Just got back from X3: IN short: A lot of really fun and cool scenes that make you go "OOOOOO...." and send shivers down your spine. The movie looks great in chunks, but put all together the story was weak, choppy, had bad acting and poor flow. In other words, see this movie to see X-men in action, but turn the brain off when it comes to the story. Things I did like: There was actually some good characterization with Xavier, he was more similar to Xavier in the comics today and he wasn't infallible. Almost every character has an awesome scene of them showing off, Iceman, Pyro, shadowcat, juggs, mystique, spyke, colossus, beast, multiple man, some of the morlocks. Wolvie, magneto and storm obviously have more action scenes than others, but all the action is very entertaining and looks like it was lifted from the comic (which is great). Magneto is very magneto during the blatant, visually stunning, but uncessary bridge scene. Lot of characters, lots of stuff going on in the background (stepford cuckoos), so many cameos and some very imaginative, but non-canon, mutants. Some corny but very x-men lines, beast has a pretty good role and is done well. Great wolverine fight scenes and pretty good characterization by Jackman. Dark phoenix is very scary looking and has some very powerful scenes, they manage to make famke look incredibly hawt, but in others she really looks like a phoenix. Shadowcat, gotta love her, her time is short but she does great in the movie, despite looking very young. Special effects are great, but you do hit a point where you build up a resistence. The bads: SO many characters, but very little time. If your character isn't storm, wolverine, magneto or jean grey, you only had about 10-70 seconds to do something cool. Colossus, angel, psylocke, are all very cool in their scenes but they really got shafted in their time. This isn't anything new, but halle barry is an awful actress. She looks like storm, but with the personality of a rich city girl. A lot of things don't make sense, or explanation isn't even included. Why was this character in one place? why did they go over there? how did he get from one side of the country to the other in no time? During the movie, your brain will ask a lot of questions, try not to let it do that or you will spoil your fun. If you saw the preview and all the trailers, you saw a lot of the movie already. It's 104 minutes, and there is about 18 minutes of footage out there. Take away the intro and lag parts, add time to the short clips in all the previews and you've already seen about 1/3 the movie. A lot of unecessary standing around happens, since there are so many characters, its like they have to stand in line to get their scene in. When they do get their scene in, it is very individualistic. You don't see much team work happening (except for the obvious). Storm really only gets to fight the same person. Twice. Again, the real x-men would switch partners or at least assist. Storm looks like a sith lord at one point. Jean Grey is very deux ex machina. Stands around a lot (perhaps that's why its called the "last stand"), but when she does move, everything goes to hell. Your brain will start asking questions about her and her scene at the end, remember what I told you about using your brain? Conclusions: Great action sequences, but utterly brainless and choppy. If you want to see X-men, its awesome, but as a stand a lone movie itself it is so crowded that it comes off a bit rushed and overwhelming. Your brain will thus try to ask questions, but you must contain it. Everyone gets their moments, but thats all the movie is, a bunch of really cool moments connected very incoherently. I think a lot of bodies and characters were made for this sole purpose, to have their ass handed to them by an x-man. Because it is just a series of moments, there is no reward or buildup. Spider-man, for example, had Peter deal with bad moment after moment, but we were rewarded at the end when everthing went right. X-men's weak story and crowded cast make it impossible for much character development or attachment. This is also probably why a lot of critics are saying it lacks heart. Strangely, this is probably why the movie looks so good in previews and trailers, because you get to see a lot of really cool moments. The movie is going to have a great opening weekend because of this, and it still deserves it. (I'm predicting an opening weekend of 98 million.) Its a great B movie, but nothing greater than that. Still a fun experience. Over the Hedge was a more entertaining movie, but X3 is the only movie where you will get to see X-men showcase their stuff. I'd say thats a good enough reason to see it this weekend.
I'm gonna see it..but at this point it's gonna take a quite a bit to blow my expectations out of the water. This movie should have never been made so soon. And from all accounts, it looks like it shows.
So what your saying is to go into the movie expecting to see mindless summer blockbuster fun with tons of action and X-men. Check.
i dont see why they didnt at least make it 2 hours long. you have all these cool characters give them all a little bit more time geez.
Yeah I read that end credit thing too. I guess the thinking was that the first 2 films were enough to fill in the backdrop stories and drama, this time the audience is primed for a dumb and loud one. In that case maybe a shorter running time is better, otherwise the constant action could get mind numbing, and not even 3 hours would cover all the characters powers, backdrop stories etc. The thing that I read was that Fox wasn't really interested in this anymore and wanted to get this over with.
Yeah, there is a thing after the credits. its ten seconds long, but whatever. i saw it at the Marvel premier through a connection. 1200 people there, marvel employees, financiers, friends and family got to go. No celebs, unless you include writers as celebs. They will make wolverine and magneto in the coming years. There is a contractual reason why the movie came out so quick and thus, why they had to rush it. You will see Wolverine within the next two years, and Magneto shortly after that. Not much of an opening to make an "X4", but for reasons I can't mention, Fox will really want to make another X-men movie (after the spinoffs).
I've read things like this in several places as well. What is it that Fox dislikes so much about this franchise? It has been a good money maker, yes? I thought the first movie was great and the 2nd was spectacular. I'm not getting my hopes up for the 3rd one since there was so much strife and BS behind the scenes, which usually makes for bad movie making. But there is no good reason to rush through things.
Damn. Any movie under 2 hours in length these days should be discounted. I'm too lazy to google pics of Psylocke. Jim Lee's rendition of her was the first fictional character I ever rubbed one out to. And am I reading that right or is it just too early in the morning - Magneto's getting a solo movie? Righteous.
After your review, and considering other movie reviews I've read at Clutch...I am SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS MOVIE! No BS. I am stoked. Going tomorrow.
I love X-Men. I love the comics, I love the cartoon show of the 90's, I loved the first two movies, I even love the video games, which were more true to the comics than the movies were. I'll go see this one, and I'm afraid I won't be wowed, but I'll still go see it none the less.
No way it hits 98 million, maybe world wide, but not just in the US. My guess would be closer to 60. Its the same thing that happened to the Matrix series (besides the second one being dissapointing). People are kind of X-out on it...its just not a must see opening weekend movie.
Well right now it stands at 67% on rottentomatoes...compared to 80% and 87% for the first two. What that tells me (whether you listen to critics or not) is that the movie isn't bad but isn't a homerun either; it's just average. And for an X-Men movie that's just not acceptable. The first was good but cannot compare to the second one (which is my favorite comic movie next to Spiderman 2 and Batman Begins). The second set the stage for something truly special, and from everything I've read and seen it isn't. Apparently though, if you're not a big fan of X-men - the movies and the comics - then you'll probably like it. But if you are then you're gonna be quite pissed with how they handled the characters and the storylines (in particular the phoenix).
I'm stoked to see the movie; I still think it looks a great popcorn flick but I wonder what it would've been like had Singer been able to finish what he started
I think I'll catch a matinee tomorrow, but I'll probably pay for a different movie. This one review I think sums up what I'll feel after seeing it:http://aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=23427 excerpts If it turns out I do like it, I'll go back and watch it again and pay for a ticket.
