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So now that I'm back on solid foods and can actually sit in front of my computer without feeling the immediate need to lie down (yes, that is a manipulative plea for pity), my not very well thought-out reactions to X-Men 3.
I've been thinking about X-Men 3 and why it didn't bother me that the film-makers essentially trashed the universe. Then I realized - X-3 was a dark AU future!fic. Granted, one with an enormous budget, but it didn't feel like actual canon to me. All the storylines are ones that absolutely fit with the universe (Jean going bonkers, Magneto being de-powered, Rogue voluntarily giving up her abilities) but the expectation in a series is that the specter of those outcomes will be raised and then avoided. In this case, they just went for the worst possible, most permanent outcome of everything.
As I told![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
trinityvixen and feiran at the time, it's like they looked at the fact that this was the last film in the originally contracted trilogy and decided to break all the toys in the toychest so no one else could play. Then kick the toychest. Then knock it over. Then piss on it.
I'd like to point out that all of the outcomes are reversible by comic logic. The people Jean killed were disintegrated by a powerful psychic, so she could carry the soul of those people inside her (a la Star Trek III: The Search for Spock) and reintegrate them later; and the anti-mutant drug is only temporary/has an antidote, etc. But putting the toys back in the toychest after something like this would feel really, really cheap.
I'd also like to ask Wolverine why he killed Jean instead of using the anti-mutant drug on her, because that, you know, seems the perfect solution to me. And is it in Hugh Jackman's contract that he has to clutch the supine body of the dead heroine at the end of the film and howl his anguish? Because he's done this in every X-Men film and in Van Helsing.
What I liked most about this film was the fighting -- they did a really good job of showing the unique fighting styles of each of the mutants. Second to that, I liked the general story lines and "themes," but it felt like these got watered down a lot.
I felt, however, that they went all over-the-top shmoopy in a lot of scenes (Wolverine giving a pep talk to the X-Men? What has the world come to?). This may be because in the first angst scene, Xavier's funeral, the woman behind us answered her ringing cell phone and proceeded to have a conversation despite all of us turning around and telling her to hang up the damn phone. It then rang again and she answered it again. Argh. Which threw me right out of the movie so that all the angst looked absurd to me instead of angsty.
I still think the first X-Men film was the best, and I know I'll get flack for that. It wasn't the truest to the comics, but it hung together much better as a film than either of the sequels. It was tighter, the scope was smaller, to my mind, it just worked better. X2 had excellent fan service but the climax felt completely bloated, and X3 -- I'm not sure what I think of it yet. Part of me still can't believe it got made. I mean, why would the production company let the film-makers essentially trash their universe? *shrug*
I've been thinking about X-Men 3 and why it didn't bother me that the film-makers essentially trashed the universe. Then I realized - X-3 was a dark AU future!fic. Granted, one with an enormous budget, but it didn't feel like actual canon to me. All the storylines are ones that absolutely fit with the universe (Jean going bonkers, Magneto being de-powered, Rogue voluntarily giving up her abilities) but the expectation in a series is that the specter of those outcomes will be raised and then avoided. In this case, they just went for the worst possible, most permanent outcome of everything.
As I told
trinityvixen and feiran at the time, it's like they looked at the fact that this was the last film in the originally contracted trilogy and decided to break all the toys in the toychest so no one else could play. Then kick the toychest. Then knock it over. Then piss on it.I'd like to point out that all of the outcomes are reversible by comic logic. The people Jean killed were disintegrated by a powerful psychic, so she could carry the soul of those people inside her (a la Star Trek III: The Search for Spock) and reintegrate them later; and the anti-mutant drug is only temporary/has an antidote, etc. But putting the toys back in the toychest after something like this would feel really, really cheap.
I'd also like to ask Wolverine why he killed Jean instead of using the anti-mutant drug on her, because that, you know, seems the perfect solution to me. And is it in Hugh Jackman's contract that he has to clutch the supine body of the dead heroine at the end of the film and howl his anguish? Because he's done this in every X-Men film and in Van Helsing.
What I liked most about this film was the fighting -- they did a really good job of showing the unique fighting styles of each of the mutants. Second to that, I liked the general story lines and "themes," but it felt like these got watered down a lot.
I felt, however, that they went all over-the-top shmoopy in a lot of scenes (Wolverine giving a pep talk to the X-Men? What has the world come to?). This may be because in the first angst scene, Xavier's funeral, the woman behind us answered her ringing cell phone and proceeded to have a conversation despite all of us turning around and telling her to hang up the damn phone. It then rang again and she answered it again. Argh. Which threw me right out of the movie so that all the angst looked absurd to me instead of angsty.
I still think the first X-Men film was the best, and I know I'll get flack for that. It wasn't the truest to the comics, but it hung together much better as a film than either of the sequels. It was tighter, the scope was smaller, to my mind, it just worked better. X2 had excellent fan service but the climax felt completely bloated, and X3 -- I'm not sure what I think of it yet. Part of me still can't believe it got made. I mean, why would the production company let the film-makers essentially trash their universe? *shrug*
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Thank you! That's what I thought he was doing. When he killed her I wanted to shout out, 'WTF?' right in the theater.
~I'd like to point out that all of the outcomes are reversible by comic logic. The people Jean killed were disintegrated by a powerful psychic, so she could carry the soul of those people inside her (a la Star Trek III: The Search for Spock) and reintegrate them later;~
Did you stay through alllll the credits? There is a final scene, and trust me it addresses this. I forced myself to stay even though I had to pee so bad I couldn't stand up straight!
I agree that X1 was the best. X2 was okay. And I would say that X3 is a good movie, but not a sequal to the others except for the fact that opening immediately follows the ending of X2. It makes sense. It's like hearing someone tell you the story of Goldilocks, and then having someone else tell you what happened to her on her way home. Two totally different viewpoints on the same characters, in the same basic situation.
I loved the 'grayness' of it all. (no pun intended) I loved that it was a little hard to believe the the bad guys were really the bad guys. Oh, sure, they killed humans, but I see those humans as 'bad guys' who are not much better than Nazi's.
I'm rambling I know, but I haven't had anyone else to talk to about it, and it's all been rattling around in my head since Friday....
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Yes, yes. What I mean is, Jean could bring back everyone she killed, including Scott. And it seems like they were intimating the drug wasn't permanent anyway. Which is just - argh. You know, if you're going to redeem the changes, do that. Don't pretend like you're making everything permanent, then balk at the last moment. Especially when there's no movie four on the horizon.
I agree that X1 was the best.
I was thinking more about this and it could just be that I've seen X1 a lot more often, or that it was where I fell in love with this incarnation of the characters. But I really think it worked better as a film. In both X2 and X3, they're throwing so many mutants and story lines on the screen I can't help but feel everything gets short shrift. Which is funny, since I remember the reviews of X1 complaining that there were too many characters. And they throw in half a dozen more with each film. It's like the fan service has taken over. You can have that many characters and plotlines in an ongoing comic, but that's just two much for even three films to cope with.
I loved the 'grayness' of it all.
I also loved the set-up of each of the storylines. But not the follow through. I realize I'm being spoiled by BSG and have come to expect all the logical consequences of each plot twist. But if they'd done that here, that would have been a whole season's worth of material.
To quote Ebert's review: "I especially liked the way it introduces all of those political issues and lets them fight it out with the special effects."
So, yeah. I essentially liked the movie because it provided a framework for a movie in my head that worked a lot better.