X-Men 3: The Last Stand...

[fajrdrako]

Last night I saw X-Men 3: The Last Stand.

I'm not sure I'd have liked it if I weren't an X-Men fan. Being an X-Men fan, there was a lot that made me groan. But... watching it was a pleasure. I usually don't like movies with that much action - I think the great strength of the X-Men is the characterization - but my imagination could fill in a lot of gaps. Hmm, maybe I'll compare the good and the bad. Warning: spoilers ensue.

Things I loved:
1. Ian McKellen as Magneto. I liked him better than ever, perhaps. He isn't the perfect Magneto, who would have to be drawn by Jim Lee, with leonine silver hair, and written by Chris Claremont as a dark hero. He is the McKellen Magneto, with a twinkle in his eye when he looks at Charles Xavier, and a tilt to his hat, and the ability to walk over or through anything and anyone that gets in his way. Among other things, this movie featured Magneto as observer as well as antagonist.

2. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Damn, that man can act. He is one of the most beautiful men around and when I see him as Wolverine I believe he is ugly and short because I know Wolverine is ugly and short. And tough, and smart, and graceful, and fast. And he loves Jean Grey, which is perfect.

3. Kitty Pryde's powers. I had mixed feelings about Ellen Page - her looks were fine and the special effects with her powers were magnificent, but I wasn't happy with her expression when her face was at rest. There was nothing wrong with it, but it didn't have the look I associate with Kitty Pryde. I'm not talking about her face so much as the way the face reveals personality.

4. Two bits of Magneto's dialogue: (1) when he reveals his tattoo from Auschwitz and says "never again"; and (2) when Pyro mutters "I would have killed Xavier for you" and he turns on him, saying, "Charles Xavier did more for mutants than you can imagine." (This is not exact dialogue.)

5. Some characters were particularly apropos: Olivia Williams as Moira McTaggart seemed perfect. Kelsey Grammar was surprisingly good at the Beast, though maybe not quite funny enough, and too solemn in the political bits. Still, once he got fighting - that was our Hank!

6. Dark Phoenix was not at all like the comic had her, not even the rationale. And yet... the movie captured Jean's power and the danger she offered beautifully, and I loved the irony of Magneto trying to use her in his cause - a gnat trying to "use" a solar system. And Wolverine killing her - such a dramatic scene, and heart-wrenching. Oh yes.

7. Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut. He was a hoot.

8. The Danger Room sequence at the beginning, where the X-Men were fighting a Sentinel. As far as I'm concerned, the whole story could have been about that!

Things I didn't much like:
1. Rogue. Oh what a feeble version of one of the great female heroes of comics. She makes me glad there's no Gambit.

2. Storm: Ditto. Pretty, very pretty, but with no strength in her at all - until she uses her powers. Flying and shooting lightning bolts, she was amazing. Every time she opened her mouth, I flinched. I particularly liked the scene in the beginning, after the Danger Room sequence, where she was scolding Wolverine for handling the situation. That was... downright stupid.

3. The death (or apparent death) of Charles Xavier. I liked the special effect. I don't mind that it happened. But there were various things about it that I didn't like.... Perhaps if they had hinted (as in the comic) that he loved Jean? Perhaps if there'd been some sense that he had heirs, that he had made plans for the event of his death, if it had some consequence?

4. Ben Foster as Angel, or Warren Worthington III. Beautiful as a boy, but a disappointment as an adult. Not a glamorous rich boy, but a wimpy rich boy.

5. We didn't see enough of Mystique, or Rebecca Romijn either.

6. Many of my favourite X-Men characters still haven't appeared. Well, that's okay, they are probably right in picking some of the most central characters and not straying far afield. (Someone asked me where Nightcrawler was throughout the movie. I suggested he was in a church praying for everyone.) But even when I try to be philosophical about this: it was frustrating to see Xavier teaching a class of students whose powers seemed unfamiliar and whose identities were unclear.



All in all, it reinforced my belief that movies based on good comics don't reflect the best of the comic, and often reflect the worst - but there's so much good there, it doesn't matter. There was too much action for my taste, but it never got boring or repetitious. The special effects were maybe overdone, but to good effect - I particularly loved the Phoenix effect with Jean.

So... how long till the Wolverine movie now, I wonder? IMDB says 2007: dare we hope it will really come out so soon?

Comments

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

From what I heard, most of the people that didn't like it were X-men fans, and ones that did weren't. *shrug*

I liked it and I'm not really a fan. I watched the animation and that's about it, lol. That said, I don't think it blew me away either. It was... well, it was an action flick and more exciting for me than Da Vinci Code (which I nearly fell asleep to the week before).

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, I can think of a lot of reasons for an X-Men fan not to like the movie - it doesn't do justice to the characters or the storylines, for example, and there's no resolution regarding what happens to Cyclops.

But action movies often bore me, and it didn't, and there was enough to keep my mind busy all the time. I thought Leech was beautiful! I wondered what Magneto was going to do when he got his hands on him - kill him? There's no way Magneto and his Brotherhood could ever come near Leech.

I haven't watched much of the animation, but I've seen enough to know that I like how they did Gambit (with Chris Potter's voice) and Magneto - to name, not exactly randomly, two of my favourite X-Men characters. Their Rogue was pretty cute, too, and Nightcrawler. I don't remember their version of Storm.

I'm planning to see The Da Vinci Code but I'm not expecting much.

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

I love Gambit. I would be much more into the movies if there was Gambit.

Who was leech again?

I'm planning to see The Da Vinci Code but I'm not expecting much

Bored me to tears, and I read and liked the book as a fun read. I didn't think the movie was fun at all.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes. Gambit is the best.

Leech was the bald boy whose power is to negate the power of any mutant who is around him. The one they were rescuing from Worthington labs - the source of the 'cure'.

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

Yes, I remember now. Was he like that in the comic?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

He was not as pretty, though he was cute. He was not a prisoner of Worthington Labs. He was a regular character in Generation X, and he was quite loveable.

In the comic, he looked like this (http://omega.rlk7.com/headshots/leech.jpg).