Movie Monday: Superhero Summer Begins!
June 6th, 2011
The mutants are back!
It’s finally summer, and in the movie business, that means rolling out the much talked about blockbusters and works that hope to pack the air conditioned theaters for months on end. Each year, movie directors try to one-up each other with their creations, all of which seem to relate to each other. This summer, the biggest draws will most likely be superhero films, with “X-Men: First Class” being the latest release. This movie tells the story of everyone’s favorite mutants who acquired their superpowers around the time of the Cold War. Call it a prequel or a different spin on the first X-Men movie, but it was well received by critics, and topped the box office with $56 million.
However, this was the second-lowest opening weekend haul for an X-Men movie, and nearly half the total of “The Last Stand”. By those parameters, one might call this film a disappointment, but it would be unfair to compare this film to its predecessors. It served it purpose to get X-Men back into the superhero limelight after the success of “The Last Stand”, and provided followers of this mutant band of superheroes a clue as to how they became mutants in the first place, and for what purpose. It didn’t go on the same publicity campaign that “Thor”, another successful member of the superhero class of 2011, did, but it’s still a good movie that is worth watching.
After X-Men, there will be a whole plate of superhero flicks to keep any DC or Marvel fan happy, like “Green Lantern” and “Captain America” slated for the upcoming months. There’s also that flick about a teenage wizard battling an evil guy that wants to take over the world that might generate a crowd.
