xmen
The good thing about the Xmen movies is that FOX went to great lengths to secure dream casts. I can’t think of anyone better to play most of these roles. Patrick Stewart seems born to play Professor X while Kelsey Grammer makes a perfect Beast. FOX has succeeded wildly in featuring Oscar and Tony winners and often including notable actors in small roles. Unfortunately, by The Last Stand, the cast has burgeoned to such an extent that the movie is as unstable as the situations it tries to portray. There are simply too many story lines crisscrossing at a frenetic rate and many characters are shown as quickly as possible without any development. There are a few notable exceptions such as the new character of Angel whose moderately sized role fits neatly into the film and the new Kitty Pryde who acts as an appropriate foil to Shawn Ashmore’s Iceman.
But beyond them and perhaps Wolverine, Magneto, and Professor X, all other characters seemed glossed over (except for Halle Berry’s Storm who has gotten too much attention). This movie should be the most tragic of the three: a “cure” for mutants has been found so all parties involved must go to desperate measures for what they consider self preservation. The issue is extremely relevant and particularly moving as the characters put everything on the line and many end up permanently changed or killed for what they believe in.
The problem is the film utterly lacks subtlety. Everything from the camera shots to the dialogue is entire too blunt and boxy. Attempts at comedy or plain conversation come off as unnatural like when Beast and Storm comment about each others hair or when characters spew lines from the painfully cliché “Charles always wanted to build bridges,” to the unnecessarily profane “Who said I was hiding, dickhead?!” Going back to the “dream cast” idea, I can’t believe some of the ridiculous things Patrick Stewart said in the movie. He delivers the lines with such conviction while saying nothing at all. Even the computer animation is no longer a spectacle but a requirement to be filled (here, by the disappointing displacement of the Golden Gate Bridge). The only scene I really liked was a moment when there are only 6 “good” xmen against an army of the Brotherhood. They stand in a shadowy line and the camera swings across them. The movie needed more of this sort of grave subtlety.
For a movie with such potential, it really couldn’t support it’s own weight.
Perhaps I judge it too harshly as the third part of a successful series. The script was weak. The music was utterly uninspiring. The special effects were so-so, but the acting was really top notch. I give this film 2.5 stars out of 4. Don’t get me wrong - it is still entertaining and very worth watching and it’s way better than the Fantastic Four. Just don’t expect it to top the first two.
But beyond them and perhaps Wolverine, Magneto, and Professor X, all other characters seemed glossed over (except for Halle Berry’s Storm who has gotten too much attention). This movie should be the most tragic of the three: a “cure” for mutants has been found so all parties involved must go to desperate measures for what they consider self preservation. The issue is extremely relevant and particularly moving as the characters put everything on the line and many end up permanently changed or killed for what they believe in.
The problem is the film utterly lacks subtlety. Everything from the camera shots to the dialogue is entire too blunt and boxy. Attempts at comedy or plain conversation come off as unnatural like when Beast and Storm comment about each others hair or when characters spew lines from the painfully cliché “Charles always wanted to build bridges,” to the unnecessarily profane “Who said I was hiding, dickhead?!” Going back to the “dream cast” idea, I can’t believe some of the ridiculous things Patrick Stewart said in the movie. He delivers the lines with such conviction while saying nothing at all. Even the computer animation is no longer a spectacle but a requirement to be filled (here, by the disappointing displacement of the Golden Gate Bridge). The only scene I really liked was a moment when there are only 6 “good” xmen against an army of the Brotherhood. They stand in a shadowy line and the camera swings across them. The movie needed more of this sort of grave subtlety.
For a movie with such potential, it really couldn’t support it’s own weight.
Perhaps I judge it too harshly as the third part of a successful series. The script was weak. The music was utterly uninspiring. The special effects were so-so, but the acting was really top notch. I give this film 2.5 stars out of 4. Don’t get me wrong - it is still entertaining and very worth watching and it’s way better than the Fantastic Four. Just don’t expect it to top the first two.