castalie | (no subject)

Today I bid farewell to the 25-34 age group! While we were eating the viennoiseries I'd brought at work (as is the tradition in our office, the birthday girl/boy usually brings pains au chocolat, croissants and other yummy things in the morning), my co-workers and I agreed that everyone should have the day off for their birthdays - as it is, I'd taken the afternoon off so I'm writing this from the comfort of my couch. Hi :) I started baking for tonight's dinner but I'm now taking a break as we'll finish when we're at my parents'.

In the meantime, I'm listening to the latest episode of The Thrilling Adventure Hour (the four versions of the episode ♥) and I'll read some Erik/Charles fic as I've been in an Erik/Charles mood ever since last Thursday, when I went and saw XMDOFP. Admittedly, this is a mood that strikes me quite often. Still.

Perfect segue for the next part of this entry, as in my XMDOFP review! Because turns out I have things to say about it. Though by "things", I guess I mean that I have squee to express. Because, yes, I loved it; there were many great moments, it was fast-paced but the action never overshadowed the characters, which is one of the many reasons why I loved XMFC in the first place. The cast was as brilliant as ever, with some special mention for James McAvoy. I've been a proud member of #TeamMcAvoy for a long time now but damn, I fell in love with him all over again ♥ So this review will mostly be me raving about the things I loved, though I'll also include some comments on things I wish had been done differently, to even things out ;)

Before addressing my "issues" (I use the term loosely), let's start with the things that I loved. And there's plenty of them! First. James McAvoy. Charles is my favourite character of the bunch, I'll be straight with you, so obviously I'm a little biased but! But I thought McAvoy was absolutely wonderful when playing that lost, angry, broken version of Charles. Such a contrast to XMFC!Charles.

I loved that they turned him into this shadow version of himself as a result of what happened in the previous film; I've never been a fan of stoic characters dealing stoically with events that are life-changing and distressful. (Besides, I'm of the opinion that McAvoy should cry at least once in every of his films as the man cries beautifully)

I loved even more the reasons behind his depression: basically the loss of Raven and Erik. Sure, he lost many, many other things as well - that was a lot of losses he went through, poor chap - but at the core of it was losing Raven and Erik and how beautiful is that? And it's not even subtext! I mean, that scene on the plane when Charles lets it all out and screams his rage at having been abandoned by Erik... Logan's look when he's watching them argue and scream and is the witness of the pain and anger that is tearing them apart, then the chess moment... Omg, it was all I could do not to squee out loud in the theater :p

The Plane Scene. Such a small scene but it did pack a punch. Talk about fodder for Fandom, too ♥

Erik and Charles' relationship is a thing of beauty... even when it hurts. And boy do the younger versions of Erik and Charles know how make it hurt! It's a good thing we had the older versions to sooth the pain a little (at least in the original timeline). You could always cling to the knowledge that they'd found their way to each other at one point. Erik taking Charles' hand before dying and admitting to regretting the wasted years between them... be still my heart. I suppose you could write a more gorgeous scene between two (male) characters but you'd have to work quite hard to achieve it!

Still on the subject of characters, Logan was great! On his own and with Charles - absolutely loved his scenes with Charles. They had lovely, lovely chemistry.

Speaking of, I adored the scene when young!Charles faces old!Charles... such a great moment! I'm hoping we'll get plenty of fic where he's either capable of communicating with older!Erik as well or fic that have older!Erik communicating with his younger self somehow (I guess with the help of either Charles...)

I was - pleasantly - surprised to realise the film made so much room for Raven and her story. She kicked so much ass! And managed to be stronger than her anger and fear in the end, you go, Raven!

Peter Dinklage was awesome. Hope we'll get to see him in many, many more films! Made me want to start watching GoT even more (so far I've only read the books)

Now, let's move onto the things I wish had been done differently (wishful fangirl's thinking, here, btw). I'm not going to pretend otherwise, I wish we'd had more scenes with Erik and Charles. I suppose it is my own fault but I was certain that the film would revolve around them being together. The scenes we got with the two of them were gold(en) but I wish we'd gotten more - it wasn't enough for me, it only made me crave more.

Fastforward to the ending and the new timeline. What happened to these new versions of Erik and Charles? I was sitting at the edge of my seat, waiting almost desperately to get proof that Erik (and Raven) was still in the picture.

I choose to believe that their friendship (or love, same difference) is so strong that they always get back together, no matter what happens, no matter the timeline but some proof, or just some hint would have been much welcome. I wasn't even expecting anything big, you know? We basically saw ALL THE XMEN characters (yes, exaggerating but you get my meaning) except Raven and Erik, which was done on purpose and all but, yeah, I wish we'd gotten a little glimpse.

Oh, and a last word about Erik. I know he's ruthless and dedicated to his cause and I suppose it was interesting to see him ready to sacrifice one of his own for the "greater good" - I thought it gave a deeper meaning to his actions that he was ready to sacrifice one of his own kind as well as those humans he despise so much - but there was a point when I was like "Really, Erik, really??" He does have a very personal way of (trying to though mostly failing at) dealing with things.

So that's my two cents. Keeping in mind that we still have XM: Apocalypse to look forward to so I know we just have to be patient and, with some luck, the things that I wish had been different will be addressed by then. And even if they're not, well, I'll just turn to fanfic ;)

I need to go and look for the reviews I've seen on my flist the past few days now. Don't hesitate to point to yours if you feel like it!

PS: So I need to renew my DW paid account but, look, I still have an XMFC icon to use! Thank you, DW, for not kidnapping ALL of them ;)