Video Game Review – Batman: Arkham City

Plot: Sequel to 2009’s Arkham Asylum.  After the events on Arkham Asylum, Gotham officials have cut off a section of the city dubbed ‘Arkham City,’ where all of Gotham’s most dangerous criminals are now held.  The facility is run by the deranged Dr. Hugo Strange (Corey Burton) who has plans for Arkham City that Batman (Kevin Conroy) must uncover while many of his major adversaries try and destroy him, including the Joker (Mark Hamill).

I never dreamed a Batman video game could be this good.  If you are a die hard Batman fan, this game was made for you.  Aside from training around the world for a decade and being a billionaire, this is the closest you’ll ever get to becoming Batman.  Despite its terrible and anti-climactic ending, 2009’s Batman: Arkham Asylum was the best non-multiplayer game to come out in years.  This game takes everything that was great about Arkham Asylum and makes it not just a little better, but significantly better.

The game play is flawless.  Moving around and fighting is smooth as can be.  And even though you fight a group of thugs 900 times in this game, it never gets old.  The countering system they introduced in Arkam Asylum was very good, but I can’t even put into words how unbelievable it is in Arkham City.  It’s so satisfying to elbow two guys behind you, grab their heads, and then slam them to the ground.

The parts in which you truly get to be Batman is when you’re sneaking around and taking out enemies without other thugs seeing you.  Silent takedowns were all present in the first game, but here, it just feels fresh again.

And what Batman video game would be complete without gadgets.  What I love about Arkham City is you basically start with all the gadgets you ended with from Arkham Asylum, and you just get to add more stuff.  The introduction of the smoke pellet is pretty awesome.  The two gadgets that are stand outs for me though are controlling the remote control batarang and the line launcher, which was in the original game, but in this, after you launch a line, you can launch another one while zip lining.  Batman does an awesome little flip maneuver to transition into this.  It’s so bad ass.

One of the drawbacks to Arkham Asylum is that you’re relegated to only Arkham Asylum.  The environments got kind of repetitive.  Here, it’s basically Gotham City…a vast improvement.  There’s nothing better than gliding around the city.

As far as the story goes, I liked the story to Arkham Asylum, but I wasn’t blown away.  In this one…I’m blown away.  Aside from Zelda games, I’m not one who gets into the story for a video game.  I like simple games and don’t need ten minute cut scenes.  I’ll watch a movie if I want that.  But in this, I was really invested in the plot.  It’s a fantastic Batman story, and the voice acting (especially Conroy and Hamill) is through the roof.  They cram so many big time Batman villains into this, yet none of them feel forced.  They all serve a great purpose to the story.  And when you get into a boss fight with a villain, the game delivers in spades.  Each boss gets his own unique battle, and its just so much damn fun!  There were a couple major Batman villains I felt got short changed though, and once again the Riddler is relegated to bonus challenges.  I’d like to see him in the main game, but oh well.

Speaking of the Riddler, this game is packed to the brim with bonus stuff.  There are side missions, challenge maps, Riddler challenges, and a Catwoman mode.  I’ve barely scratched the surface on the bonus material, but I definitely plan on conquering them at some point, and trust me, I am not one to do that in a video game.  Once I beat the game, I’m done.  But Arkham City…I’ll be back time and time again.

The only other thing I want to touch on is the ending, but I won’t give anything away.  When I played Arkham Asylum, I was devastated by how lame the final boss battle was.  It nearly ruined a great game.  In this game, I have mixed feelings.  Basically, there are two things that happen at the end.  One of them was AWESOME, and something I totally didn’t see coming.  The other is tough to talk about, because while I think it was a good story ending, it’s not a good video game ending.  But all in all, the ending satisfied me, unlike the crap they pulled in Arkham Asylum.

If you’re a big video game fan, you should play this game.  But if you’re a Batman fan…you have to play this game.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10 (OMG, OMG)

Superhero Movies on Steroids Series: Movie #114

Batman: Year One (2011, animated)

Plot: Young billionaire Bruce Wayne (Ben McKenzie) returns to Gotham City after several years abroad.  Also arriving in Gotham City is Jim Gordon (Bryan Cranston), one of the last ethical cops in Gotham.  Both men fight corruption within the police force, Gordon as a cop, and Bruce as a fugitive in his first year as the legendary Batman.

It’s definitely got a style of it’s own unlike any previous animated Batman movie.  The very first shot of Gotham City is pretty amazing.  The animation all around is incredible.  While the film is entrancing at times with its short scenes and character voice-overs, the plot suffers, coming off as clunky and hard to follow.  So when Bruce Wayne dons the mantel of the Bat, he kind of goes after the mob, and then kind of goes after police corruption, and he kind of meets with idealistic District Attorney Harvey Dent.  It just tosses you in different directions, not really having a cohesive narrative.  I like this movie a lot for its great individual moments, but as a whole, it’s not strong.  The voice acting is pretty damn good though.  Ben McKenzie is perfect.  He sounds like a young Kevin Conroy.  I know this is Batman’s early days, but it was weird to see him struggle against random thugs and punks.  And as I mentioned before, I like the voice narrations, but it sounded like everyone was doing monologues in a play and not a movie.  Also, Selina Kyle/Catwoman was completely unnecessary.  She serves no purpose.  I do love the clear influence from Batman Begins, especially when Batman escapes from the Cops and the bats show up.  Even the music in both films is similar.  Although I completely understand that the actual comic book this movie is based on had an influence on Batman Begins, so there you go.  At the end of the day though, this is Jim Gordon’s movie.  He’s the main character.  He’s the type of protagonist you root extra hard for.  Although I’m not really a fan of the Sarah Essen relationship as I don’t think it fits Gordon’s character, but I don’t want to give too much away.  I like a lot of this movie.  There are plenty of bad ass and powerful moments, but at times it just doesn’t feel like a movie.  There’s no glue holding a plot together, which hinders it from being great.

Rating: 7 out of 10 (Good)

Category Rankings (Spoilers Throughout):

Best Performance: Bryan Cranston as Jim Gordon
-Like I said, this is Gordon’s show.  He brings the perfect demeanor to this character: a man who’s fighting a war of corruption all by himself…until Batman shows up.

Worst Performance: Eliza Dushku as Selina Kyle/Catwoman
-It’s more so that the character just shouldn’t have been there, but she is annoying and mostly played for laughs, which isn’t really how I picture Catwoman.

Best Line: “Ladies…Gentlemen.  You’ve eaten well.  You’ve eaten Gotham’s wealth.  It’s sprit.  But your feast is nearly over.  From this moment on…None of you are safe.”  -Batman to Falcone’s family and friends
-Batman doesn’t really talk much, let alone give monologues, but this was AWESOME.

Worst Line: “Amateur…fucking amateur.” –Batman
-First of all, Batman saying ‘fuck’ just doesn’t work.  But it’s weird because I don’t even know if this actually happens.  He kind of mumbles it, but I’m pretty sure he says ‘fuck.’

Best Fight:
-There wasn’t much, and even know it wasn’t really a fight, Gordon taking Flass out to the woods proves Gordon is a huge bad ass.  Gordon even offers him a bat, yet he still kicks his ass!

WTF Moment:
-Batman nearly kills himself saving a cat?  I’m not going to say any more, because I don’t want to upset cat lovers.

Best Scene:
-Batman storming Falcone’s mansion and then scaring the shit out of everyone was epic.

Worst Scene:
-When Gordon and his wife interview Wayne as a possible Batman suspect, I get Wayne has to play up the idiot playboy thing, but did we really need the Basic Instinct bathrobe moment?

Funniest Moment:
-This movie wasn’t very funny, although a corrupt Police Commissioner having a toy collection in his office is kind of funny.

Bad Ass Moment:
-I love Batman’s escape from the cops.  It’s just one long endurance test.  And even though he’s Batman, the movie does a good job of making you think, ‘How is he going to get out of this one?’  He also hid under the stairs where you could only see his white eyes…that was cool.

Superhero Movies on Steroids Series: Movie #113

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Plot: Set in World War II, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is desperate to enlist in the military, but he is deemed to small and unfit for service.  Rogers is chosen to be the first subject for the ‘super soldier serum,’ a drug that will increase his strength and agility to super levels.  He becomes the hero Captain America as he tries to stop Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), a crazed Nazi who harnesses the supernatural power of the Cosmic Cube.

This was the only superhero movie I was unable to watch right before writing the review, so I may not be as detailed as I normally am.  But it’s easy to remember this movie, because it kicked so much ass!  I left Captain America: The First Avenger with a giant smile on my face.  Not only does director Joe Johnston deliver top of the line action, but there’s a plethora of great characters.  First and foremost, Chris Evans is outstanding.  He plays maybe the most likable superhero ever to appear on screen.  He really sells you on Steve Rogers, especially in the first act when he’s small and scrawny.  He has the heart and determination of another great movie icon, Rocky Balboa.  When he actually becomes Captain America, he’s still great, but the movie just doesn’t require as much acting as the first part.  Haley Atwell plays Peggy Carter, and she’s certainly in the upper echelon of female leads for any superhero movie.  Her charisma is all over the place, and she and Evans have wonderful chemistry.  Tommy Lee Jones couldn’t have been more perfect for Col. Chester Phillips.  It seems like all his lines were gems.  Stanley Tucci plays the perfect mentor for Steve Rogers at the beginning.  It’s just a great cast all around, as well as a stellar script.  Then there’s Hugo Weaving.  Hugo Weaving as a villain is money in the bank.  No one else can play Red Skull now…perfect.  My favorite element to any superhero movie is the hero/villain relationship, and even though Captain America and Red Skull have two scenes together, they make them count with great dialogue.  They also have a lot of fun with the time period.  I loved seeing Captain America go to USO shows as a propaganda tool.  It was a really fun touch.  What also impressed me was the costume.  This could have easily been a humiliating disaster, but not only do you accept the costume, it actually looks pretty bad ass.  The score is awesome!  It’s powerful and overbearing, which is exactly what Captain America should have.  Oh yea, and the shield rules.  Every time he threw that thing, it was just glorious to watch.  Every action scene delivers, and there’s a lot of it.  And what I love about the action is that it gets better and more intense as the movie goes along.  The end battle is pretty ridiculous.  The film drags a little bit in the middle, and like I said, I just wasn’t that into Steve Roger’s character once he actually becomes Captain America.  The end is very powerful though, especially right before Captain America gets frozen, which is not a spoiler, because this is established in the first scene of the movie.  Captain America is easily the second best Marvel/Avengers tie-in movie behind Thor.

Rating: 8 out of 10 (Great)

Category Rankings (Spoilers Throughout):

Best Performance: Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America
-He’s kind of on cruise control in the second half, but he sells the entire movie in the first.  You are totally 100% on board with Steve Rogers.

Worst Performance: Sebastian Stan as ‘Bucky’ Barnes
-He was alright, but it’s an important role, and I just feel like someone better was out there.

Best Line: “Why someone weak?  Because a weak man knows the value of strength, the value of power.” –Dr. Erskine
-I love this line because it sums up both Rogers and Erskine in one sentence.  Erskine’s dialogue in general was damn good.

Worst Line: “You don’t have one of those, do you?” –Bucky asking Captain America after Johann rips off his mask to reveal his Red face.
-This is a big moment…Red Skull finally reveals himself, and I just don’t think we needed a comedic moment there.

Best Fight:
-The fight between Captain America and Red Skull at the end is amazing.  This is an intense brawl.  There’s also a great back and forth between the two characters…truly riveting.  The fight does end on an odd note though…Where the hell did Red Skull go?!  Asgard?

WTF Moment:
-It was hard to come up with one without just seeing the movie, although I have to say, the Cosmic Cube confuses me.  It just seems like it put a bunch of laser beams into some guns, and that was it.  I have to think there’s more to it.

Best Scene:
-I’m going with a very subtle one, but I love the conversation betweenRogersand Erskine the night before Rogers takes the serum.  This scene really shapes whoRogersbecomes, and it’s a scene that really makes you like Erskine, which sucks that much more when he dies.

Worst Scene:
-The first scene, because I would have preferred they didn’t show Captain America frozen.  I know its common knowledge, but I just don’t think showing it in the first scene was necessary.

Funniest Moment:
-This one’s easy.  Captain America, Peggy Carter, and Phillips are in a car chasing down Red Skull’s plane.  As Captain America is about to jump on board, he gives Peggy a kiss.  Then he looks over at Phillips who simply goes, ‘I ain’t kissing you.’  Perfect delivery by Tommy Lee Jones.

Bad Ass Moment:
-I can’t remember if it was by the shield, or if Captain America just throws him, but regardless, when he sends a HYDRA underling into a plane engine…whoa.

Superhero Movies on Steroids Series: Movie #112

Green Lantern (2011)

Plot: A race of beings known as the Guardians harnessed the green energy of will power millions of years ago. The power is given to hundreds of rings that choose different warriors throughout the universe in order to protect it. They are known as the Green Lantern Corp. When Parallax (an old enemy of the Guardians) returns and destroys the Green Lantern’s greatest warrior, Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison), his ring is given to the Corps’ first human, a reckless test pilot named Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds).

Green Lantern is one of the most disappointing superhero movies ever made.  The concept and story of Green Lantern is so bad ass, but what we get instead is an underwhelming ‘going through the motions’ story that just seems to have a lack of energy.  Now Green Lantern isn’t terrible.  It’s okay.  There’s a lot to like here.  The acting is pretty damn good all around.  Ryan Reynolds puts his heart and soul into this movie.  Reynolds brings his usual Reynolds charm to Hal Jordan, but when he has to be a serious superhero, he delivers.  I also like Blake Lively as Carol Ferris, whose character is so underwritten, yet she’s able to elevate the material significantly.  She and Reynolds have great chemistry.  I like their quiet moments when they are just at a bar talking.  The romantic angle usually fails in superhero movies, but here, it’s actually one of the highlights.  One of the best moments in the film that I won’t spoil is when Hal as Green Lantern flies outside Carol’s office and they call out one of the suspensions of disbeliefs we always accept in superhero movies.  I also enjoyed the other Lanterns, such as Mark Strong as Sinestro, and the voice acting of Geoffrey Rush (Tomar-Re) and Michael Clarke Duncan (Kilowog).  Tomar-Re was especially great, and I love when he explains the way the ring works.  But the film needed more of this!  The Green Lantern training and Hal’s interactions with the other Lanterns is clearly the most intriguing element to the film, yet this lasts all of maybe ten minutes.  That’s bull shit.  The one performance I didn’t like was Peter Sarsgaard as Hector Hammond.  I get he’s supposed to be weird and creepy, but it was over done to the point of camp.  They went too far.  And he’s completely underdeveloped as a villain.  This leads to the editing, which is just terrible.  It’s clunky and awkward.  The worst is when Hal is about to say the Green Lantern oath at the same time Hector is getting infected by the alien body.  They keep transitioning back and forth between these two important scenes, and ultimately, the emotion of each moment is lost because of it.  The villains in general just sucked.  Parallax (the embodiment of fear) is nothing more than a puff of smoke.  Come on!  A floating cloud?!  That’s your big villain!  Parallax is born because one of the blue Guardian guys is infused with the yellow light of fear.  Parallax should have looked more like the Guardian, in other words, more like a living being rather than a cloud of smoke.  This just doesn’t work as a central antagonist.  And he didn’t even look cool.  The special effects in general are poor.  The space scenes especially looked horrible.  In the opening moments, they flash a still photograph of Abin Sur in space…Wow.  And Oa (the planet home of the Green Lantern Corp) is so uninspired.  It looks like a random mess.  And it’s not helped by the fact that this came out in the wake of Thor, in which Asgard looked absolutely gorgeous.  The best special effects in the movie are the Green Lantern constructs Hal makes with his ring…those are awesome.  I also liked the look of Hal’s Green Lantern costume, especially with the green energy flowing inside his chest symbol.  That was pretty nice.  But honestly, the absolute worst part about this film is the score.  It hurts the movie significantly.  It sounds like it belongs in some C-level action flick they release in February.  I’m surprised, because James Newton Howard did the score.  I don’t know what the hell happened here, but it’s atrocious.  At the end of the day, I blame the director (Martin Campbell).  If the actors are giving good performances and elevating the material written on the page, then why does the movie feel so lack luster?  That’s on the director.  Like I said, this isn’t bad, and I would give Green Lantern another chance in a sequel, but definitely with a different director.  I was really pumped for this movie when it came out, but when the credits rolled on, the first word that came to mind was ‘meh.’

Rating: 6 out of 10 (‘meh’)

Category Rankings (Spoilers Throughout):

Best Performance: Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern
-He practically carries the whole movie.  He’s funny, serious, and commands the screen.  If he wasn’t in this, I think this movie could have been a lot worse.

Worst Performance: Peter Sarsgaard as Hector Hammond
-I get the character is supposed to be odd, but it was just too strange.  There are these little moments where he slightly dips his tongue into a drink, and it just feels like they are over doing it with the weird factor.  He’s got a few good moments, but this just didn’t work for me.

Best Line: “Have you concluded admiring yourself?” –Tomar-Re after Hal struts in his new suit
-Hal strutting around in his Green Lantern suit was bad, but they totally made up for it with this line.  It’s delivered perfectly by Geoffrey Rush.  I wish we could have seen more of this character.

Worst Line: “You’re a superhero.” –Tom to Hal after he reveals the suit
-I just hate self-referential lines like this.  Does he really have to refer to him as an actual superhero in a superhero movie?

Best Fight:
-When Green Lantern fights Parallax on the streets ofCoastCity, it’s pretty good.  There’s just a lot of cool constructs.  When they get into space though, it’s really lame.  When Green Lantern flies around the asteroids, it’s just cringe-worthy.  There was one cool shot when he levitates in front of the sun though.

WTF Moment:
-Hal goes off to fight Parallax by himself, and no one goes to help him!  What a bunch of dicks!  Especially the all righteous Sinestro, who just days earlier gave Hal shit about being afraid.  But he’s just like, ‘Yea, good luck dude.’  What an ass bag.

Best Scene:
-When Hal reveals himself as Green Lantern on Earth.  I really liked how he saves the helicopter.  The race track construct looked pretty slick, and the determination and concentration on Reynold’s face was great to see.

Worst Scene:
-I don’t know what the hell they were thinking here, but the flashback scene of Hal’s dad dying was embarrassing.  Its horrible acting all around, but the worst is when Hal’s dad gives him thumbs up right as his plane blows up.  A thumbs up…ugh.

Funniest Moment:
-It’s this:

Bob: Watch your back.
Hal: That’s impossible, Bob.

Haha.  That’s only a line Ryan Reynolds could deliver with such perfection.

Bad Ass Moment:
-Green Lantern flicks a truck into Parallax and then creates a gatling gun to blow it up…awesome.

Superhero Movies on Steroids Series: Movie #111

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights (2011, animated)

Plot: An ancient enemy of the Guardians threatens the Green Lantern Corp.  As they prepare for battle, Hal Jordan (Nathan Fillion) tells stories of past and current Green Lanterns to his new apprentice (Elisabeth Moss) in order to inspire her.

The first thing that comes to mind when watching this movie is there’s a lot of green.  I enjoyed this film, however, if you aren’t a Green Lantern fan, or at least not somewhat familiar with the mythology, you will be totally lost.  Even I consider myself a knowledgeable Green Lantern fan, but I still thought things were explained a little half assed.  I wish the Guardians themselves, the creators of this green power, were explained better.  How the hell do they randomly have this power?  It’s never really delved into.  In the vain of Batman: Gotham Knight, we are told several tales of past and present Green Lanterns.  This works because the stories all have great variety.  We get a history lesson of the first Green Lantern, we get to see Kilowog as a rookie, there’s family drama, and plenty more.  Some stories are certainly better than others.  My favorite is probably the tale of Laira, the best Green Lantern, second only to Sinestro.  She returns to her home world after becoming a Green Lantern and is forced to battle her family who’s oppressed the planet.  It’s a very powerful back story.  The images themselves are pretty stellar as well.  In the first story, the original Green Lanterns fly around this huge ship trying to penetrate its defenses with the rings.  The sound effects and look is top notch.  One of the best Green Lantern constructs though has to be when Deegan, Kilowog’s drill instructor, creates this huge drill and drives it into a battle tank.  Now that was awesome.  I was disappointed with the Sinestro/Abin Sur story though towards the end.  They are supposed to be two of the biggest characters in the Green Lantern universe, and if you know anything about Green Lantern, it’s that Sinestro eventually turns bad.  That’s pretty much all this story was…Sinestro will be a bad guy at some point.  Yawn.  The voice acting is very strong all around.  I liked Kilowog, even though his voice wasn’t nearly as deep as it should be.  That character should just always have a deep voice, come on!  The Guardians weren’t bad.  For once, they didn’t seem like total dicks.  Avra (the first Green Lantern), Deegan, and Bolphunga (a powerful, but arrogant warrior) were also highlights.  Sinestro’s voice was disappointing though.  His character in general didn’t do it for me at all.  If you’re a Green Lantern fan, this is for you.  If you aren’t, I still think you’ll be entertained.

Rating: 7 out of 10 (Good) 

Category Rankings (Spoilers Throughout):

Best Performance: Nathan Fillion as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern
-Even though he doesn’t get his own back story, this voice just sounded right from start to finish: Inspiring, yet also kind towards his protégé.

Worst Performance: Jason Isaacs as Sinestro
-I like Jason Isaacs a lot, but his voice just didn’t work here for some reason.  Sinestro sounded like he was the member of a Country Club.

Best Line: “I came here hoping that Ree’yu and Rubyn were responsible for Jayd’s atrocities, hoping you were still the man who once tucked his daughter in at night.  But you are no longer that man.  And I am a Green Lantern.” –Laira to her father
-It was the climax to my favorite of the Green Lantern tales, and a great character moment for Laira.

Worst Line: “Things are starting to get…hot out there.” –Sinestro looking out at the oncoming sun
-Not only is it a bad pun, it’s a bad pun from Sinestro.  That’s just really disappointing.

Best Fight:
-It’s without a doubt Laira battling her father at the end.  Not only is it a good fight, but the planet they are on has this technology where memories are stored in glass eggs.  As the two go at it, the eggs crack, and those memories play out like holograms as they battle to the death, and most of them are from when Laira was a child.  Now that’s some powerful shit.

WTF Moment:
-There’s a lot of important shit going on as the entire Green Lantern Corp faces extinction, and Hal thinks this is an appropriate time to regale his student with stories?

Best Scene:
-The end battle in which all the Green Lanterns battle Krona, otherwise known as Parallax, is pretty awesome.  They get to push an entire planet (Oa) into him, so that was cool.  And this is what Parallax should have looked like in the live action movie!  But more on that next time…

Worst Scene:
-One of the stories involves Bolphunga, this battle hungry warrior, who is tricked into going to a desolate planet to find a so called powerful Green Lantern who turns out never really existed.  It’s a clever idea, and the character of Bolphunga is funny, but it goes on way too long.  It’s just him running around a forest being angry.

Funniest Moment:
-When Deegan starts chanting the Green Lantern oath as he fights off a bunch of aliens, he gets through ‘In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night,’ and then he just goes ‘you fricking bastards.’

Bad Ass Moments:
-When the story of Avra (the first Green Lantern) is being told, we are treated to the first ever construct.  It’s a magnificent sword, and the still image just looks fantastic and powerful.  It’s a great moment.

Superhero Movies on Steroids Series: Movie #110

X-Men: First Class (2011)

Plot: In the early 1960’s, mutants are still hidden from the general public. When the Hellfire Club, a pack of mutants who try and force war between the United States and Russia, CIA Agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) recruits Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), a student of genetics and a powerful mutant, to combat these dangerous foes. He is joined by Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender), a vengeful mutant who seeks revenge on Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), the Hellfire Club’s leader. Xavier and Lehnsherr form a close friendship as they locate and train other mutants.

I loved the Tim Burton Batman films.  But when I saw Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins and the Dark Knight, revisiting those Burton classics just seems like a waste of time.  As much as I love the X-Men trilogy that started with 2000’s X-Men, I got the same feeling watching X-Men: First Class as I did when I saw Batman Begins.  Look, I don’t know if this is a prequel, a reboot, a pre-boot, or if it’s going to even get a sequel, but what I do know is that this film is an outstanding achievement in the superhero genre.  Director Matthew Vaughn literally had about a year to make this movie, which in film world, is barely any time, especially with a film of this magnitude.  I don’t know how the hell he did it.

But let’s get into the actual movie.  It’s infused with multiple great characters, and the acting is top notch.  Kevin Bacon plays a great villain in Sebastian Shaw, a ridiculously powerful mutant.  And the reveal of his power is a great moment.  He’s so damn evil and twisted in the first scene as a Nazi, but then the rest of the movie he’s more traditional comic book villain, but it’s still a great performance.  Rose Byrne as Moira McTaggert, the human who deals with all this mutant non-sense, is great, and she especially shines in her opening scene in Vegas.  Nicholas Hoult represents one of my favorite characters in X-Men lore (Hank McCoy/Beast) very well, and I like the rift he has with Havok throughout the movie.  Jennifer Lawrence is becoming one of the better actresses out there, and she is essential as Raven/Mystique.  They give her three important relationships, and you are interested in all of them because of her performance.  But the two guys who steal the show are of course James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr respectively.  This relationship is the heart of the film, and it fires on all cylinders.  Every time they are in a scene together, it’s always riveting.  When they are separated though, you are still equally intrigued.  It was cool to see Charles Xavier chug beer and hit on girls, and Fassbender was the epitome of bad assery when he hunts down Nazis at the beginning of the film.  This guy would destroy the emo Daniel Craig in a James Bond off.  Great movies have great scenes, and there are countless of them in X-Men: First Class.  The Hellfire Club storming the CIA base, and Xavier & Erik infiltrating a Russian stronghold are scenes in which mutant powers are used to a degree that trumps all previous X-Men movies, especially teleporting, holy shit.  The director also has a lot of fun with this movie.  Xavier and Erik rounding up mutants is slick, and felt like an Ocean’s 11 movie.  This film also has one of the best training montages of all time.  Vaughn adds a lot of nice touches and a great style.  Hank becoming Beast was also an exceptionally well executed scene.  The last half hour though really elevates this film to ‘OMG’ levels.  It’s fun, intense, dramatic, sad, just a whirl wind of emotions.  There’s also a lot of things you know are going to happen, but the way they are executed, it still catches you off guard.  The score is also fantastic.  There are about five hundred other things I would love to say about this movie, but I think that’s it for now.  Go see it. 

P.S.  Best…Cameo…Ever.

Rating: 9 out of 10 (OMG)

Category Rankings (Spoilers Throughout):

Best Performance: James McAvoy as Charles Xavier
-This was one of the toughest decisions I’ve had to make in this category.  Michael Fassbender is fantastic, but there was just something about McAvoy’s performance that really hit for me.  His charisma is off the charts, but he also has the kindness you would expect from Professor X.  McAvoy’s performance really engulfs you into this character.

Worst Performance: Alex Gonzalez as Riptide
-It’s not really his fault.  He doesn’t even say anything.  He just stands there and creates tornados.  Whatever. 

Best Line: “I’ve been at the mercy of men just following orders.  Never again.” –Erik
-This line is the transition into Magneto.

Worst Line: “We’re still on the Government’s side.  We’re still G-men.  Just without the G.” –Xavier
                             “No.  You’re your own team now.  It’s better. You’re X-Men.” –Moira
-Yea, we could have done without this.

Best Fight:
-Although it’s more of a confrontation than a fight, Erik and Shaw at the end inside the submarine is pretty intense.  The entire movie had been building up to this point, and it delivers.  There’s great dialogue all around, and bringing back the Nazi coin at the end was the icing on the cake.

WTF Moment:
-It’s the continuity issues.  Is this a prequel?  Is it a straight up reboot?  In my opinion, there’s more evidence pointing towards a reboot.  Yea, I know: Wolverine shows up, and it’s Hugh Jackman.  But the biggest ‘WTF’ here is that Xavier is walking in a flashback in X-Men: Last Stand, but according to First Class, he should be paralyzed.  And in the original X-Men, Charles refers to cerebro as being built by him and Erik, but in First Class, Hank builds it.  Look…I could go on all day.  Bottom-line: I hope there’s a sequel to First Class just so this question can actually be answered.

Best Scene:
-Xavier teaching Erik to increase his power level through serenity, and not rage, is quite moving.  Erik is able to move a satellite after Xavier’s tutelage.  This is the reason why their bond is so great.  And if this is a prequel, it really makes their conflict in the original trilogy that much more heartbreaking.

Worst Scene:
-There’s a really poor montage when Xavier reads Emma Frost’s mind, and we get the images of the world map with missiles launching.  It’s cartoonish, and reminded me of the opening Itchy and Scratchy cartoon from the Simpsons movie.

Funniest Moment:
-‘Go fuck yourself.’ –Wolverine

Bad Ass Moment:
-Erik lifting the submarine at the end is just flat out awesome.  The music is also spectacular.