatives.)
I have mixed feelings, though, about their handling of history - real and fictional.
Fictional first, since that's easier. I don't expect them to adhere 100% to the comics canon (and, at this point, given all the twisted continuity, I'm not even sure that's physically possible). I'm more or less okay with them doing things like revamping Moira McTaggert from Irish scientist to US CIA agent. And I have no problem with them tossing out the original lineup or rewriting the history/backstory of several characters. But what the heck was that with Angel? Couldn't they have used Dazzler or something? Frankly, I'd have been happier with them giving Dazzler flight powers (for the sake of the aerial battle) than completely revamping one of the original five just for the sake of... what? Having another girl on the team? Who happens to be a stripper?
(ETA: Huh. There's another Angel. Still an odd choice, but at least more explicable.)
And what was that with the Black guy? Brought in so they could have a tight shot of him when Erik mentioned slavery? And then, after that... Well, you know if you've seen it.
As for the real history... like I said, I still don't know how to feel about that. It's kind of cool that they weaved the fictional story into the real-world Cuban Missile Crisis. I think they did a good job of that, and, really, the choices made by the military leadership make more sense this way. And Marvel Comics has long made a point of tying their stories and their world to the real world. At the same time, though, they're playing rather lightly with serious events. A comic book movie. Entertainment. Focused on these fictional characters with fantastic powers, leaving the history to be a mere backdrop. I think it deserves better than that.
Which brings me to the part I'm far less comfortable with. My grandparents were Holocaust survivors. Most of their families... weren't. Their parents. Their grandparents. Brothers. Sisters. Uncles. Aunts. Cousins. Friends. Neighbors. The two year old boy who would have been my great uncle. All killed. My grandmother sent on the run, hiding with false papers until she was betrayed and sent to a concentration camp. She was unable, for the rest of her days, to even speak of what happened there. But it was always with her.
That Magneto grew up in a concentration camp has long been a part of his history. It's what drives him. They did a good job showing that. And it's important that the history and the story of those camps be told. Especially with so many of the survivors having since died of old age. And so many who try to deny or forget what happened.
But, again... this is a comic book movie. Action and entertainment and effects. It's the story of people with super powers fighting other people with super powers. In the first X-Men movie, they showed Magneto's origin, but then they moved on. In this one, it's an integral part of his story. And I'm honestly not sure which way is better.
It's a story that needs to be told and retold and never forgotten, but I don't know about telling it in this way. Does it help, showing it to people in this way? People who might not otherwise be exposed to even that degree, to be shown that point of view? Or does it hurt, fictionalizing it and putting it into the background? And what of the inescapable fact that Magneto becomes a villain and a terrorist?
In other news: Before the movie, there were, naturally, trailers. Most of them confusing. I now have even less of an idea of what Super 8 or The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo are about than I did before. But then I saw this trailer for Reel Steel and I had exactly the same thought as apparently several other people: Holy crap, they actually went and made a movie out of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. I could have sworn that was a Robot Chicken parody idea. But hey, if they can make a movie out of Battleship (yes, the board game), I guess they can make a movie out of anything.
In other other news: On the drive home from the movie theater, U2's Mysterious Ways was playing on the radio... on the classic rock station. There is something very wrong with reality.
In other U2 news: Did you hear about the song they dedicated to Gabby Giffords? I just love her husband's response.
In other space news: You can send your name to Mars (digitally encoded on NASA's upcoming Curiosity rover).
It was cool, too, that they brought in some good characters who hadn't made it to the previous films. (I'm still confused about whether this is starting a new continuity or is an introduction to the existing one. I'd heard the latter, but the movie seems to have indications pointing to both alternatives.)
I have mixed feelings, though, about their handling of history - real and fictional.
Fictional first, since that's easier. I don't expect them to adhere 100% to the comics canon (and, at this point, given all the twisted continuity, I'm not even sure that's physically possible). I'm more or less okay with them doing things like revamping Moira McTaggert from Irish scientist to US CIA agent. And I have no problem with them tossing out the original lineup or rewriting the history/backstory of several characters. But what the heck was that with Angel? Couldn't they have used Dazzler or something? Frankly, I'd have been happier with them giving Dazzler flight powers (for the sake of the aerial battle) than completely revamping one of the original five just for the sake of... what? Having another girl on the team? Who happens to be a stripper?
(ETA: Huh. There's another Angel. Still an odd choice, but at least more explicable.)
And what was that with the Black guy? Brought in so they could have a tight shot of him when Erik mentioned slavery? And then, after that... Well, you know if you've seen it.
As for the real history... like I said, I still don't know how to feel about that. It's kind of cool that they weaved the fictional story into the real-world Cuban Missile Crisis. I think they did a good job of that, and, really, the choices made by the military leadership make more sense this way. And Marvel Comics has long made a point of tying their stories and their world to the real world. At the same time, though, they're playing rather lightly with serious events. A comic book movie. Entertainment. Focused on these fictional characters with fantastic powers, leaving the history to be a mere backdrop. I think it deserves better than that.
Which brings me to the part I'm far less comfortable with. My grandparents were Holocaust survivors. Most of their families... weren't. Their parents. Their grandparents. Brothers. Sisters. Uncles. Aunts. Cousins. Friends. Neighbors. The two year old boy who would have been my great uncle. All killed. My grandmother sent on the run, hiding with false papers until she was betrayed and sent to a concentration camp. She was unable, for the rest of her days, to even speak of what happened there. But it was always with her.
That Magneto grew up in a concentration camp has long been a part of his history. It's what drives him. They did a good job showing that. And it's important that the history and the story of those camps be told. Especially with so many of the survivors having since died of old age. And so many who try to deny or forget what happened.
But, again... this is a comic book movie. Action and entertainment and effects. It's the story of people with super powers fighting other people with super powers. In the first X-Men movie, they showed Magneto's origin, but then they moved on. In this one, it's an integral part of his story. And I'm honestly not sure which way is better.
It's a story that needs to be told and retold and never forgotten, but I don't know about telling it in this way. Does it help, showing it to people in this way? People who might not otherwise be exposed to even that degree, to be shown that point of view? Or does it hurt, fictionalizing it and putting it into the background? And what of the inescapable fact that Magneto becomes a villain and a terrorist?
In other news: Before the movie, there were, naturally, trailers. Most of them confusing. I now have even less of an idea of what Super 8 or The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo are about than I did before. But then I saw this trailer for Reel Steel and I had exactly the same thought as apparently several other people: Holy crap, they actually went and made a movie out of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. I could have sworn that was a Robot Chicken parody idea. But hey, if they can make a movie out of Battleship (yes, the board game), I guess they can make a movie out of anything.
In other other news: On the drive home from the movie theater, U2's Mysterious Ways was playing on the radio... on the classic rock station. There is something very wrong with reality.
In other U2 news: Did you hear about the song they dedicated to Gabby Giffords? I just love her husband's response.
In other space news: You can send your name to Mars (digitally encoded on NASA's upcoming Curiosity rover).