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Boy my back was killing me today. Sitting through this movie almost made it worth it though.



X-Men: The Last Stand

First off, what's with all the hating? I'm not sure if the movie was better than the first two or not but I sure liked it. Yes, they changed some stuff from the comic books but comic books are frustrating for me. I didn't mind.

I liked the movie. Not as much as the Spider-Man movies but despite being directed by Brett "Hack" Rettner I thought it was good. Like the first one it started off with a couple of flashbacks. I was pretty impressed with how they managed to tie everything up at the end too before smacking us with a double-cliffhanger which was quite funny. The wobbly chess piece and Charles' return were both a delightfully wicked place to end the last movie of a trilogy. Since a Wolverine movie is coming (and MAYBE a Magneto one) I want to see if they have ANY intention of answering these two questions.

The mutant cure was a great idea for a film although I'm a little bit sad they didn't manage to wedge Apocaplypse in there since they streamlined the origins of Dark Phoenix AND Juggernaut. I think it might have killed the movie though so I was okay with it.

The good:

-The fight scenes were REALLY good and more epic than either of the other two movies. You'd figure with a title like "The Last Stand" that's to be expected but all the internet hating kept my expectations low.

-Lots of soap opera stuff which was always fun.

-Like the first two movies it continued the trend of not making the mutant paranoia by "normies" over the top. People in picket lines screaming "MUTIES! DEATH TO ALL MUTIES!" on the old Fox cartoon show always made me cringe. Magneto? He can be as arch as he wants to be as far as I'm concerned. Ian MacKellan can sell it. He was as great as he's ever been.

-They killed off Cyclops pretty quickly. I HATE Cyclops and James Marsden is an annoying actor and I was glad to see him punked.

-Loved Kelsey Grammer as Beast.

-Funniest scene in the movie was after the bridge being moved the family in the car locking the doors. It's funny cause no matter HOW pointless it was every single one of us would have probably done the exact same thing.

The not so good:

-The movie was a little too vulgar for me. I thought Kitty Pryde was so cute so when she called Juggernaut a phallic name I kinda cringed. Kids today.

-The Dark Phoenix stuff was nowhere NEAR as epic as the cartoon or the comic book. I know that couldn't really be helped because they jammed so much stuff in here but Jean instead of coming across as a fallen Angel comes across as a sociopath. Meh.

-This is more my problem but I couldn't keep all of the evil mutants straight. I didn't even recognize Pyro in the crowd scene outside the clinic. The movies have too generic actors in many of the roles.

-Storm's "big" role. I have nothing against Halle Berry but it seems almost like her contract negotiations squeezed Patrick Stewart out of half of the movie. I know Xavier has died a billion times but Stewart (along with Hugh Jackman) was the STAR of the first two movies and his role here was WAAAY too minor. And it's not like Storm's new high profile actually led to any great character stuff. She was basically just in more scenes and had more lines. That may satisfy an actor's ego but it does nothing for characterization.

-Logan wasn't as cool as he was in the first two movies. That said, I was surprised at how many people he was allowed to kill in this movie. They must've been gearing the audience for the spin-off.

I was pretty impressed that the trilogy actually had a pretty definative ending. Yes, the last two scenes could propel a sequel but they still managed to tie up a bunch of stuff. Rogue getting cured was sweet as I always thought she was one of the few mutants who got a raw deal out of her powers. I was just kind of disappointed for the reasons she did it. She should have just talked to Bobby beforehand. But people are stupid and she IS just a kid. I liked Jean going out in Wolverine's arms. And I like that the president of the United States isn't a villian now.

As for the last two scenes, seeing Magneto is old man's clothes was REALLY depressing but that wobble of the chess piece sold me on that scene. I FIGURED Xavier wasn't actually dead but DANG did he turn out to be majorly wounded. I want to know what happens next but I think this IS actually the last X-Men movie. I can't wait for the Wolverine spin-off. I liked it. ****.

Date: 2006-06-19 09:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mattzimmer.livejournal.com
I didn't have a problem with the end. Xavier coming back WAS a little frustrating because I want to know how it happened and I probably never will. Magneto "getting his powers back" was much more open-ended for me than "He'll be back". As far as I'm concerned it's possible the wind wobbled that chess piece.

Date: 2006-06-19 10:14 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] stewie-14.livejournal.com
I think it's pretty clear that he moved it. He's got his powers back, but to what extent we don't know. It could be that he was so powerful that the cure (even 4 doses of it) didn't completely work on him. Or it may not be permanent.

Either way, I didn't mind it. I would rather they had hinted at the possibility or set it up in some way (without giving it away), but by the time it happened, I was beyond judgement. I just wanted to escape with what fond memories I could.

Date: 2006-06-20 03:31 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mattzimmer.livejournal.com
That makes sense. Megneto's ending was ambiguous enough for me. Xavier's last scene was actually kind of frustrating.

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