Ogami
New member
Movie Review: X-Men 3 ~ The Last Stand
by Ogami
spoiler space (well I still won't reveal any big spoilers)
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I just returned home from seeing it, and could not be more pleased. What a rousing send off to the trilogy!
These X movies only became a trilogy because of the remarkable directing of Brian Singer for the first two movies. Lured away to direct the new Superman movie, Singer was not available for the third go around. Directed by Brett Ratner, X3 is a near-perfect conclusion to the story arc, and a fine summary of what I once considered an impossible comic book to film.
The movie opens with a younger Xavier and Magneto, visiting the parents of Jean Grey. This, like several opening scenes in the movie, foreshadow what is to come. Perhaps it will become clearer to some critics on extra viewings of the movie, but this is a beautifully woven film. The signs are there at the start, watch for them, and dread what is to come as the movie unfolds...
People die in this film. A lot of them. And they're not just "pawns", as Magneto observes with amusement at the climax. This movie is the dream of every comic book writer, because it shows what they were never permitted to write in decades of X-Men comics: The permanent death of several major (MAJOR) characters. You read that right, permanent. It was a shock for me as a movie viewer, and longtime comic reader.
I read X-Men and its related spinoffs from 1982 to 1992. I became a reader shortly after they killed Phoenix, and the series revolved around Kitty Pryde, Colossus, Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Cyclops, and of course Professor X. In the years that followed, Jean Grey came back to life, Storm's boyfriend Forge invented a bullet that inhibited the mutant gene (long before Joss Whedon's recent storyline), Magneto briefly took over running Xavier's school, Rogue absorbed the powers of Ms. Marvel and joined the X-Men, and they tried splitting off the core members into various groups.
When I saw the first X-Men movie, I was stunned by the time it ended. They had managed to work in 10 years worth of anecdotes and personality items into one movie. X2 surprised me even more, continuing the momentum and developing a truly deep story that fleshed out the movie personas of Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, and Sir Ian McClellan. So it was with low expectations that I went to see X3. Brian Singer wasn't here, would it be any good?
Just the first ten minutes set my fears to rest. The remaining team from the previous movies worked with the new director and put together a magnificent climax. The movie kept surprising me at every step of the way, even to the last second of film. And that's pretty hard to do, as I can recite entire issues of the comic from memory. They are that ingrained in me, so for me to love this movie, above all people, is a great compliment to those who made it. I, who should have been the most jaded viewer of all, had my socks knocked off. Thank you, Brett Ratner, and everyone else who finished off this trilogy so wonderfully. -Snikt- Wrong, Bub!
Miscellaneous Thoughts
* I wondered where Jean Grey's parents went on the second visit to their house. And I wondered how the Beast got that White House cabinet-level post. And I wondered what the story was with Mystique impersonating the President's chief advisor. All off-screen, and all referred to in a way that didn't make the audience feel clueless. Perfect. Why make a movie six hours long, when you can summarize in such an intelligent fashion? It made the movie deeper, and it took so little.
* Juggernaut calls Kitty Pryde a b--ch in one scene, but it's very funny. My brother informs me that this is apparently an injoke by the movie producers towards an internet parody of X-Men, which has Juggernaut saying this word many many times. You can see the parody at:
Juggernaut B---ch Link
* In all the years of reading Kitty Pryde's adventures, I never once heard her say "D--khead". Goodness! It gave me a big a kick as when Data said "Oh shiiiit" in Generations.
* Beast gets to say his classic Avengers line: "Oh my stars and garters." !!
* Loved the scene where Magneto is asked to produce his mutant tattoo, and he produces the number on his arm from Auschwitz. Chris Claremont's enduring idea was to have Magneto's powers develop in a Nazi death camp, and it was beautifully recreated in X1. I was very pleased to see it referred to here, as the topical nature of the story, and Magneto's own personal hell, are very sharply brought together.
* Halle Barry got to do more as Storm. Of course, with the body count of this story, it was pretty much inevitable that whomever's left has more scenes... (Again, no specific spoilers!)
* The shock of who died made the movie for me. I didn't read or hear anything about it beforehand, so if someone else has ruined it for you, I'm sorry. I was caught by complete surprise, so I will do my best to preserve the surprise and ask that no one reveal who died on my thread.
* The special effects, especially for Magneto's "path of destruction" scenes, are indeed impressive.
* They ran a trailer for Nicholas Cage's Ghost Rider beforehand, and it looked sweet. CGI had to reach today's level for this movie to be made. And it occurs to me that because of the quality of movies like the X-Men series, and the Spiderman series, that we are getting all these other Marvel movies. Could we see an Iron Man? The Mighty Thor? Captain America? We very well may, because of the quality and money that movies like X3 will draw in. Again, thank you team.
This movie was so good, I hope they make a deliberate decision to just focus on other Marvel properties and leave it at that. Although I might tune in to see an "X Academy" movie of the newer mutants, this trilogy is a great wrap-up to a stunning series. Leave it at that. End on this high note.
I'll say it again. Wow!
-Ogami
by Ogami
spoiler space (well I still won't reveal any big spoilers)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
I just returned home from seeing it, and could not be more pleased. What a rousing send off to the trilogy!
These X movies only became a trilogy because of the remarkable directing of Brian Singer for the first two movies. Lured away to direct the new Superman movie, Singer was not available for the third go around. Directed by Brett Ratner, X3 is a near-perfect conclusion to the story arc, and a fine summary of what I once considered an impossible comic book to film.
The movie opens with a younger Xavier and Magneto, visiting the parents of Jean Grey. This, like several opening scenes in the movie, foreshadow what is to come. Perhaps it will become clearer to some critics on extra viewings of the movie, but this is a beautifully woven film. The signs are there at the start, watch for them, and dread what is to come as the movie unfolds...
People die in this film. A lot of them. And they're not just "pawns", as Magneto observes with amusement at the climax. This movie is the dream of every comic book writer, because it shows what they were never permitted to write in decades of X-Men comics: The permanent death of several major (MAJOR) characters. You read that right, permanent. It was a shock for me as a movie viewer, and longtime comic reader.
I read X-Men and its related spinoffs from 1982 to 1992. I became a reader shortly after they killed Phoenix, and the series revolved around Kitty Pryde, Colossus, Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Cyclops, and of course Professor X. In the years that followed, Jean Grey came back to life, Storm's boyfriend Forge invented a bullet that inhibited the mutant gene (long before Joss Whedon's recent storyline), Magneto briefly took over running Xavier's school, Rogue absorbed the powers of Ms. Marvel and joined the X-Men, and they tried splitting off the core members into various groups.
When I saw the first X-Men movie, I was stunned by the time it ended. They had managed to work in 10 years worth of anecdotes and personality items into one movie. X2 surprised me even more, continuing the momentum and developing a truly deep story that fleshed out the movie personas of Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, and Sir Ian McClellan. So it was with low expectations that I went to see X3. Brian Singer wasn't here, would it be any good?
Just the first ten minutes set my fears to rest. The remaining team from the previous movies worked with the new director and put together a magnificent climax. The movie kept surprising me at every step of the way, even to the last second of film. And that's pretty hard to do, as I can recite entire issues of the comic from memory. They are that ingrained in me, so for me to love this movie, above all people, is a great compliment to those who made it. I, who should have been the most jaded viewer of all, had my socks knocked off. Thank you, Brett Ratner, and everyone else who finished off this trilogy so wonderfully. -Snikt- Wrong, Bub!
Miscellaneous Thoughts
* I wondered where Jean Grey's parents went on the second visit to their house. And I wondered how the Beast got that White House cabinet-level post. And I wondered what the story was with Mystique impersonating the President's chief advisor. All off-screen, and all referred to in a way that didn't make the audience feel clueless. Perfect. Why make a movie six hours long, when you can summarize in such an intelligent fashion? It made the movie deeper, and it took so little.
* Juggernaut calls Kitty Pryde a b--ch in one scene, but it's very funny. My brother informs me that this is apparently an injoke by the movie producers towards an internet parody of X-Men, which has Juggernaut saying this word many many times. You can see the parody at:
Juggernaut B---ch Link
* In all the years of reading Kitty Pryde's adventures, I never once heard her say "D--khead". Goodness! It gave me a big a kick as when Data said "Oh shiiiit" in Generations.
* Beast gets to say his classic Avengers line: "Oh my stars and garters." !!
* Loved the scene where Magneto is asked to produce his mutant tattoo, and he produces the number on his arm from Auschwitz. Chris Claremont's enduring idea was to have Magneto's powers develop in a Nazi death camp, and it was beautifully recreated in X1. I was very pleased to see it referred to here, as the topical nature of the story, and Magneto's own personal hell, are very sharply brought together.
* Halle Barry got to do more as Storm. Of course, with the body count of this story, it was pretty much inevitable that whomever's left has more scenes... (Again, no specific spoilers!)
* The shock of who died made the movie for me. I didn't read or hear anything about it beforehand, so if someone else has ruined it for you, I'm sorry. I was caught by complete surprise, so I will do my best to preserve the surprise and ask that no one reveal who died on my thread.
* The special effects, especially for Magneto's "path of destruction" scenes, are indeed impressive.
* They ran a trailer for Nicholas Cage's Ghost Rider beforehand, and it looked sweet. CGI had to reach today's level for this movie to be made. And it occurs to me that because of the quality of movies like the X-Men series, and the Spiderman series, that we are getting all these other Marvel movies. Could we see an Iron Man? The Mighty Thor? Captain America? We very well may, because of the quality and money that movies like X3 will draw in. Again, thank you team.
This movie was so good, I hope they make a deliberate decision to just focus on other Marvel properties and leave it at that. Although I might tune in to see an "X Academy" movie of the newer mutants, this trilogy is a great wrap-up to a stunning series. Leave it at that. End on this high note.
I'll say it again. Wow!
-Ogami
