Good movie, shame about the continuity

Rating: 6/10 (29 January 2012)

Well, I succeeded in my goal of watching this film in a cinema in Hong Kong, and though the subtitles were annoying, and the air conditioning made this film really uncomfortable (airconditioning in Hong Kong is intense, as much as the heat is outside the cinema), I still enjoyed it, to an extent. It is generally a shame when outside factors make a movie less enjoyable than normal, however, including the fact that attempting to find a cinema in Kowloon (especially when one is not familiar with the city, and this can happen in Australia as well) poses a challenge in itself, I am glad that I did manage to see it in Hong Kong.
First Class continues the latest X-men theme of developing the main character's backstories however there were some inconsistencies in this film that made it disappointing. First Class is set in the 1960's, around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, whereas Wolverine is set in the 1980's, around the time of the 3-mile island nuclear disaster. However, in First Class we learn how Professor X become a paraplegic, yet in Wolverine we see him at the end of the film standing without a problem. We solved this problem by suggesting that in Wolverine Professor X was astrally projecting, which is why we see him without his wheelchair.
The second inconsistency is when in first class Magneto and Professor X approach Wolverine who tells them, in no uncertain terms, to go away. Wolverine is sitting in a bar drinking, however this does not happen in Wolverine until after he loses his memory. This is not as much of a problem because Wolverine could have had a drinking problem for quite a while, though Wolverine suggests that during this time he was in the company of Sabertooth.
Some suggest that the producers did not particularly like Wolverine so they have respectfully ignored it, however I quite liked Wolverine (though found the first movie a little dull, and the third movie incredibly lacking). Still, I enjoyed this film and it does make a good addition to the X-men universe, and in this film we learn of the origins of Professor X, Magneto, and Mystique, which now leaves Storm and Phoenix, though I do not believe any are planned.
This film deals with the founding of the school that Professor X sets up for the mutants to escape persecution and deals with how the relationship between Professor X and Magneto broke down. They begin as friends but as the film progresses, and as their attitudes to the role of mutants in the world separates, so does their friendship. The antagonists in the film are the Hellfire Club, who hold the same views as Magneto, but as we quickly learn, Magneto has already been alienated from the club due to his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp.
The film deals with the concept of those who are different, and how we should respond. Professor X believes that those who are more powerful should assist from behind the scenes while Magneto believes they should rule. While such mutants do not exist in the real world, we have seen in societies such as communist Russia where the intelligencia were systematically killed for fear of their superiority to others, but we also have some that do consider themselves superior to others and seek to dominate. However we live in a world without such mutants, and power is generally defined by money. Some use their money for good, others use it to rule. Unfortunately, since the beginning of time, those who use money (or physical strength, or popularity) have tended to come out on top.