Believe It Or Not: Sequoia Reviews X3 Again! (Triple Whoo!)

As if her previous post wasn't detailed enough, Sequoia has another crack at her thoughts on the latest X-Men movie. My glee knows absolutely no bounds, although it sure puts me in the less than enviable position of somehow measuring up even the tiniest bit to her when I finally come around to reviewing the movie myself ;) Anyhoo, read on once more...

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I’ve now seen X-Men: The Last Stand three times, twice by myself and once with my parents. The movie does improve with repeated viewings, and since my mother expressed interest in seeing it again, I may go for a fourth time in several weeks, and would like to make a date of it with Peter as well. Even though he thinks I’m crazy. [Albeit in the cutest way imaginable! --Peter]

Perhaps I should amend my statement - some things about the movie improve with repeat viewings. Quite a few. Almost all of my minor annoyances and quibbles have disappeared, but the most serious, core problems have solidified. Before I go into my thoughts, I’d like to give an idea of how my parents reacted to it, since unlike myself they are not crazy, obsessive X-Men fans, and are coming into it like most of the general public. They’ve seen the first two movies on dvd but didn’t remember much about them, and neither has read a single issue, seen the cartoons, etc. They know who Wolverine, Magneto, Xavier, Storm, Phoenix, and Cyclops are if you show them a picture of the actor in costume, but are fuzzy on names and powers.

My father:

1. Enjoyed it mainly for the action scenes, particularly when things blew up, and the bridge.

2. Thought Halle Berry was hot, but that she was in the movie too much.

3. Wanted to know how "the nurse" knew it was Charles in the end scene, resulting in a lesson concerning Charles’ many girlfriends, and Why Moira Rocks.

4. Thought "Mirage" (Mystique) was interesting, and more of a villain than Magneto or Phoenix.

5. Thought Pyro was the most evil character of all.

6. Loved Beast and thought Angel was dumb.

7. Wanted to know the comics history between Charles & Erik but took issue with my description of Charles living in the lap of hippie luxury. I remain steadfast - Charles was a hippie, not a ferret-owning ‘I hate my filthy hippie owner’ type of hippie, à la The Onion, but a hippie nonetheless, and obscenely wealthy.

8. During the movie, at the Kitty/Leech moment, when Leech says her powers won’t work around him, my dad leans over and points out that neither will Juggernaut’s. I’d forgotten that in the movie, Juggernaut is a mutant and had been confused by this scene, assuming that maybe that wall was super hard? Thanks, Dad =D

9. Wanted to know if Jean was going to come back again, and how many times she had died/why she had died in the comics, but I’d had a couple glasses of wine and really got on a roll, resulting in his exclaiming, "I didn’t do it!" and fleeing upstairs when I got to the travesty known as X-Factor.

10. Thought there should have been more Magneto and Phoenix scenes, after she killed Xavier.



My mother:

1. Enjoyed it mainly for the Logan/Jean romance. She loves Hugh Jackman, especially as Wolverine, thinks Famke Janssen is one of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood, and thinks they have fantastic chemistry together.

2. Was "relieved" when Cyclops died early on - her exact words were, "Oh, thank God, I’m so relieved he died so soon." She’s very mean - she does a cruelly hilarious imitation of Scott’s crying at the end of X2, and had several comments about his "whining and sniveling" in this movie. She was very surprised when I explained to her what Scott was like in the comics way back when, and aghast at the X-Factor developments. But is still a steadfast Logan/Jean ‘shipper.

3. Didn’t think Young Jean was a bitchy little psycho, just that she was acting quite like many twelve year olds. I don’t think the two ideas are mutually exclusive.

4. Felt very strongly that Charles had done the right thing in placing the psychic blocks in Jean’s mind because he was "doing what he had to do protect a child from herself", that Jean was "like his daughter", and she would have done the same thing to me. We argued for a bit and wound up agreeing that the blocks themselves were the correct thing to do, and that Xavier’s lack of ethics in the situation lies with his not slowly releasing them one at a time and helping her learn to control all her powers, which would have also kept her personality integrated. But then, while Charles is ethical, he's always made his own ethics.

5. Wanted much more of Charles, Erik, and Jean. She didn’t care for the "Cure" storyline very much at all.

6. Loved Beast in action, hated him in his suit and tie. Was annoyed that "he had Frasier’s voice." [I loved both the suit and tie, more than his X-Men jacket, and his voice, the perfect type of animated erudition that works so well for Beast :)]

7. Hated Angel - she thought he was horribly ugly, a terrible actor, and a distraction from the rest of the film. I wholeheartedly agree.

8. Loved Kitty Pryde, especially in her scene with Juggernaut. Thought Bobby was boring and Pyro was very creepy and soulless.

9. Thought it felt "choppy", but she wasn’t sure what was missing except for a scene with Phoenix and Magneto after the house scene.

10. Hated it when Wolverine pushed Storm up against the door, because she said all she could think of was Halle Berry getting beaten up by her boyfriend and it made her mad at Logan.

11. Wanted to know everything I could tell her about Jean, Logan, Charles, and Erik in the comics.

12. Understood perfectly that in the last major scene, the Jean persona is allowing Logan to get closer, while the Phoenix persona is pushing him away, and that it was a suicide, not "Wolverine being more powerful than Phoenix" as many internet fanboys seem to think.

As for me... I maintain that the movie’s single biggest flaw is the lack of something with Jean and Erik immediately following Charles’ death. If people who have never read a comic and have barely a clue who these characters are, outside of what they’ve been shown so far in the film, think it’s obvious that something is missing, and it’s a monstrous and momentous issue that needs to be dealt with, the movie screwed up big time.

With each viewing, I’ve also been able to see a lot more detail. My favorite thing to do is to examine their facial expressions very closely. The first time I was too distracted by the action/plot unfolding, and now I feel like I can focus on the characterization. Ian, Patrick, Famke, and Hugh all do a splendid job, and I know I’m terribly biased, but I think Famke is just spectacular during some of her scenes, even when she’s not speaking. [I don't think I share your bias but agree completely, even after only the one viewing. Crazy, I know! =D] She’s doing most of her acting with her eyes - you can see the play of Jean and Phoenix in her mind. The house and the lab scenes are the standouts, but even at the end, when Magneto tells Juggernaut to kill the boy, and they switch to her face... the first time I saw it I thought she was simply observing. But the second time I noticed that she looks slightly trembly, teary. I liked that very much, that she was Jean at that moment, and was torn up inside about a child being killed, but wasn’t going to stop it because she was so shattered herself, and there was no going back from what she’d done.

The repeated viewings also helped me see and understand the Phoenix better, and to enjoy the movie’s interpretation. For some reason, the first time, it seemed like "Jean" wasn’t in the movie at all except for the few moments in the lab and at the very end, only Phoenix. But when I looked at it as being Jean except when her eyes went black and she became all veiny - which I wasn’t looking forward to, shades of Dark Willow [gag!], but found absolutely terrifying and better than any firebird would have looked onscreen - it really helped me to love it. It was Jean who wanted Logan in the lab, it was Jean who fought with Xavier: but it was Phoenix who took over and took it too far, killing him (and Scott). It was Phoenix who didn’t want to control it, Jean who followed Magneto with an air of shell-shocked despair. Jean who wanted nothing more than to die herself, and Phoenix who wanted to consume the world.

I don’t like a clear cut line in behavior between "Jean" and "Phoenix". I like some complexity and blurring of which is which, and since they are the same person, that should happen quite frequently.

My favorite scene remains the second at the Grey house... everyone and everything is just spectacular and perfect, from start to finish. I love the physical battle with Wolverine, Juggernaut, Storm, and Callisto while a much more serious psychic battle also rages. I love Charles’ palpable desperation for Erik to just shut up because Charles is the only one who truly knows what Phoenix is capable of... that if she is fully unleashed, ideals and wars and weapons mean absolutely nothing. I love Erik’s helplessness and fear for his dear, respected friend, and Jean’s own anger at Charles and hatred of herself giving in to the siren call of the Phoenix, which promises peace but causes only deeper agony.

And I cried this last time, at the end... Charles’ smile and last words to Jean, to his daughter. The way Erik picked himself up when it was over, the complexity of emotions on his face and in his eyes, the way he touched and spoke to Jean with such care, who was so absolutely hollow and broken herself. ‘My dear, come with me.’ Ian McKellen is one of our finest actors of the last century.

I think it would be one of the most enjoyable movies ever if the alleged Magneto prequel is made with Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, using that miraculous fountain of youth software - and why not use it on Famke Janssen as well, show us some of these "private sessions" and perhaps other things we don’t know about the history of Erik, Charles and Jean in this universe. Erik "liked this one" - I doubt that was their last interaction. And let’s have Moira involved as well! [And Beast, don't forget Beast, what with him being one of the original X-Men and all!]

So... besides the "missing" scene, and Young Jean being a little more unbalanced than I would have liked, my remaining major qualm about the movie deals with Storm and her stance on the Cure. She was so adamant that nothing was wrong with "us", that there was "nothing to cure", that mutancy is not a disease... and yet she has no hesitation on "curing" Magneto. It’s only unethical to use it on mutants you like, Storm? Where the hell is your supposed integrity? [That didn't even register with me at the end. Weird!]

I truly feel that was crossing a line they shouldn’t have crossed. Or should have at least shown that it was the only way, and that they still regretted doing it. Instead there was practically glee. I was reminded of how in the comics, it used to be a gigantic deal if an X-Man accidentally killed someone during a fight, because they always tried to avoid it at all costs. Colossus almost had a nervous breakdown over killing Proteus. And here in the movie they’re electrocuting, bashing in heads (there’s no way Colossus wasn’t sending heads flying), decapitating and mortally stabbing (see Colossus comment and apply to Wolverine)... Beast, with all his strength, was probably driving bones into organs... I think the X-Men may have actually killed more people in that final scene than Phoenix did, which raises unintended ethical questions.

A closing criticism: Jean should have been naked when she resurrected; the campy, ridiculous uniform [how deliciously ironic that the supposedly "realistic" leather outfit is called campy and ridiculous by my all-too-perfect girlfriend. Go Sequoia!] pulled me out of the scenes and distracted from the supernatural eeriness they created with the water, the light, and later with the floating objects at the lake. Have her hair cover her breasts, and the camera shoot from the right angles, and they could have shown nothing while making the scenes much more effective and realistic.

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And that, as they say, is that! I wouldn't be surprised if more thoughts spill forth from my darling's ever-churning X-loving brain sometime soon. In the meantime, I bid you all a fond adieu and au revoir! (or is that relire? ;)