The Shrine

Wow, you know this place is getting much less traffic than before when, on Sunday afternoon, I'm the first person to post a review on X-Men 3, 2 days after its release. Spoiler alert, so if you haven't seen it, stop reading NOW

Overall, it was pretty fun. Not a spectacular movie, but fun nonetheless. The action scenes were awesome to watch (even with a lot of blatant CG) and the progression of the story in comparison to the first two was well done IMO. There were some very cool parts in the film, so even though it had a blockbuster feel to it, it was still entertaining, mostly due to the large number of violent fight scenes, resulting in great deaths of some main and secondary characters (I won't ruin it by telling you who, but it's cool).

The first couple of movies did a good job of actually have good character development along with the storylines (as well as strong evil characters in Stryker and Magneto, but we'll get to that later) whereas this one just introduced Beast (very well done; could Kelsey Grammer have been a more perfect choice?) and Angel (poorly done; IMO, Russell from Six Feet Under was NOT the right choice, but with how they wrote that part, even Johnny Depp couldn't have saved it) and some bad guys (Callisto was the main one), but with very little depth (ie. nothing more than "this is what they can do and this is how we can use it" development). But that was also a little expected as it's supposed to be the movie that wraps up what has been built in the first couple of films AND the fact that most of the characters are established from the prequels.

The one thing that really hurt it was the lack of a new evil character. I love Magneto and the way that McKellen played him, but as the main bad guy (for the second time) and for the EXACT same reason, it was a bit old. It was perfect in the second film (the best, IMO) where he was the secondary bad guy but still had his same goals and reasons for being against the X-Men and he still played a pretty prominent role. Stryker was so well done, IMO, that the two of them together complemented each other very well. But in this one, it was same old, same old. Comic book movies live and die on their villians (otherwise the heroes would have no reason to be) and this one just felt recycled (because it was). Also, Jean Grey as Dark Phoenix and the way it was handled (ie. tortured good-turned-bad) just didn't work very well. It was central to the story and felt like a poorly-done romantic plotline.

So, basically, it was what I expected out of a Brett Ratner film :-)

Oh, and listen to Mr. Hansborough, you HAVE to see the 20 second scene that comes after the credits have finished rolling, it's very cool.

I didn't stick around after the credits. What happened?

SPOILERS:





I nodded off for about twenty minutes during the middle of the movie and woke up just in time to see Xavier turned to ash. Did not expect that. Everything that happens between Magneto tearing up the suspension bridge and the death of Jean was just awesome. Excellent CG, fights, everything. I was in awe. Beast looked great in action but my favorite part had to be the most obvious bit of internet fanservice: "Don't you know who I am? I'm the Juggernaut, Bitch!"

Reference: http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=15862

OK, here's what happened at the end:

Right after the credits, they cut to a scene with Moira, the woman doctor that Xavier talked to in the beginning when he was teaching the class (the time he sensed that Jean was alive and had killed Cyclops). Well, remember how he was talking about the patient that she was taking care of, how he was all burned to death and had essentially not been a person? And what would happen if he was to be given another consciousness? Well, guess what, Xavier transferred his consciousness to that burned body and was, for all intents and purposes, reborn......

I loved this movie. I am completely flabbergasted by the hate being directed at it (though movie reviewers tend of be an inbreeding bunch, intellectually speaking). This is a great movie IMO.

And what do you mean there was no new bad guy, Zeus? Or did you confused Dark Phonenix with the lunchroom lady?

Loved seeing Magneto unleashed too. That's why you all bow down to him.

"I'm Magneto Bitch!" hehe, you're on the money with that one, Lotus.

Ishamael wrote: And what do you mean there was no new bad guy, Zeus? Or did you confused Dark Phonenix with the lunchroom lady?

Dark Phoenix wasn't really a bad guy. She was a reluctant, super-powerful lackey, that's it. She didn't really do anything than kill everyone she got mad at. She had no real purpose, which is what all bad guys need to have to be a good antithesis to the good guy.

3 movies and no Jubilee or Psylock. Shame.

Wish I would have known about the end titles thing.

Angel was done horribly, thought they were going to do a 4th and have Apocalypse come down. That would have been fucking awesome.

Brood Saga anyone?

It sucked, UNBELIEVABLY BADLY. 20 minutes in I wanted to gouge my eyes out. I was sort of glad when someone's mobile phone rang and they maintained a conversation on it in the theatre because it gave me something to be angry about other than HOW BAD THE FILM WAS. It was awful. I want to punch Singer, Ratner and the screenwriters in the face for how badly all of them fucked the franchise over. Man.

They basically erased all goodwill for the series that the first two films built up. It was completely lacking in subtlety, absolutely humourless, and took really interesting characters and flattened them, or turned them inexplicably nasty, or just killed them.

HAAATE.

Last Stand was a movie that seemed "confused" about itself.

A weak storyline that seemed more interested in wrapping up the Pheonix aspect as quickly and anti-climatically as possible. If you look at the whole DP inclusion...none of it made any sense and seemed tacked on at best (Cyclops, Jean's house, etc).

Main character deaths were thrown in for shock value, if nothing else. New characters were a novelty, little more (background/storywise, absolutely none of them were fleshed out or introduced intelligently).

As an action movie, it was worth the hour and a bit - but it sure as hell didn't do any favors to the series as far as I'm concerned.

kali o. wrote:Last Stand was a movie that seemed "confused" about itself.

A weak storyline that seemed more interested in wrapping up the Pheonix aspect as quickly and anti-climatically as possible. If you look at the whole DP inclusion...none of it made any sense and seemed tacked on at best (Cyclops, Jean's house, etc).

Main character deaths were thrown in for shock value, if nothing else. New characters were a novelty, little more (background/storywise, absolutely none of them were fleshed out or introduced intelligently).

As an action movie, it was worth the hour and a bit - but it sure as hell didn't do any favors to the series as far as I'm concerned.

I pretty much agree, but it was entertaining enough that I didn't feel that my $11 was wasted. But I'm not going to go out and buy it first day to pony up extra coin for the special edition or anything. I'll just get it for $7 out of the Walmart bin after 6 months.

Biggest opening weekend ever at $120.1 million. I'm interested to see its staying power now.

$10 USD says "The Break-Up" beats it like a red-headed stepchild.

This thread says spoiler in the title so I assume I can speak freely.

The first X-Men showed us that they could take X-Men and make it into a movie without being cheesey or taking the realism factor and making it suck. It was a GOOD intro movie, the mutants and their powers were handled well, Magneto was handled well, nice plot, it was great.

The 2nd X-men expanded on the first and everything Magneto was saying, again everybody was handled well. Stryker was a very awesome villian, they also expanded on the entire Human vs Mutant problem, but it was handled well and didn't go overboard.

X-Men 3 took everything the first 2 movies established and destroyed them. I felt like I was watching Resident Evil again it was so bad. It tried to use the 2nd movie's forumla and failed horribley. The fact that you had so many important people die and you completely shifted away from the comics at that point. The war was just kinda pointless, the whole movie felt like a series finale gone bad. I was extremely disappointed.

Everyone is allowed their opinion, but I think the negativity directed at this movie is more of a result of the bad press it got before release due to rewrites, hurried shooting, Ratner directing, etc. I could be wrong, but I think a lot of people were set to hate this movie no matter what. The movie just doesn't deserve the level of animosity aimed at it.

Barret wrote:$10 USD says "The Break-Up" beats it like a red-headed stepchild.

That's a bet I'd take.

Ishamael wrote:Everyone is allowed their opinion, but I think the negativity directed at this movie is more of a result of the bad press it got before release due to rewrites, hurried shooting, Ratner directing, etc. I could be wrong, but I think a lot of people were set to hate this movie no matter what. The movie just doesn't deserve the level of animosity aimed at it.

It sucked, and you suck.

Just kiddin', yer alright. But any negativity I direct towards it was not influenced by any bad press, because I made a conscious effort not to read any before seeing it, and I was actually hoping that this might be the film in which Ratner proved that he wasn't a second-rate hack.

If this wasn't an X-Men film I'd consider it just mediocre, but the fact that the first two films were so good makes this most recent one a slap in the face. I really hope the alleged Wolverine film is handled better than this one was.

Superman better have been fucking worth it, Singer!

Ishamael wrote:Everyone is allowed their opinion, but I think the negativity directed at this movie is more of a result of the bad press it got before release due to rewrites, hurried shooting, Ratner directing, etc. I could be wrong, but I think a lot of people were set to hate this movie no matter what. The movie just doesn't deserve the level of animosity aimed at it.

Meh I didn't pay attention to any of the press before hand, I had to watch it myself to see it fall apart before my eyes.

Zeus wrote:Biggest opening weekend ever at $120.1 million. I'm interested to see its staying power now.

That's a far cry from the 224 million that The Davinci Code grossed on its opening weekend.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Catholic-Chur ... &id=202787

I enjoyed it. It's not a great movie, and it has many faults, but I enjoyed it. My main problem with it is the amount of stuff they tried to cram into it. If they had tried to cover less in total, they might have been able to have more depth in the important points.

Eric wrote: The fact that you had so many important people die and you completely shifted away from the comics at that point.

Important people die all the time in X-Men comics. They just don't stay dead. Just about every big thing that happens in the movie has a counterpart in the comics. (Which is almost inevitable with a 30+ year history.)

Andrew, Killer Bee wrote:Superman better have been fucking worth it, Singer!

I'd rather have a mediocre third X-Men and a great Superman than a great third X-Men and a mediocre Superman. I already have two good X-Men movies, and I will cry if Superman is not great. (I also promised to cry if Batman was not good, so thank you Christopher Nolan for not making me cry.)

Oh, and I loved your review, Andrew.

Barret wrote:3 movies and no Jubilee or Psylock.

Jubilee makes a cameo in the first movie, and Psylocke is one the ones that throws Mr. Worthington off the building. (I didn't catch Psylocke myself, someone else pointed it out to me.)

The Seeker wrote:

Zeus wrote:Biggest opening weekend ever at $120.1 million. I'm interested to see its staying power now.

That's a far cry from the 224 million that The Davinci Code grossed on its opening weekend.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Catholic-Chur ... &id=202787

One was domestic, other was worldwide

Zeus wrote:

The Seeker wrote:

Zeus wrote:Biggest opening weekend ever at $120.1 million. I'm interested to see its staying power now.

That's a far cry from the 224 million that The Davinci Code grossed on its opening weekend.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Catholic-Chur ... &id=202787

One was domestic, other was worldwide

Ah, should have spotted that =)

The Seeker wrote:

Zeus wrote:

The Seeker wrote: That's a far cry from the 224 million that The Davinci Code grossed on its opening weekend.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Catholic-Chur ... &id=202787

One was domestic, other was worldwide

Ah, should have spotted that =)

But you didn't you FAILURE!! FAILLLLL FAIL!!!! FAIL!!!!!

Saw this post over on What Would Tyler Durden Do and the guy brings up a very good point:

http://wwtdd.com/index.php?type=one&i=961

Ishamael wrote:Saw this post over on What Would Tyler Durden Do and the guy brings up a very good point:

http://wwtdd.com/index.php?type=one&i=961

That Kirsten Dunst has bad teeth?

Watched it, loved it. On a side note, Jean/Phoenix reminded me A LOT of Fey/Id from Xenogears.

Andrew wrote:They basically erased all goodwill for the series that the first two films built up. It was completely lacking in subtlety, absolutely humourless, and took really interesting characters and flattened them, or turned them inexplicably nasty, or just killed them.

Pretty much sums up my opinion. One of the few good things about the movie was Kelsey Grammer as Beast. Best casting decision aside from Patrick Stewart, who was a shoe-in anyway. I can only imagine how much more awesome he could have been with Bryan Singer's direction and Solid Snake's script.

Zeus wrote:Russell from Six Feet Under was NOT the right choice

Aha! I knew there was some reason for my subconscious dislike for Angel.

Kupek wrote:

Andrew, Killer Bee wrote:Superman better have been fucking worth it, Singer!

I'd rather have a mediocre third X-Men and a great Superman than a great third X-Men and a mediocre Superman. I already have two good X-Men movies, and I will cry if Superman is not great. (I also promised to cry if Batman was not good, so thank you Christopher Nolan for not making me cry.)

We probably could've had both. Singer said he had a strong vision for the third X-Men movie, but it was his dream to do Superman. I heard he was still up for directing X3 if Fox was willing to wait a year.

I liked the film.

It wasn't the best I've ever seen. It had some really good scenes and some "meh" ones as well.

One of the things a friend of mine noticed was that this one ended with Wolvie and Storm leading the Xmen with a handful of younger students. I have to verify this, but he remembered a storyline in the comics where this happened. It might have been The Days of Future Past storyline or something with Bishop and all that.

If that's the case, I wonder if there are plans to take the 4th Xmen movie a direction like that.

On an end note, the one thing that did bother me about the movie was how sissified they made Wolverine. At one point, he was practically sobbing over Jean and freaking Storm had to bring him back to reality. Then he kicked a whole world of butt so I felt better.

I am responding to this thread because as a good American I have of course seen X-Men 3. Yes I have.

I found the plot to be satisfying and believable, especially when it was doing that plot thing that it did. The acting was also great, especially in that one scene where those guys were doing that stuff.

All in all, a fine and enjoyable flick. A++!!!

(farts)

McKellen did a great job acting in this one, as usual. The scenes with McKellen and Stewart take me back to that Shakespearean acting show which used to be on back in the 80's.

I noticed a lot of familiar faces, the one who played Shadowcat in this one is the one who plays Treena on Trailer Park Boys. Then there was also Bill Duke (From Predator and Commando) who played Trask. They got the dude who led the soccer posse from Eurtrip to play Juggernaut; I TOTALLY exploded in laughter at the line which I shall not utter here =)

Hey, the special effects were all really well done. The only weak point here was Beast, his make-up looked cheap.

Well, either way, I liked the movie a lot, I highly doubt this is going to be the last one. I heard there were already spin-off films in the works. We have yet to see Apocalypse, the most major villain in the series.

Ellen Page played Shadowcat. The only famous actor to ever come out of Halifax to my knowledge (in a Hollywood sense at least).

The Seeker wrote:They got the dude who led the soccer posse from Eurtrip to play Juggernaut; I TOTALLY exploded in laughter at the line which I shall not utter here =)

It was made better by the overdubbed video that was posted here a few months back. I still say that line once a week or so.

The Seeker wrote:Well, either way, I liked the movie a lot, I highly doubt this is going to be the last one. I heard there were already spin-off films in the works. We have yet to see Apocalypse, the most major villain in the series.

Err, not really. It might seem that way if you read a story arc that involves him, but that's because <i>every</i> story arc makes that arc's villian out to be the end-all-be-all.

He is interesting, though, and they could make a great epic movie with Apocalypse.

Kupek wrote:

The Seeker wrote:Well, either way, I liked the movie a lot, I highly doubt this is going to be the last one. I heard there were already spin-off films in the works. We have yet to see Apocalypse, the most major villain in the series.

Err, not really. It might seem that way if you read a story arc that involves him, but that's because <i>every</i> story arc makes that arc's villian out to be the end-all-be-all.

He is interesting, though, and they could make a great epic movie with Apocalypse.

I only watched the animated series from the 90's. Within that one he was the most powerful character of those present throughout the series. Also, he was the major villain at the end of the series. I would have really liked to see how the story finished off, the final episode just ended with Cortez revealing that Apocalypse was still alive (after he had suffered a major defeat against all the major telepaths from throughout history).

Apocalypse was a big villian, but there was tons that had a more lasting impact on the Xmen.

He was a pretty major villian in the animated series like you said, but don't take the animated series as a good reflection of what happened in the comics. The cartoon was a good take on the series though. I wish they'd release it on DVD!

As far as semi-regular villians go, you could argue that Apocolypse was the most powerful. He's definitely up there. Years ago, Wizard magazine ran an issue where they named something like the top 20 comic book villians. I'm pretty sure Apocolypse was top 5 if not top 3.

Guess who was number one? Spoiler:

If you guessed, Dr. Doom, you're right! They had some pretty good justifications. Once they broke down all the stuff that Doc Doom had accomplished over his career, you kind of had to respect the guy a bit more.

I remember that issue of Wizard.

Apocalypse is a powerful villian for sure. He's been around for a loooooooooooooooong time and he kept being a threat even in the future. But in terms of importance to the Xmen, there are others that rank higher even if they aren't as powerful.

Actually, the interesting thing is that in the Age of Apocalypse universe, Magneto literally ripped Apocalypse in half in their final battle.

Hey Ish, you owe me $10!