X3: The Last Stand
I suppose that I have used your mileage may vary (YMMV) more than a few times on this blog. I cannot imagine a better example of what a YMMV experience is -- this movie is almost the quintessential, textbook definition of YMMV
With my head cold, I'm not really feeling up to dissecting this one with spoilery analysis -- instead, I'll throw some observational themes at you in a chop suey, lightning round manner
In a nutshell, the movie is okay ... more on par with the first movie than with the close to perfect X2 ... if you click to go within, it may shape your opinion of the movie, so I would recommend seeing it first (even though I don't spoil anything directly)
So, here's the themes I drew from the movie
- The average viewer with little to no concept of the comic storylines, characters, etc. will have absolutely no problem with this movie -- in fact, they will at very least think the movie is likable or good
- This one is more rhetorical: If you accept my thesis that the trilogy is about Prof. X and Magneto, then you may have problems with ... for lack of better words at the moment, the asymmetry of how things are concluded
- I didn't mind so much the variation from the canon of stories or motivations (or for that matter, explanations) in most of the Marvel movies, because they told a good story and captured the essence of characters ... in X3, I just got the feeling that the movie used characters (even high powered ones like Sentinels, Phoenix, Morlocks, Juggernaut, etc.) like that old game of "army men" -- lots of action, very little character development ... or emotional depth
- I don't think that the problem so much is people seeing it extended an comic IQ, I think the issue with this movie is that it is so much, so on, all the time -- the pacing felt really rushed, the story was mile wide and inch deep -- it's just a very irritating movie (that again, is pretty good) -- but really feels like it went from print to screen in 18 months, a rough draft of what could have been a really great movie if given maybe a handful of months more
Following the above, I don't understand why Fox would
A) Kill the golden goose, ending everything at this movie ... and after you see it, you realize that there's not much to justify a return
B) Try to give the FU to former director Singer or "competing" Superman movie ... holding fast to a deadline set not much after when X2 made its run -- that appears patently stupid to hold on to -- given the alleged script drafts, changes in the director seat, etc.
-OR-
Is this that arrogance that underlies certain established franchises -- essentially that people will see it no matter what kind of product it is
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In the final analysis, it's a summer movie ... big, bad, loud, mostly entertaining. This one will fall into the WHAT IF? bin for the flashes that it showed ... I blame 20CF for leaving things on an okay rather than great note