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Have
you seen the film? ... Tell us what you think
here |
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Resident
ALOVE film buff, Phil Hoyle, casts a critical
eye over the new X-men film for us and comes
away feeling under-whelmed ...
You know what? I hate Superman. No, not only
because of his one-dimensional character,
ridiculous super powers and cheesy ‘American
Way’ attitude; Rather, I hate Superman
because this year he destroyed the X-men.
Sure, even before the big blue came along
I was worried that Bryan Singer had set himself
up for a fall with the brilliant X2: X-Men
United. I mean; the noted director had even
invoked the promise of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen)
returning as Phoenix, the Holy Grail of the
X-men fans movie wish list. I was pretty convinced
no movie could live up to the hype. However,
at least before Superman, with Singer at the
helm, X3 was in with a shot. It was not to
be, though. The Man of Steel flew in, flashed
his spit curl and underoos and Singer was
up, up and away from the X-men franchise off
to direct Supe’s forthcoming film instead,
leaving my hopes dashed in his wake.
Predictably, what’s left behind of X-Men
3 is a bit of a mess, both off and on screen.
Matthew Vaughan (Layer Cake) was brought in
to direct, then left citing the need to spend
time with his family (others suggesting it
was due to the immense time pressure on production).
The studio then wheeled in Brett Ratner (Rush
Hour), who had, ironically, been tipped to
direct Superman Returns himself. The cast
swelled daily until it seemed that every mutant
you’d ever heard of (except, incomprehensibly,
the wonderful Nightcrawler – Alan Cummings
– from X2) would be appearing in the
movie. It begged the question of whether there’d
be any room for plot?
Well, apparently someone thought there was
room for two! Not only do we get Phoenix,
but we also get the invention of an injection
that cures mutants. Of course, none of this
would be too bad if handled well, but Ratner
directs like a blue bottle on speed - Characters
flash on and off screen - dying, being cured,
turning to dust (thanks to Phoenix); even
‘main’ characters duck out pretty
much as soon as they’ve appeared.
Angel (Ben Foster), tabled as a new central
character, barely says two lines (and fluffs
both of these). Cyclops vanishes (James Marsden
went to Superman too!) and those characters
left seem to be filling in from the absentees
– Storm (Halle Berry) takes on Prof
X’s mantle and Wolverine inexplicably
starts saying Cyclops lines (we’re X-men!).
Neither of these changes come across as believable.
In fact, the movie moves so fast that it changes
from day to night in a flash during one continuity-crushing
scene and a lot of the deaths and cures are
reversed by the time the credits end!
It’s all so frustrating. Because Singer
was involved at the beginning of production,
the foundation of this movie is sound. All
the quality design work is there and the theme
of a mutant cure is a clear reflection of
the first movie where Magneto invents a machine
that turns humans into mutants (although this
isn’t mentioned). It’s just that
the building on top of the foundation is a
little strained, a bit slapdash and half finished.
Only Ian McKellan (Magneto) comes out with
his dignity intact. If you’re at all
interested by that stage, after the end credits
we’re left with the … I want to
say ‘hope’ but it may actually
be ‘fear’, of another sequel;
A huge devolution of a great franchise. |
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Youthwork -
The Partnership ...
ALOVE,
Youthwork Magazine, Youth For Christ, Spring Harvest and
Oasis are working together to equip and resource the Church
for effective youth work and ministry. |
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