Comic fans around the world, for a long time thought, that a movie like this one would be impossible. And their concern is quite understandable. Marvel, for the past 5 or 6 years, slowly built up momentum for this movie. They did it with small little scenes in all the superhero movies. Most famous one probably the one after the credits in the first Iron Man movie. Where we get to see a Nick Fury character for the first time. Since then we had similar scenes in Hulk 2, Thor and Captain America.

Especially in Thor and Captain America we finally really knew where it all is heading. The Avengers movie. All of the movies were quite successful and managed it to appeal to a wide audience. Some more… some less. But altogether, quite a lot. So the inevitable, almost impossible had to happen! All of these heroes in oooone big show! I, honestly, had no big hopes. And I didn't care too much too. I'm not a big comics guy. Even though I enjoy the movies they made. 'Doubt' was written all over that Avengers movie.

The name 'Joss Whedon' spawned hope though. Some say he's one of the most overrated guys ever. Others think he is a god amongst men. He's the guy that brought us Buffy – The Vampire Slayer, Angel and one beautiful season of Firefly. Somehow he knows how to create characters that work great together. His way of writing is able to create a very good chemistry between characters. The one point that spoke against Whedon was the fact that he never directed a really really big movie. Until now. Everyone had a good right to be sceptical. So ultimately Joss Whedon was a perfect and very risky choice.

And well, what's to say? Joss Whedon literally must be a god amongst men. He managed to get that impossible project right. And he did it all, ALL, right. The Avengers is certainly the best comic movie out there. Right next to The Dark Knight. One thing The Avengers do different though, is the humour. That's the one component that really makes The Avengers shine. These well dosed moments of refreshing humour. Sometimes very unexpected humour. Perfectly timed. Mixed with action that was quite amazing too. Well… all around great experience.

The actual story of the movie requires a little backstory from the Captain America and Thor movies. But it's not entirely crucial to know these things. All characters get introduced properly. So that even newbies understand who is who. Ultimately it's about a bad guy, Thors half-brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who wants to conquer Earth. But he needs a mystical energy source that was discovered in the Captain America movie. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and his buddies from the 'Shield' initiative try to fight that. But they alone surely aren't enough. That's why they try to recruit guys like Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans) and Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). Of course all these characters start out with problems. Especially when Thor (Chris Hemsworth) joins. That's nice to watch because it also reveals all the little character moments. All of them have their strenghts and weaknesses. And the movie does it right to bring it all into the spotlight. It also gets it right, letting all the characters shine when they work together. Of course they understand, they have to work together, to beat the bad guys.

Loki's motivation is of course revenge on Thor (for happenings in the Thor movie). Loki wants to attack Earth because Thor gave an oath to protect the planet on all costs. So the best way to hurt Thor would be to attack the beloved thing he tries to protect. So Loki formes an alliance with some evil alien race (that is not further introduced in the movie… possible hint to a second Avengers movie), to lead their army through a gate to Earth. And Loki manages it to open that gate. It's nice to watch how Loki is following/unfolding his plan. And I admit… I like Loki. It's a great character and Tom Hiddleston surely gets it perfectly right. Now all the superheroes forged an alliance to cross Loki's plan.

The movie does a remarkable job, giving all these strong characters all the demanded screen time, all of them really deserve. And because of the fact all the characters are so distinctively different, it's very easy to set them apart from another. Each one of them has a certain skill and look. Easy to recognize. Which leads to the action sequences. These are done so flawlessly fluid that all the Transformers movies could take a lesson from that. No shaky cam, no lightspeed cutting. All scenes are well choreographed and easy to read. A pleasure. Which leads me to the 3d. The 3d in the movie was really good. A seldom case where I enjoyed the effect. Even though I must admit, that it only works when you look at the screen areas the movie demands you to look at. So it's hard to study elements of the pictures, other than the intended focussed spots. Nonetheless… the 3d worked fine. They used the right cameras to film it.

The VFX, once again, pretty much flawless. It's always amazing to see how well they can integrate the live action footage into the cg. Only the Hulk still looks a little too CG. Nonethelss, fun to watch. Again it's amazing how seamlessly they are now able to blend it all together. Especially in the final big fight in the city.

Pretty much everyone expected a catastrophe of a movie. I had no big expectations too. But they made it right. They did the impossible. Joss Whedon certainly plays a big role in that. But it's surely not him alone. I guess everything fell into the right hands and places.

Oh and I still like the Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) character a lot. This short scene of her with Tony Stark is so fun to watch. Great chemistry between the two. But also in general… the chemistry between all the actors in this movie works so great. Another remarkable achievement that lead to an almost perfect movie.

So yeah… great movie… perfect entertainment. Go check it out! The first big one 2012.

For me a 8.5/10

Marvel's The Avengers on IMDb

The whole time, while watching this movie, I had this question in my mind. Why does this movie function so much better than the first FOUR! movies? It's actually pretty astonishing. None of the previous films managed to get it as right as X-Men First Class did. X-Men (2000) gets close though. By getting it 'right' I mean my personal feeling of watching a good, entertaining movie.

'First Class' shows us how all the X-Men thing (according to the story) started in the 1960s. While Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) is still studying to become professor, Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) is seeking revenge for the happenings in a concentration camp during World War 2. Especially on a person that didn't really do good things to him, when he was in the camp. It later turns out, that the person Erik is looking for, is a Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon). Who is a mutant as well and planning to overthrow human society, to make place for mutants… to rule the world!

We see Eriks efforts to find Shaw and he eventually meets up with Charles. Charles, in the mean time, got hired by the CIA to find more mutants. Their plans are to create a special mutant department, to make use of their special abilities. And that's how Charles and Erik find each other. They find out what Shaw is planning and, of course, try to cross his plans.

We pretty early see that Charles and Erik follow different directions and motivations. McAvoy and Fassbender deliver great performances with their characters. Maybe it's these two actors who make the first three X-Men movies a little more plausible now. I never really got into the Magneto motivation until now. Yeah, I know what he's trying to do. But without all the backstory we now got with 'First Class', all previous movies felt empty in certain areas. At least to me. On the other hand all previous four movies were pretty much 'Wolverine' movies, if you ask me. So maybe it's because of the fact that in 'First Class' we see a much broader picture… why this movie works so much better than the rest?

Since the story of the movie is set in the 1960s, it's of course important to get the mood and tone right. And they did it fine. Even if the X-Men were always super fancy hi-tec people… we now see that they started out from scratch too. There are also some musical choices, in certain scenes that deliver some nice vibes, from the 1960s times. Especially in that one scene where these newly recruited mutant kids party around a little. I liked the scene where the kids showed off their powers. That was fun to watch. And then there was this one short scene, where Charles and Erik come into a bar, and it's Wolverine sitting there, telling them to fu** off, before they even said a word. That was a nice laugh, I admit it!

Sebastian Shaw's plan takes shape and he gets everything set into position. And that includes russians placing nuclear warheads on Cuba. What leads the whole X-Men story to a fascinating history twist. So Charles, Erik and the gang are eventually out to stop Shaw and the 'missle crisis' that's about to happen.

What I missed a little is more information about Sebastian Shaw. Maybe I was deaf and really missed it. But… who is this guy? So he worked for the germans. Is he a german? Did they hire him to, I don't know, follow their idiotic plans to create a super race? Shaw mentioned something about his power to absorb energy and we see it in action numerous times. Does this power keep him young as well? How old is he? It seems like he's just 'there' to be a bad guy. Kevin Bacon's performance was cool though. Would be nice in general to see some more work from him again. Then there is January Jones as Emma Frost. I just saw her in Unknown Identity and found her way of acting pretty cold. And I had the same impression here. As if she didn't care much about her character. At least she gives some nice views for the men, when she's in the picture.

The visual effects left a mixed impression. There are nicely executed scenes. When Shaw is entering that CIA building to get the mutant kids for example. He blows up quite some stuff there. Then there is the scene where Magneto is guiding missles back to their ships. Now when the missles exploded, it looked great. But the missles themselfes looked far far far too clean. That stole a lot of credibility. And that mixed impression went throughout the whole movie.

It's a good film with some nice acting and action. It manages to leave an impression… and both McAvoy and Fassbender play a big role in that. Their motivations and actions are understandable, and we now know where it's really coming from. Especially with Magneto who, in the end, becomes very much that what he tried to kill in Sebastian Shaw. A guy with a narrow vision, only looking out for his own kind. That was missing in the other films from my point of view. So this movie gives a little more meaning to all the other X-Men films.

Check it out! It's a fun one!

7.7/10

X-Men First Class on IMDb

"While I respect the Judeo-Christian ethic, as well as the Eastern philosophies and of course the teachings of Mohammed, I find that organised religion has corrupted those believes to justify countless atrocities throughout history. If I were to attend church, I'd be a hypocrite."

Hyde - That 70s show

"I never know what I want but I know when I'm low that I... I need to be in the town where they know what I'm like and don't mind..."

(Elbow - Station Approach)

"...Just because you know there are people with far worse problems than yours... doesn't mean you don't deserve a piece of that cake called 'luck' too."

(A Friend - 07.2007)