X3: last stand my sweet patootie!
xposted to comicbooklovers, comicbookmovies, geekwars, marvel_society, marvel_universe, moviebuffs, 
Multi·Genre·Fandom,
Mutant·Mayhem, ubergeeks, & uncannyxmen
7:42 PM 6/1/06 · It is sometimes annoying to deal with this whole tell but not tell too much spoiler stuff. I can talk old time comic stuff without having to cloak it in de evil LJ·cut but the more recent stuff is viewed as a no no. In regards to this particular movie...there are a few things that aren't exactly spoilers that I can freely go on about.
For example, a lot of people keep saying it's very important to watch all the way through to the end of the credits. I'm a bit iffy on that point...it's significant but it won't kill you to not see it. Although, I used to work at a theater and know that most films have more in and at the end of the credits so it's still good advice.
Did you know there's 3 whole more minutes of story at the of the credits to Constantine? They were pretty significant. Put a whole new spin on the rest of the movie...for those of you that didn't catch them anyway.
Another thing I've been hearing, both before and after I saw the film, was that they tried to do too much. Too many characters, too many branching storylines, and way too much of pretty damned near everything. This one I completely and totally disagree with! If anything the amount of stuff in here made it a lot more like the comics the characters originate from. Think about it: the original story where Phoenix goes into overdrive and damn near kills everything around her she was fighting as part of one team (X·Men) that was fighting another team (Shi'ar Imperial Guard) with agents of other organizations (most notably a Kree soldier and a Skrull warrior) when she suddenly betrays everything and winds up fighting off all of them to fulfill her nihilistic destiny. Sound familiar? If not, you just haven't seen the film yet but it balances out very well considering the circumstances.
Basically, most films can't pull off a story such as this because there are too many fronts to handle. Most movies only give you two protagonists, be they people or organizations, and if there are anymore than that it's largely something not terribly specific. I do have some gripes with this film, which we'll get to in a bit, but this is certainly not one of them.
Oh, one last little thing. I am very happy to say this is the first film, of the 3, that didn't make Wolverine do something he was completely incapable of. The last two there were two distinct things he shouldn't have been able to do that he did do...
...okay, typing that made my head hurt.
Some of my basic gripes concern the characters and that's largely based on the interpretations of them as how they were presented here. I wasn't as bothered as some that they weren't all named because a good number of them were killed before the movie ended anyway so who really cares? There's a kid that's been at Xavier's Academy we keep seeing levitating paper airplanes in front of him and is it really kiling anyone that his name isn't given? He's been in two films already...at least!
There are a number of story elements going on here but that's not unusual for this franchise, though this one may've gone a little over the top than having more than just two tracks. On the one hand there is a development of a mutant suppressant that's presented as a cure and how this is causing divides in the mutant population. Also really the first time we've ever been presented with an actual mutant population which was both interesting and a bit odd; public meetings in the woods and in abandoned buildings definitely gives the impression that these are supposed to be the Morlocks. At the same time Magneto is preparing for another massive offensive, just needing something to rally people around and this new medicine is the perfect spark for that flame. Details about Jean Grey's past are revealed that weren't even hinted at before, was cute showing Charles and Magnus as younger men...though I'm not sure if that was so much makeup as CGI. Wolverine's borderline acceptance with the X·Men hits a number of turbulent points from the ressurection of Jean, discovering what the Professor had done to her as a child, realizing her for the monster she's become, and finally accepting his role as a member of the team. See a whole range of things with Storm along similar lines, having been filled with so much anger in the previous films and that coming loose in preparation for new role as headmistress of the school.
Lots of big and little bits but it was wonderous watching them dance about each other. Not a perfect mesh but it worked out okay I think.
I'm still on the fence about Colossus, he looked too damned much like the freaking T·1000 fron Terminator 2; should've stuck with the look from the 2nd film. Did like the character develoment though and there's an undercurrent to his tone of voice that sounds Russian but I'd liked to have heard more an accent. Was really hoping to see him duke it out with Juggernaut but oh well.
Charles was just begging to be killed by being such a bastard in this one. Largely presented as a nice and enlightened man in the previous two, this sudden shift when Jean wigs out and lets loose the Phoenix was just a bit much. That bit where he's actually insulting Wolverine for venturing an opinion, a good one too, was just too raw for my tastes. Although, it did kinda remind me of the famed issue of Uncanny X·Men that starts with Kitty facing the 4th wall, that's "us" if you don't know the term, and yelling "Professor X is a jerk!"
Even if I hadn't heard that the bit at the end of the credits was his ressurection in a new body I'm pretty sure I would've guessed it. Kinda curious how that plays out. May get to find out too; amidst rumblings of a Wolverine series of films and possibly one for Magneto...there's already a buzz making the rounds about X4.
Not too sure Cyclops is dead. Even little bitty unimportant characters we see getting shredded by Phoenix but not a even a glimpse of him getting torn apart by her. For someone so significant there should've been something to see but there wasn't. That's really suspicious!
End of the film shows Rogue had taken the suppressant but a glimpse of Magneto, was was given it against his will, shows that his perception of metal is stirring again and a tiny amount of his power. Not too sure if this means the cure is more of a treatment that you need to keep taking doses of or it wears off or if this is more along the lines of how Storm was stripped of her powers by Forge's neutralizer years ago. Even detached from her ability to access her powers, the surrounding weather still was affected by her emotions.
Really liked how Magneto, deprived of his powers, sees Phoenix fully unleashed and had a sudden surge of self·doubt about the course of his life. Hope to see more of that...after all, the original character had a similar moment once and joined the X·Men.
Seeing Iceman turn full on ice gave me a chill...no joke! The sudden change in Pyro was the opposite effect and while it was impressive it was kinda confusing. Sure, being part of the Brotherhood would make him embrace his powers even more but he wasn't such a, excuse me, coldhearted killer before. The scene he cuts loose in the 2nd film he does a lot of damage but he really seemed to avoid actually hitting anyone with his flame.
Mystique was beautiful as always and her "betrayal" was perfect on a lot of levels. The fact Magneto abandoned her when she was injected with the suppressant and lost her abilities was very raw, don't think the actual character would've abandoned one of his own so easily without attempting to reverse it. Then again, there was evident pain in his eyes. Magneto was all over the map in this, arguing with Charles while later defending the man's memory when Pyro spoke badly of him. Little too close to home.
Given what I knew of the storyline I was more than bit disappointed to find out the Sentinel in the film was just from a Danger Room scenario. Though, I've gotta admit, actually seeing that there was a Danger Room more than made up for it.
Might've been nice if the film had been a little longer, though I would've missed my train, to flush out a bit more detail. Was originally supposed to see this with
Brand, special screening at a particular theater; nice to have friends. May still take him up on that because there's a bad splice in what I think was a signficant point near the end on the reel I saw.
Multi·Genre·Fandom,
Mutant·Mayhem, ubergeeks, & uncannyxmen
7:42 PM 6/1/06 · It is sometimes annoying to deal with this whole tell but not tell too much spoiler stuff. I can talk old time comic stuff without having to cloak it in de evil LJ·cut but the more recent stuff is viewed as a no no. In regards to this particular movie...there are a few things that aren't exactly spoilers that I can freely go on about.
For example, a lot of people keep saying it's very important to watch all the way through to the end of the credits. I'm a bit iffy on that point...it's significant but it won't kill you to not see it. Although, I used to work at a theater and know that most films have more in and at the end of the credits so it's still good advice.
Did you know there's 3 whole more minutes of story at the of the credits to Constantine? They were pretty significant. Put a whole new spin on the rest of the movie...for those of you that didn't catch them anyway.
Another thing I've been hearing, both before and after I saw the film, was that they tried to do too much. Too many characters, too many branching storylines, and way too much of pretty damned near everything. This one I completely and totally disagree with! If anything the amount of stuff in here made it a lot more like the comics the characters originate from. Think about it: the original story where Phoenix goes into overdrive and damn near kills everything around her she was fighting as part of one team (X·Men) that was fighting another team (Shi'ar Imperial Guard) with agents of other organizations (most notably a Kree soldier and a Skrull warrior) when she suddenly betrays everything and winds up fighting off all of them to fulfill her nihilistic destiny. Sound familiar? If not, you just haven't seen the film yet but it balances out very well considering the circumstances.
Basically, most films can't pull off a story such as this because there are too many fronts to handle. Most movies only give you two protagonists, be they people or organizations, and if there are anymore than that it's largely something not terribly specific. I do have some gripes with this film, which we'll get to in a bit, but this is certainly not one of them.
Oh, one last little thing. I am very happy to say this is the first film, of the 3, that didn't make Wolverine do something he was completely incapable of. The last two there were two distinct things he shouldn't have been able to do that he did do...
...okay, typing that made my head hurt.
Some of my basic gripes concern the characters and that's largely based on the interpretations of them as how they were presented here. I wasn't as bothered as some that they weren't all named because a good number of them were killed before the movie ended anyway so who really cares? There's a kid that's been at Xavier's Academy we keep seeing levitating paper airplanes in front of him and is it really kiling anyone that his name isn't given? He's been in two films already...at least!
There are a number of story elements going on here but that's not unusual for this franchise, though this one may've gone a little over the top than having more than just two tracks. On the one hand there is a development of a mutant suppressant that's presented as a cure and how this is causing divides in the mutant population. Also really the first time we've ever been presented with an actual mutant population which was both interesting and a bit odd; public meetings in the woods and in abandoned buildings definitely gives the impression that these are supposed to be the Morlocks. At the same time Magneto is preparing for another massive offensive, just needing something to rally people around and this new medicine is the perfect spark for that flame. Details about Jean Grey's past are revealed that weren't even hinted at before, was cute showing Charles and Magnus as younger men...though I'm not sure if that was so much makeup as CGI. Wolverine's borderline acceptance with the X·Men hits a number of turbulent points from the ressurection of Jean, discovering what the Professor had done to her as a child, realizing her for the monster she's become, and finally accepting his role as a member of the team. See a whole range of things with Storm along similar lines, having been filled with so much anger in the previous films and that coming loose in preparation for new role as headmistress of the school.
Lots of big and little bits but it was wonderous watching them dance about each other. Not a perfect mesh but it worked out okay I think.
- Psylocke: originally of British descent she switched bodies with another mutant who's powers worked on a virtually identical frequency that happened to be Japanese. You don't know any of this from anything in the movie but it also doesn't display her mutant abilities either. Those that know a lot about this character may be aware she gained quasi·mystical abilities while fighting with Doctor Strange against a demonic ninja cult known as the Crimson Dawn; the ability to merge in and out of shadows. Oddly, this non mutant ability is shown in the film...kinda.
- Callisto: can't tell what her specific descent is in this film but it's a far cry from what she's actually is. Additionally, she didn't have any of the powers she was supposed to. She's presented as a speedster which isn't so much of a thing but it's the other that's really bugging me. In the comics one of her closest allies/friends was a mutant named Caliban that can not only sense the range and powers of other mutants but track them down as well. For whatever reasons the people that made this film decided to hybridize these two characters. Her actual powers are supposed to be damned near identical to Wolverine's; heightened senses, healing factor, enhanced reflexes and endurance.
- Arclight: I have little to say on this one other than she's actually pretty much dead on. Powers are right and all that, not much to say excepting that she didn't talk much and the character is one hell of a motormouth...though nowhere near as bad as Deadpool. She's also supposed to be in the slaughtering other mutants line of work which makes her an odd choice for the role she plays here.
- Since I don't have a name to work with here, probably is one but I'll be damned if I know it, there's an Asian mutant who has quills like a porcupine. I've heard it said that many think he's supposed to be someone named Kid Omega who I've never even heard of. Kinda doubt that's right when there's a much more convenient character to work with, actually named Quill. He was a member of some knock·off team that I can't remember the name of and had really ugly yellow and black costumes with metallic helmets. They fought the man that took the job of being Captain America away from Steve Rogers for a stretch and later became known as the USAgent.
- Leech: the source of the supposed cure in the film, a derivative of his mutation that Worthington Enterprises is producing and forms one of the central plots, was interesting. His isolation was a nice touch and in keeping with the character, given the original was a horribly mutated member of the Morlocks and was isolated because of his appearance. He's actually quite pleasant which was kinda cool. However, he should not have been able to affect Juggernaut as he did.
This earns another paragraph; Juggy is more or less presented as the power he is but they don't specifically say he's a mutant...it's assumed. The general consensus on Leech is his power only affects mutants but this isn't entirely true. Way back when, in an issue of Marvel Team·Up, Spidey teamed with Kitty Pryde to fight the Morlocks and Leech neutralized Spidey's powers for a time when he was in range; not the webshooters though which is how the webslinger got away. Juggy's powers are mystical in nature but even separated from the source of his power years of exposure have allowed him to keep that strength so technically running into that wall shouldn't have stopped him. - Juggernaut: really didn't think I was going to like this guy but I did, my only real gripe is that accent seeing as Marko is Brooklyn born and raised...or thereabouts. Not as massive as he's supposed to be, though they had the height about right, he's a beautiful engine of destruction and they did capture his unstoppableness (is that a word?) right on. Though I'm not sure if he's actually capapble of jumping like that or running that fast; he's supposed to have all of the agility of a sherman tank.
- Phoenix: given that they didn't include the whole alien stuff and all the other factors that surrounded the original nature of the Phoenix Force, this was nicely handled. The barriers that were erected in her conciousness by Xavier is actually true to the comics but this dual personality thing is all the film. Now, I'll grant the Phoenix did have a personality all its own in the books but that was because it was a cosmic entity and not some aberrant mental state. Especially loved how she looked when the power was cutting loose...the eyes were a nice touch. That her powers are not space born isn't a new concept for this film. First presented, so far as I know, in the renewed Age of Apocalyse series a few months back.
- Beast: didn't think I was going to like him much and all the pics I saw of him before the film didn't help that much. However, there's a significant difference to knowing how he's going to look and actually seeing him in motion. The moment he flipped off the ceiling and started talking I was hooked. There were still a few little things that bugged though. His first exposure to Leech shouldn't have gone down as it did, seeing his hand change normal as he entered the young mutant's sphere of influence. His physical mutation, so far as the blue fur and beastial countenance, is a result of an experiment he conducted years ago that made him look like the codename he'd taken on; at most Leech's power should've have taken away his dexterity and agility. You actually see Hank (different actor) in the 2nd film briefly. Then there's that part in battle where he roars like a lion. While the books have presented the concept of 2nd stage mutation where his appearance becomes more feline the stage of mutation he has in the film isn't even remotely cat·like.
- Angel: nothing really major here but I was disappointed that there wasn't more presentation regarding the musculature of the wings; it was decades in the comics before you even really saw how they were attached to the muscles of his back...best we get is a look of them as bloody stumps when he was younger. Also, and this is a key thing to the guy, he wasn't anywhere near arrogant enough and I suspect it is his angelic appearance that brought this on. Angel's a good guy and all but the man is really something of an asshole most of the time; as high and mighty as his namesake.
I'm still on the fence about Colossus, he looked too damned much like the freaking T·1000 fron Terminator 2; should've stuck with the look from the 2nd film. Did like the character develoment though and there's an undercurrent to his tone of voice that sounds Russian but I'd liked to have heard more an accent. Was really hoping to see him duke it out with Juggernaut but oh well.
Charles was just begging to be killed by being such a bastard in this one. Largely presented as a nice and enlightened man in the previous two, this sudden shift when Jean wigs out and lets loose the Phoenix was just a bit much. That bit where he's actually insulting Wolverine for venturing an opinion, a good one too, was just too raw for my tastes. Although, it did kinda remind me of the famed issue of Uncanny X·Men that starts with Kitty facing the 4th wall, that's "us" if you don't know the term, and yelling "Professor X is a jerk!"
Even if I hadn't heard that the bit at the end of the credits was his ressurection in a new body I'm pretty sure I would've guessed it. Kinda curious how that plays out. May get to find out too; amidst rumblings of a Wolverine series of films and possibly one for Magneto...there's already a buzz making the rounds about X4.
Not too sure Cyclops is dead. Even little bitty unimportant characters we see getting shredded by Phoenix but not a even a glimpse of him getting torn apart by her. For someone so significant there should've been something to see but there wasn't. That's really suspicious!
End of the film shows Rogue had taken the suppressant but a glimpse of Magneto, was was given it against his will, shows that his perception of metal is stirring again and a tiny amount of his power. Not too sure if this means the cure is more of a treatment that you need to keep taking doses of or it wears off or if this is more along the lines of how Storm was stripped of her powers by Forge's neutralizer years ago. Even detached from her ability to access her powers, the surrounding weather still was affected by her emotions.
Really liked how Magneto, deprived of his powers, sees Phoenix fully unleashed and had a sudden surge of self·doubt about the course of his life. Hope to see more of that...after all, the original character had a similar moment once and joined the X·Men.
Seeing Iceman turn full on ice gave me a chill...no joke! The sudden change in Pyro was the opposite effect and while it was impressive it was kinda confusing. Sure, being part of the Brotherhood would make him embrace his powers even more but he wasn't such a, excuse me, coldhearted killer before. The scene he cuts loose in the 2nd film he does a lot of damage but he really seemed to avoid actually hitting anyone with his flame.
Mystique was beautiful as always and her "betrayal" was perfect on a lot of levels. The fact Magneto abandoned her when she was injected with the suppressant and lost her abilities was very raw, don't think the actual character would've abandoned one of his own so easily without attempting to reverse it. Then again, there was evident pain in his eyes. Magneto was all over the map in this, arguing with Charles while later defending the man's memory when Pyro spoke badly of him. Little too close to home.
Given what I knew of the storyline I was more than bit disappointed to find out the Sentinel in the film was just from a Danger Room scenario. Though, I've gotta admit, actually seeing that there was a Danger Room more than made up for it.
Might've been nice if the film had been a little longer, though I would've missed my train, to flush out a bit more detail. Was originally supposed to see this with
Brand, special screening at a particular theater; nice to have friends. May still take him up on that because there's a bad splice in what I think was a signficant point near the end on the reel I saw.