X-Men: The Last Stand (should be spoilerless)

[sff_corgi_lj]

Add me to the cheering multitudes. It's spectacularly epic (and I'm a sucker for British Columbia locations). The rework they did on the origin of the Phoenix works for me; introducing the canonical reason would have been too much to cover and justify, I think, in the cinematic story's context. The pace is breathless without being rushed, and the FX of all varieties are brilliant (yay, WETA DIGITAL!!). But everybody'll know all the good points.

I have a few afterthought reservations. Although Brett Ratner did step up and perform admirably, there's a bit of lack of heart to the film as a whole; whether that's from the script or the actual direction, I can't really say.

Some of the composition... well, let me use a sort of allegory. One of the reasons the sequel to Saturday Night Fever, Staying Alive, was panned was the way the otherwise venerable director composed all the shots of the dancers/dancing. He never shot it like a dance movie (considering the physical talent, more boos to him for it) but kept using medium shots, shorter cuts and never letting the audience appreciate the lines of the bodies and the trajectories of the choreography. There's a reasonable bit of X3 that could have used wider shots or at least wider establishing shots to frame the action better (I'm thinking more of the fight in the forest than the big fight at the end). We don't get to see Wolverine, for instance, the way we have previously. Considering Hugh Jackman's physical talents, here's your snorkel for the gutter, he needs to be shown off better.

And speaking of the most excellent Wolverine, when did this series turn into the Wolverine Show? I don't mind for myself, not being a Marvelite, but setting things up so he's the ONLY one who can save the day? Three times in a row? It starts to chafe.

The last thing is more a note to snicker about than anything seriously pro or con about the movie: Has anybody ever liked Storm's hair? This time, it just strikes me as kinda bizarre.

P.S. They STILL shoulda cast Steve Bacic as Hank McCoy/the Beast again, even if Kelsey Grammar might be the only actor in English-speaking creation who could say 'Oh, my stars and garters' and not cause the audience to crack up.

Comments

[panamdea.livejournal.com]

What I want to know, is why bother giving your characters names if you're never actually going to use them during the course of the film? I mean, the Juggernaught got a name, Multiple Man got a name, but was that seriously Callisto (I'm assuming they were refering, to Miss I-can-sense-any-mutant-anywhere-and-run-really-fast-too?), did she get named at any point or did I miss it? And Spike? OK, so that was a little more obvious with the spikes protruding out of the face bit, but again, not named. They got more lines between them than some of the people with names! And I'm including Jean in that too. And who was the purple haired girl?

[sff-corgi.livejournal.com]

Thing is, unless you get a copy of the final shooting script, or even maybe earlier than that, you can't tell what gets left on the proverbial editing room floor. Sometimes introductions get cut for pacing.

[panamdea.livejournal.com]

I know, I know, I'm just picky like that :) But would it have killed them to have Magneto say "Callisto, do this!" or something at some point?! He did it with Arclight with the sonic boom claps that were introduced right at the end.

[sff-corgi.livejournal.com]

But he might have done! :) Although yeah, identifying your characters is always a nice touch even through the editing process.

[panamdea.livejournal.com]

Yup :)

I think my irritation with the names thing is a reflection of my gneral irritation with the film for the lack of emotional involvement with anything that happened. Even fresh from rewatching the first two, I felt almost nothing for Cyclops.

I'm apparently getting (more) cranky, pedantic and exacting in my old age ;)