X-Men First Class Drops Inception-Like Scenes
By Krystal Clark
Inception is coming off of its third consecutive week as number one at the box office. This could be because a) it’s a good movie, b) the competition this summer is extremely weak, or c) both. Either way, you can’t deny the amazing mind bending effects or the crazy storyline that goes with them. Since the majority of the general population has seen the movie, X-Men First Class director Matthew Vaughn got worried that audiences might view scenes from his upcoming film as cheap knock-offs of Christopher Nolan’s work.
Vaughn recently spoke to The LA Times about some footage that had to be cut out of First Class for fear of Inception comparisons.
I saw Inception, which I loved…But my heart sank when I saw that a few of the ideas we had were up [on the screen]. So it’s either leave it in and look as if you’re copying or change things. We completely ripped out about 12 pages of the script and the storyboards.
So the worst thing in the world that could happen to First Class is a comparison to one of the best film’s of 2010? There are plenty of movies that have been released over the past 10-15 years that center on the subconscious and body swapping (Avatar, The Matrix trilogy) yet they make the premise and the technology work for them.
But according to Vaughn, here’s what had to go:
The jettisoned sequence was a sort of dream-space combat, according to Vaughn; that reminded me of “psi war” scenes like the one here on the right from “The Uncanny X-Men” No. 117 way back in 1979, but the filmmaker said for the film the fight involving Professor X (James McAvoy) and some other mutants was to going to be presented with spinning rooms and other physics-bending imagery — visions that he felt drifted too close to signature moments in Inception.
I can understand him wanting to stand out and not look like a copycat but these days almost everything has been done. There are plenty of homages present in the zero gravity sequence in Inception that doesn’t take away from it being a great film. Vaughn might be overdoing it here. Hopefully, his attention to detail will help and not hinder the film.
Do you think Vaughn should have kept the mind-bending scenes in First Class? Would the similarities have mattered to you?
Monday, August 2, 2010 7:47PM
I agree that at this point in film most things will have a precedent. I'd be surprised if a movie revolving around Professor X didn't have some psychic world mind-bending scenes. I'm pretty sure there was upside-down/revolving rooms in the comics as well, so as long as it fits in context I don't think he should have been so self-conscious.
Monday, August 2, 2010 10:17PM
Ridiculous. Have you seen the opening montage sequence for X-Men Origins: Wolverine? If you didn't know (And really not sure how you could possibly not know…), that sequence wasn't exactly the most original sequence ever filmed…cough Watchmen….cough Watchmen opening montage sequence.
And I'm pretty that sequence was longer than 12 minutes.
And not even to go into the fact that in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Logan was "adopted" by Ma and Pa Kent…
…Wait I just did…sorry.
But the point is that Marvel has not once ever hesitated from ripping off other characters, storylines, or concepts in their comic books. And Marvel movies have shown even LESS restraint.
If Vaughn is pulling 12 minutes of script out of his Marvel movie, then rest assured that those twelve pages were so damned close to Inception that even Marvel realized that the slowest Marvel movie fan would catch Vaughn's blatant plagiarism, once they had gotten around to watching Inception.
(And hardcore Marvel fans are known for being pretty damned slow.)
Again Marvel Studios, about as blatant of ripping off things from other sources as they can get. Inception is a huge success, and then Vaughn "suddenly" decides he needs to pull the 12 pages.
Inception just was much more popular than Vaughn thought it would be. And if it hadn't been he might have gotten away with if…
…If it wasn't for those damn kids and that dog.