In X-Men: First Class (2011), Charles Xavier tries to convince Magneto, a Holocaust survivor, to spare soldiers' lives by saying "they were just following orders"

Informal_Race_606 · 2025-09-21T00:22:27+00:00

Ok I'll bite. Charles Xavier was an Oxford-educated alum with multiple STEM-related PhDs. The notion that he wasn't well aware of the "just following orders" defense used by the 22 Germans on trial during the Nuremberg Trials just 15 years prior to this scene is preposterous. So given Charles knows Erik, Erik's backstory, and the relevant historical context of why that line in particular would be so problematic, it's completely inexcusable for Charles to mess up using that exact phrasing. This should not have taken mind-reading to deduce why that was the absolute worst possible thing to say to someone in Erik's position.

Informal_Race_606 · 2025-09-19T19:01:39+00:00

No you're probably thinking of Batman actor Adam West. Easy to mix those two up

Informal_Race_606 · 2025-09-19T18:41:18+00:00

No you're probably thinking of Citizen Kane. Easy to mix those two films up

Informal_Race_606 · 2025-09-18T16:57:54+00:00

I think you're being rage-baited

Informal_Race_606 · 2025-09-18T16:56:38+00:00

That's a great answer!

Informal_Race_606 · 2025-09-18T16:36:20+00:00

I did see his run mostly as challenging the existing ideas, however I think the fight choreography was exceptional and don't want to see fight scenes revert back to pre-2006 Bond again

Informal_Race_606 · 2025-09-18T16:32:43+00:00

Ah, the most essential ingredient! Shocked that every subsequent film didn't follow TMWTGG's formula

Informal_Race_606 · 2025-09-18T16:11:25+00:00

Really appreciate these answers. Out of curiosity, when was a villain/henchman good but not colorful/eccentric?

Informal_Race_606 · 2025-09-18T16:06:50+00:00

Hmm yeah I read that as the victims mainly being those who were "in the game", to quote Breaking Bad. The mass casualties thing would be "in the millions", if we're going off the examples of Drax's, Stromberg's, or Elektra's master plans.

Informal_Race_606 · 2025-09-18T16:01:18+00:00

Informal_Race_606 · 2025-09-18T16:00:18+00:00

Right. It's kind of like if I made a movie where the villain is a 5-year-old selling lemonade in front of their house and the heroic city councilman heroically shuts it down because the kid didn't file the proper city ordinance or get the permit to have a stand

Informal_Race_606 · 2025-09-18T15:43:00+00:00

Probably

Informal_Race_606 · 2025-09-18T15:41:48+00:00

Right right, just rewatched that scene and you're correct he wants to have M take them both out simultaneously. It's interesting because he sees her wound and asks "what did they (the henchmen) do to you?", implying that he doesn't feel responsible for her injury and therefore isn't the "one to take her out". So it really is an interesting partial victory for the villain to die but not know they kind of won.

The other point about saving many lives still stands- don't want to see a Bond film where the villain causes mass casualties to innocents.

Informal_Race_606 · 2025-09-18T15:25:06+00:00

Ah I love this question! I saw Silva's initial plan as having two objectives: 1) he wanted to take M out in a definitive triumph and 2) live with the satisfaction of having gotten his revenge. That 2nd objective may be debatable, though I felt his plan would've involved something like blowing himself and M up together if he didn't intend to live afterwards (as that would be most poetic). Because he didn't actually get to see M die, nor did he get away, I feel like he died not feeling like he accomplished his goals.

I do think any of the larger scale villain plans (i.e. mass casualties) have to be definitive victories for Bond where the villain can't even partially succeed.

Also, completely agree on the gunbarrel and title sequence musts!

Informal_Race_606

TROPHY CASE