Rambling
okay, i'm sticking this under a Cut because if you haven't seen X-men: Origins yet, or if you reeeeally liked it, you may not want to read it xD;;
i will not deny that the movie was exceptionally butt-kicking. it was exciting, it was vivid, and they obviously put a crapload of money into the thing. (and hey! Liev Schreiber didn't suck! he was good, even!) and the opening sequence was SO COOL I CAN HARDLY STAND IT. OH MAN. I COULD WATCH THAT THING FOR LIKE FOREVER.
.........
BUT OTHER THAN THAT I AM SO DISAPPOINTED ToT
with movies like X-men, Iron Man, Watchmen, Superman and all the other Man's, a certain suspension of disbelief is required. there are certain key things which must be, and are, accepted by the audience as Temporary Fact. Example: Adamantium (EXISTS) is indestructable and can cut, literally, anything. FACT. Wolverine has super heal-y powers and he heals perfectly every time. FACT. And the most important one: These mutations can happen and they give you specific super powers. We are cool with this.
But but but but---
the character development was so weak, everyone (EXCEPT WOLVERINE OF COURSE) was super 2-dimensional. WHY was Zero so good with guns?? what was his mutation that allowed him to be super fast and have super jumpy powers?? and seriously, Wade. SWORDS CAN'T DO THAT. i don't care WHAT his mutation was (which, ha, they didn't tell us), when they make an ordinary object all super-duper, i get reeeeally bothered xD;;
and really. REALLY. WHY. do all the mutants have to have super jumping around powers??? where does that power come from?? HOW does it work?? and how do they climb walls?? they have no physical way to be capable of doing that, but they all the time do that. and in this movie is happens soooooo muuuuch D8 yes, Gambit can be super jumpy. he's ALWAYS been able to do that, so i'm cool with it. but, literally, EVERYONE ELSE??? come ON.
(Gambit WAS pretty butt-kickin', though. i thoroughly enjoyed him. i'd like to get more from him, actually. i love how they handled his power, it was SO FREAKIN COOL.)
continuity issues.... CRAPPY computer graphics i mean WOW. Wolverine's claws looked pasted on in photoshop most of the time, which was sooooo disappointing. and the scene with Professor X, when the kids are running toward the helicopter?? WOW bad editing.
AND THE SUPER STRENGTH. SO MUCH UNEXPLAINED SUPER STRENGTH.
*cough*
ANYWAY. i won't go on pointing out every little thing that bugged me, because that's not the point.
(Hugh Jackman can still act the pants off of anyone ever, though.)
actually, i have to admit, i think i can chalk alot of my disappointment up to two things:
1) i broke my Movie Rule, which is to go in with No Expectations. expectations can ruin a movie, so i try really hard not to expect anything when i sit down in that seat. but when it comes to X-men, i can't seem to help having expectations because,
2) i love X-men. i didn't really do the comic book thing when i was a kid (well, i didn't really *read* when i was a kid...), but i DID read X-men, and i DID watch the cartoon, and i DID have the deck of playing cards, and i DID have the lunch box. when i was little, i wanted to dye my hair red and bleach a white streak into it. Wolverine and Gambit were practically my heroes when i was young, so i have a very special and very strong love for X-men. so when i see the movies, i want them, very very desperately, to be good.
2a) the thing i've always loved about X-men is the same thing that i love about Watchmen*. there's supposed to be a certain amount of groundedness and reality in the story, despite the suspension of disbelief. in the very first issue of the X-men comic, they kill one of the heroes to tell you right off the bat that these people are not Invincible. they are, in face, Vincible. they have limitations, they can only do so much because (a majoy point made through X1, X2, & X3) ultimately, they're human.
so i guess what i'm trying to get at is that i'm usually cool with just accepting the Movie!verse and letting there be little flaws, because on the whole the movie is great (like Watchmen. plenty of little things to point out, but overall, it was amazing. seen it 5 times now), but in the case of X-men: Origins, they spend SO much time on these big huge action scenes and special effects and all but abandoned character development**, and in the end the action scenes and special effects aren't even good enough to make it all okay.
i DO want to see it again, though, once it's out on dvd. maybe seeing it a second time will banish all the disappointment (I HOPE. i want so desperately for it to be good ToT) and i can dig it a bit more. or just watch it for the super sexy Hugh Jackman and the super butt-kickin' Gambit (XD)
......
besides. Hugh Jackman can act the pants off of anyone ever.
*actually, it was this exact same sorta stuff that bothered me with the Watchmen movie. the fight scenes got to me a bit because of their super-human-ness. because for me, a big point to the characters is their utter, inescapable human-ness.
**which is what the first 3 X-men movies spend so much time on and is why they are great, despite their own flaws.
i will not deny that the movie was exceptionally butt-kicking. it was exciting, it was vivid, and they obviously put a crapload of money into the thing. (and hey! Liev Schreiber didn't suck! he was good, even!) and the opening sequence was SO COOL I CAN HARDLY STAND IT. OH MAN. I COULD WATCH THAT THING FOR LIKE FOREVER.
.........
BUT OTHER THAN THAT I AM SO DISAPPOINTED ToT
with movies like X-men, Iron Man, Watchmen, Superman and all the other Man's, a certain suspension of disbelief is required. there are certain key things which must be, and are, accepted by the audience as Temporary Fact. Example: Adamantium (EXISTS) is indestructable and can cut, literally, anything. FACT. Wolverine has super heal-y powers and he heals perfectly every time. FACT. And the most important one: These mutations can happen and they give you specific super powers. We are cool with this.
But but but but---
the character development was so weak, everyone (EXCEPT WOLVERINE OF COURSE) was super 2-dimensional. WHY was Zero so good with guns?? what was his mutation that allowed him to be super fast and have super jumpy powers?? and seriously, Wade. SWORDS CAN'T DO THAT. i don't care WHAT his mutation was (which, ha, they didn't tell us), when they make an ordinary object all super-duper, i get reeeeally bothered xD;;
and really. REALLY. WHY. do all the mutants have to have super jumping around powers??? where does that power come from?? HOW does it work?? and how do they climb walls?? they have no physical way to be capable of doing that, but they all the time do that. and in this movie is happens soooooo muuuuch D8 yes, Gambit can be super jumpy. he's ALWAYS been able to do that, so i'm cool with it. but, literally, EVERYONE ELSE??? come ON.
(Gambit WAS pretty butt-kickin', though. i thoroughly enjoyed him. i'd like to get more from him, actually. i love how they handled his power, it was SO FREAKIN COOL.)
continuity issues.... CRAPPY computer graphics i mean WOW. Wolverine's claws looked pasted on in photoshop most of the time, which was sooooo disappointing. and the scene with Professor X, when the kids are running toward the helicopter?? WOW bad editing.
AND THE SUPER STRENGTH. SO MUCH UNEXPLAINED SUPER STRENGTH.
*cough*
ANYWAY. i won't go on pointing out every little thing that bugged me, because that's not the point.
(Hugh Jackman can still act the pants off of anyone ever, though.)
actually, i have to admit, i think i can chalk alot of my disappointment up to two things:
1) i broke my Movie Rule, which is to go in with No Expectations. expectations can ruin a movie, so i try really hard not to expect anything when i sit down in that seat. but when it comes to X-men, i can't seem to help having expectations because,
2) i love X-men. i didn't really do the comic book thing when i was a kid (well, i didn't really *read* when i was a kid...), but i DID read X-men, and i DID watch the cartoon, and i DID have the deck of playing cards, and i DID have the lunch box. when i was little, i wanted to dye my hair red and bleach a white streak into it. Wolverine and Gambit were practically my heroes when i was young, so i have a very special and very strong love for X-men. so when i see the movies, i want them, very very desperately, to be good.
2a) the thing i've always loved about X-men is the same thing that i love about Watchmen*. there's supposed to be a certain amount of groundedness and reality in the story, despite the suspension of disbelief. in the very first issue of the X-men comic, they kill one of the heroes to tell you right off the bat that these people are not Invincible. they are, in face, Vincible. they have limitations, they can only do so much because (a majoy point made through X1, X2, & X3) ultimately, they're human.
so i guess what i'm trying to get at is that i'm usually cool with just accepting the Movie!verse and letting there be little flaws, because on the whole the movie is great (like Watchmen. plenty of little things to point out, but overall, it was amazing. seen it 5 times now), but in the case of X-men: Origins, they spend SO much time on these big huge action scenes and special effects and all but abandoned character development**, and in the end the action scenes and special effects aren't even good enough to make it all okay.
i DO want to see it again, though, once it's out on dvd. maybe seeing it a second time will banish all the disappointment (I HOPE. i want so desperately for it to be good ToT) and i can dig it a bit more. or just watch it for the super sexy Hugh Jackman and the super butt-kickin' Gambit (XD)
......
besides. Hugh Jackman can act the pants off of anyone ever.
*actually, it was this exact same sorta stuff that bothered me with the Watchmen movie. the fight scenes got to me a bit because of their super-human-ness. because for me, a big point to the characters is their utter, inescapable human-ness.
**which is what the first 3 X-men movies spend so much time on and is why they are great, despite their own flaws.