As of late is seems as if there has been an endless string of castin news regarding X-Men: First Class. I, for one, am already getting that sick pit in my stomach from flashbacks about an over-crowded X3, but have tried to stay cautiously optimistic. For reasons I’m not sure about, Bryan Singer felt compelled to call up AICN and give some important plot points to this up coming film – it was after reading this article I got an even worse feeling about this film and a feeling they should probably have called the movie X-Men Origins: Professor Xavier (or, Kill-Tacular-Tron’s movie title suggestion, Boner.)
Here are some of the major plot points (spoilers):
The film takes place in the 1960’s. John F Kennedy is the President of the United States. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X are on TV doing marches.
We will see how Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr met . . .they’re going to be in their late twenties. Xavier . . . will not be in his wheelchair to begin the film – but we will see how he wound up in a wheelchair. . .We’re going to see Professor X when he still had hair.
The costumes will be far more comic bookish than we’ve seen before – and while Scott and Jean aren’t here – Cyclops’ brother Alex Summers aka Havoc will be, as played by Lucas Till.
With January Jones and Kevin Bacon playing Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw – we will be getting the HELLFIRE CLUB.
. . . the film is going to have a much more international feel than the prior X-MEN movies.
We will get our first look at what some of the costumes will look like in a month or less.
It seems to me that continuity (both comic book AND film) is being thrown out the window in an effort to salvage a struggling franchise. This is probably the most random mix of characters I have heard of for a film adaptation of a comic book and it has me concerned. Honestly, I am trying my hardest not to sound like an angry fan boy, because frankly, I’m not angry. My expectations for another X-Movie from FOX are so low, these details are about on par. I’m all about the time period, I can see the Hellfire Club working as the main antagonist, but the cast is causing me to be very skeptical. I could be proven wrong and this new take and fresh beginning could really get the X-Franchise rolling again, just because a film doesn’t align with my preconceived notions of what a “First Class” film would be about, doesn’t mean it’s going to be terrible. But, until I see the finished product on screen and can make a final decision I am going to remain cautiously optimistic – eally heavy on the caution.