Today I watched X-Men 3: The Last Stand. It is definitely worth going to see.In preparation for today's movie-going adventure I finally broke down and bought the X2: X-Men United DVD to add to my X-Men: the Movie DVD, and watched both last night. I say 'broke down' because when I first watched X2 I walked out of the theatre not very impressed. Overall I liked the movie, but not enough to want to spend my money on a DVD. I don't remember all my reasons, now, but I do remember two things: 1) being a big fan of Logan/Wolverine, I thought he was deserving of even more screen time, and 2) I really disliked Famke Janssen in the role of Jean Grey. On watching the movie last night, I decided I was wrong, or my opinion had changed--Logan had plenty of things to do in the movie. Regarding the latter, my opinion didn't change. I think it's the combination of Famke Janssen's acting/portrayal of Jean, her looking too old to play the part, and the lack of chemistry between her and Hugh Jackman, in my opinion. Personally, the only way I could buy into Logan and Jean's mutual attraction is because in high school I read all the X-Men comics where the comic-verse Logan-Jean-Scott triangle had been plenty explored.
Okay, back to X3--minor spoilers may follow--I really liked this movie, and rate it better than X2, and if not its equal, then at least close in enjoyment to the original X-Men movie. I thought the introduction to new mutants (new in the movie-verse, not comic-verse) was timed right, i.e., didn't waste too much time on the introductions. Logan had plenty of screen time, and I thought the action sequences were all enjoyable. Famke Janssen's acting was better in X3, I thought. I also liked *gasp* James Marsden/Scott Summers (I can't believe I just said that!) in the relatively few (another plus!) scenes Cyclops had. I thought interactions among the characters was good, in particular a brief but satisfying Logan-Marie scene, and there were plenty of cameos and inside jokes interspersed throughout.
The best thing about X3, in my opinion, is how many parts of it ran counter to my expectations. There were several points in the movie where I thought, "okay, that will never happen in this movie", especially in a franchise like the X-Men. Only to find out later that I was wrong. Well, mostly wrong ;o) I should say that that these counter-to-my-expectations points don't detract from the movie--they weren't there just for the sake of shocking/surprising the audience--but actually make it more realistic and hence more believable.
This movie wasn't perfect--being filled with a lot of action, that left less time for character development. I thought some of the special effects were obvious, but not obtrusively so. I was disappointed that Jubilation Lee didn't have a bigger part, and Kitty Pride didn't have much interaction with Logan. I wasn't expecting the same degree of interaction as portrayed in the comics, but I'd been hoping for at least some dialogue/conversation between them.
Anywhoo, enough babbling. Go watch it yourselves ;o) I'll end with a suggestion--stay and watch it until the very end of the credits....
--4.5 out of 5 stars--
2 comments:
I watched the first X-Men on TV last night. It was my first exposure to it and I enjoyed it. I do have a few questions, though.
How come the good guys were so pitiful at fighting? Was it because they were generally peace-loving mutants forced into the situation? It seemed that Storm was really slow to warm up and Cyclops was generally ineffective.
I'm glad I now know why Magneto wears that geeky helmet.
Yeah, Toad almost defeated three of the X-Men by himself. I think it was just lack of experience on Storm, Jean, and Scott's parts--They may have had training, but it's not the same as the real thing. Or maybe it was just the director's way to increase tension :o)
Btw, did you know the Toad actor played Darth Maul in Star Wars episode I? That twirly move he made with the pole after kicking Storm down the elevator shaft is supposed to be the same thing he did with a double-bladed lightsaber in Episode I.
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