So the fiancee and I took Friday off and decided to burn an AMC gift-card by catching the third X-Men flick. I’ve already got zero expectations (see below) but felt like, “What the hey?”
So it turns out that a lot of my fears about the quality of the flick were unfounded. Juggernaut was actually pretty cool and didn’t remind me of Ram-Man once. Calisto turned out to be a cross between herself and Caliban (her sort of lackey in the comics who can sense other mutants) with a little bit of Quicksilver thrown in for no reason what-so-ever. And the Sentinels? Don’t worry your pretty head over that one. That was shown way out of context, but I will add that it was a very poor choice of a film clip for Jackman to be lugging around to late night talk shows. Very misleading and not at all in a good way (also see below.)
Before I get into what did bug me I will say that the flick was rather fun and I think that Brett Ratner did a hell of a job matching the look and feel of the previous Singer flicks. I walked out of the theatre feeling like the money was well spent and I wasn’t pissed off or all geek crazy or anything.
Now for what I didn’t like. Dark Phoenix. First off, no matter how cool the hint of the phoenix appearing at the end of X2 was, I did not want to see a Dark Phoenix movie. I don’t think the movie going audience is ready for stodgy mansions filled with uptight mutants and robots dressed in bad 17th century fashions (or in almost nothing at all ala White and Black Queens are concerned.) I don’t think people are ready for X-Men in Space, and yadda yadda yadda. Even if you completely change the plot and stuff I don’t think people are ready for the Jean Grey can eat your planet movie.
So the fact that she pops up in this already full story-ed (I think that isn’t a word) flick is the pits. First off the Dark Phoenix plot is so secondary it really feels like it could easily have been cut from the film. Second, it was utterly unfulfilling and just kind of lame how it plays out.
If anyone is teetering on whether to spend their hard earned 8-12 bucks on this flick, go ahead and do it, just try not to take it to seriously. I mean it is just a movie right? It’s not like upon seeing the flick all your Classic X-Men back issues or Dark Phoenix trades burst into flames. Read the comic if you want to read that story. Watch the movie if you want to see Magneto superbly brought to like by the one and only Gandalf.
