X-men 3

[snugglekitty]

Cut for those who haven't seen it yet.



A lot of folks have been posting things about not liking this movie much.

I didn't like it much myself (especially compared to the first two) but I have different reasons from the ones I've seen others posting.

1) No Nightcrawler.
2) New characters that we don't get real introductions to. Yes, Kitty Pryde phases through walls. What about the way that she's a total clown, and always pushing to be an X-man before she's fully matured? Yes, Colossus turns to steel. What about his big issues with class consciousness and serving his home country?
3) That was supposed to be Callisto? What?
4) Why didn't Logan "cure" Jean Grey instead of killing her outright?
5) The saying isn't "traitors to the known cause." It's "known traitors to the cause." Also, Magneto is supposed to be a super-genius and I just didn't think that came through in this movie. Honestly, when Mystique lost her powers, I thought that he would treat her as a fallen comrade that needed to be put out of her misery - wouldn't that have been creepy and appropriate?

I very much agree with bearsir that the character plot stuff happened too fast.

I liked the plotlines they used, though. "A cure for mutants" has always been one of my favorite X-men plotlines. And I really liked the way they did the Phoenix stuff - her powers being out of control, her being lost to herself, but in some ways being happier than she's ever been. I find both of those resonant. And the visuals were awesome. Still, it didn't compare to the first two.

Comments

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

I thought that Magneto said "Traitors to their own cause." Because of how he always thinks that he and the X-Men *should* be on the same side, but really never end up being.

Otherwise, I agree with a lot of the points you made. I think there was a lot about the plot and characters they didn't explain. I missed nightcrawler too.

One thing I couldn't figure out, though: When Jean is losing it at the end and blowing *everything* up, why do they rush Leech by him, when, by pausing about 3 feet behind Jean, it seems that Leech's powers could have stopped her without harming anyone?

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

Oh! Traitors to their own cause makes a lot more sense. Maybe I just misheard it. :)

And, yes. They totally could have used Leech to stop Phoenix from destroying the world and give her time to regain control... excellent point.

I really hope we meet one of these days. :)

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

I hope we meet too! I feel like at this point we know so many people in common that it's a statistical impossibility that we haven't already met! And yet, we clearly haven't.

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

I know! Absolutely. Well, hopefully one of these days. :)

[srl.livejournal.com]

bearsir has mentioned that you and I should meet as well, and we seem to have lots of common acquaintances... but you know, that graduate school thing gets in the way of one's busy social life. ;)

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

Indeed! It was about 3 years into grad school before I met *anyone* in Boston not in my department. 4 years before I actually made friends outside my dept. Here, at the end of my 5th year, I finally *have* a social life!

[srl.livejournal.com]

Hah. I'm doing better than that, largely because I lived here before school, but... yeah. This summer is full of the General Exams Studying Binge From Hell, plus a paying job.

Drop me an email or something; I have extremely limited face-to-face social time these days, but I'm always interested in meeting new people. Also, I need a queer academic network.

[srl.livejournal.com]

1) Didn't we see him briefly on the wall in the church? But I agree--- I loved the way they portrayed him in the last movie, and I wanted more.

4) Good question. But wouldn't that have made her just as angry at him as she was at Dr. Xavier?

5) Yes, totally creepy and appropriate, and would have lost the "scorned woman" crap too. (Though I can completely buy her actions as they were, that phrasing suggests that her gender was the cause of her anger, not her sudden loss of her powers.)

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

1) On the wall in the church? What church?

4) If she had been "cured" of her mutant powers, she wouldn't have been a danger, so her being angry wouldn't have been a problem... do you mean, you think she wanted it that way?

5) Yes - the "scorned woman" comment was really annoying. I don't think what happened between them had anything to do with her gender or their relationship. It's just hard for me to imagine that Magneto wouldn't have thought through what to do when "his" mutants got cured, and "mercy killing" would've made so much sense...

[srl.livejournal.com]

1) The meeting of mutants near the beginning of the movie, in that large abandoned-looking space, was in a church; after the exterior establishing shot, we saw an image of a guy clinging and crawling along a wall, well above human height. He was never specifically pointed out as Nightcrawler, but I can only assume that's who he was.

4) No, I don't think she wanted it that way, but it's not like she would have wanted Wolverine after he'd "cured" her.

5) Yes, absolutely.

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

formlesspassion and I were occasionally commenting on moments of really bad writing. (Wasn't there a line like: "If they want a war, we'll give them a war."? oooo earth shaking!) Anyway, at the woman scorned line, we both agreed that that was very *good* writing the first time around!

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

That bugged me less than some other things, since the comic almost always had really bad dialogue. At least it was authentic. :)

so-

[cyclothemia.livejournal.com]

is it worth seeing, in your opinion? we're up in the air about it.