Well, let’s start off with the bad news. Bryan Singer did not return, and it was not because of the “Me, Too” movement. That happened over a decade later, but in the mid-2000s Singer chose to leave the X-Men franchise to director Superman Returns. Was it worth it? I was one of the people who loved Superman Returns, but God it was awful seeing this series turn to trash.
New director Brett Ratner does not do a good job. This film is a bunch of unimpressive special effects and fighting – or at least they bored me because the story was flatly written. Jean’s “Dark Phoenix” story is very predictable, with no sense of inner turmoil or drama on her part, and it marches to a lame ending with Wolverine. I’m not crazy about Wolverine acting like a grieving lover at the end of the movie’s climactic scene, given he and Jean were never together. In fact, I felt X2 perfectly ended the whole love triangle subplot, with both men mourning Jean’s self-sacrifice and Logan telling Scott, “She had a choice. She chose you.”
That brings me to my biggest issue with the film – the utter pissing on Cyclops. In the comics he’s the leader of the X-Men, and I can understand the more marketable Wolverine being foregrounded in the movies, but here Scott gets killed halfway through the movie and nobody bats an eye. Granted, Professor X dies at the same time, so I can understand the characters being more broken up over Charles, but for Scott to not get mourned at all is infuriating. It’s not as if Professor X gets much of a memorial anyway – just a histrionic speech by Storm reminiscent of Halle Berry’s often-lambasted Best Actress Oscar acceptance speech – and the big moment is rendered meaningless in a stinger after the end credits where we suddenly see the dirt on his grave move. Thanks for investing us in the drama of whether he’d come back to life. </sarcasm>
Edit: I learned Cyclops and Professor X were killed off mid-movie to make Storm the group’s leader because Halle Berry would only come back on the condition her role be expanded. Why did they give in to her???!!! Her career had already peaked with that Oscar win – the canceling of her “Jinx” spinoff from Die Another Day and the catastrophic failure of her Catwoman movie showed she was no box office draw. Furthermore, I don’t recall a single person ever saying X-Men or X2 owed any of their success to her.
The one great thing about X3 is Beast. Many were upset that one of the original X-Men and one of the main characters on the popular 90s cartoon was left out of the first two movies. The technology just wasn’t there however – until the time came to make this film. Moreover, underneath the makeup, costuming, and VFX was Kelsey Grammer who absolutely nails the part!
Of course, presumably because Beast and Mystique already required so much work, it was decided not to have a third blue character and Nightcrawler was not brought back. Bad enough before you even find out that there was no mention of him, let alone an explanation of what had happened.
Ugh, I don’t wanna talk about this anymore.
Bottom Line: Garbage.
Up Next: New (very early) beginning.
Questions? Comments? Feel free to write below.
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