X3 and movie trailers...
May. 30th, 2006 07:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seawaspA decent film, but not up to the last one's standards.
Ian McKellen chews up the scenery wonderfully in this one. The major plotline revolving around him, Xavier and his school, and the mutant politics is well done, and we do get to see what Magneto can REALLY do. Up until now, he's just been playing.
The Phoenix storyline, unfortunately, was botched.
They really should have left this to be its own movie -- either done Phoenix, or done the Mutant Problem storyline, but not both. And at the points where they could at least have done it some justice, they fumbled the ball. I'm sorry, but it's not Phoenix without the firebird. It's not Phoenix without "HEAR ME, X-MEN! NO LONGER AM I THE WOMAN YOU KNEW! I AM FIRE, AND LIFE INCARNATE!"
They really needed to do that as two or three separate movies: one for the Return of Jean Grey as Phoenix (which COULD have worked with this one, ending with an all out power slugfest between Jean and Magneto), then the Hellfire Club/Dark Phoenix.
There were a lot of good points in the movie, however. Kitty Pryde was DEAD on, as was Colossus (and yes, we even get the Fastball Special!). Kitty beats Juggernaut... with her brain, as well she should. We get to finally see The Iceman for real. Excellent combat scenes. Wish Storm had been allowed to go all-out, though.
This one is worth watching in the theater for certain scenes that just aren't going to be as impressive on the small screen, but if you're not really into the X-men I'd wait for the DVD.
The new trailer for Superman Returns looks dark but promising. And they've done Ghost Rider... and Johnny Blaze looks pretty darn cool.
Ian McKellen chews up the scenery wonderfully in this one. The major plotline revolving around him, Xavier and his school, and the mutant politics is well done, and we do get to see what Magneto can REALLY do. Up until now, he's just been playing.
The Phoenix storyline, unfortunately, was botched.
They really should have left this to be its own movie -- either done Phoenix, or done the Mutant Problem storyline, but not both. And at the points where they could at least have done it some justice, they fumbled the ball. I'm sorry, but it's not Phoenix without the firebird. It's not Phoenix without "HEAR ME, X-MEN! NO LONGER AM I THE WOMAN YOU KNEW! I AM FIRE, AND LIFE INCARNATE!"
They really needed to do that as two or three separate movies: one for the Return of Jean Grey as Phoenix (which COULD have worked with this one, ending with an all out power slugfest between Jean and Magneto), then the Hellfire Club/Dark Phoenix.
There were a lot of good points in the movie, however. Kitty Pryde was DEAD on, as was Colossus (and yes, we even get the Fastball Special!). Kitty beats Juggernaut... with her brain, as well she should. We get to finally see The Iceman for real. Excellent combat scenes. Wish Storm had been allowed to go all-out, though.
This one is worth watching in the theater for certain scenes that just aren't going to be as impressive on the small screen, but if you're not really into the X-men I'd wait for the DVD.
The new trailer for Superman Returns looks dark but promising. And they've done Ghost Rider... and Johnny Blaze looks pretty darn cool.
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-31 02:36 am (UTC)They let it slip that there's a separate Wolverine movie planned, though.
-- Alex S.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-31 04:59 am (UTC)Yeah...
Date: 2006-05-31 03:16 pm (UTC)I'm guessing the other actors didn't want to keep doing X-movies for the next five years...
no subject
Date: 2006-05-31 06:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-31 10:08 pm (UTC)It occurred to me that there's a certain irony to the Rogue-Bobby-Kitty triangle... since in the first movie, they essentially gave Kitty's personality to Rogue.
Anyway, overall I liked it more than I expected to, based on the reviews. My review of it is here, in case anyone is interested.
This is one of the few movies I can remember where I wish they'd made it longer -- normally I'm the guy grousing about excess padding and the virtues of making the story tighter; but in this case, I think another fifteen or twenty minutes could have given them some breathing room to open up some of the subplots or extra characters.
Oh, certainly...
Date: 2006-05-31 10:43 pm (UTC)Re: Oh, certainly...
Date: 2006-05-31 10:54 pm (UTC)I think I'm less upset than you are about how they skimped the Dark Phoenix storyline, because I was never all that enamored of it in the original version.
So while I agree that they could easily have built an entire movie around either of the Dark Phoenix or Magneto/Goth-Mutants-a'Plenty stories, I'm not terribly miffed that they chose to combine them, at the expense of stripping Dark Phoenix down to its bare bones.
Still, I'll admit the seeing the firebird would'a been cool.
Re: Oh, certainly...
Date: 2006-05-31 11:40 pm (UTC)The point of the REAL Phoenix/Dark Phoenix sequence was the classic question of power corrupting, and how small actions can end up having immense consequences. Phoenix wasn't a separate personality, SHE WAS JEAN GREY. And when Mastermind screwed around with her, she was STILL Jean Grey -- just a Jean who was sent over the edge to the Power Corrupts end of the spectrum (with a side order of addiction -- the use of the Phoenix power was FUN and felt good, etc.).
Xavier did not screw around with Jean's mind prior to Phoenix, etc., etc., etc.
They basically eliminated all the point of Phoenix -- even with respect to the movie.
Post credits scene?
Date: 2006-06-05 06:37 pm (UTC)muaaahhaahahahahahaahahaha.
R.
Re: Post credits scene?
Date: 2006-06-05 10:19 pm (UTC)