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Originally Posted by Miriel
First of all, I think the movie had a really great premise to work off of. The idea of a cure for mutents is a pretty interesting one and a plot that could have been really great and intelligent and emotional and all that good stuff. And I liked the whole dual personality thing that Jean had going on.
But niether one of those two storylines ever got developed properly and what could have been really great was turned into a cheap, shallow, summer flick with very little substance.
Agreed. Those plots had quite a bit of potential, but they both failed in their execution. While the Phoenix story had been set up from the first two movies, I think that the Cure idea made for the better plot. However, neither one of those stories was delivered well. It seemed to me that it would have been much better off as two movies. The Phoenix story and the Cure story needed no overlap, and the overlap they had felt unnatural. They should have done the Cure story this movie (since it was the better put together of the two plots), and left the Phoenix story for another movie.
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There were too many new characters and NONE of them were developed properly. Angel is in what, 3 scenes in the whole movie? And the Kitty/Bobby/Rogue triangle was horrific. They have a love triangle but then kinda not really, and in the end, there's just hand holding between Bobby and Rogue? It was just so haphazardly done. Like they threw in this weak little sub-plot just for fun.
Four scenes. Hacking at the wings, getting the Cure, asking about the school, and rescuing his dad. However, I agree that he was so undeveloped as to be totally superfluous to the movie. The first scene, with him cutting at his wings, was so moving. But then they really went nowhere with it.
As for the love triangle thing: you're right, it was poorly done. What's more, I think it cheapened Rogue's feelings. Rogue's power is one of the worst and most traumatic of all the X-Men. She is incapable of physical contact with other human beings, and that is a terrible curse. But they just turned it into a jealousy thing and totally ruined a lot of the emotional impact of it.
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Then you have very important people from the first two movies barely present in this third movie.
The senator is dead, as is Striker. Nightcrawler wasn't there, for some odd reason. Can't think of anyone else who wasn't there but who should have been.
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The fact that they just killed off Scott like it was nothing pissed me off. He's the main X-Men. And then he dies cause Jean kisses him and goes nuts. Ooook....
Well, Cyclops was never one of my favorites anyway (in either the comic books or the movies). However, I think they should have left him out of the movie for the majority of it, and they should have just focused on the Cure story. Then, at the end, they could have him find Jean, and set up the Phoenix story for a fourth movie.
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Then they kill off freakin' Xavier. That's insane! It felt like the writers or whatever had absolutely no respect for these characters.
That was a terrible move, IMHO. It reminded me somewhat of Serenity, when Wash got killed. They killed him for no real reason. And, while Professor X might not be required to make more X-Men movies, it will be much more difficult making them without him. Which, considering that the series had the potential for so much more (Arch-Angel, the Morlocks [I was hoping they would show up when I saw the scene where Magneto intruded on the Mutant gathering, especially since I knew about Leech, and he was one of the Morlocks in the comic books, but the writers didn't really do the Morlocks justice. Still, I could see how they could develop out of a culture like that, so the potential is still there], the Sentinals [they only show up in a Danger Room program?], Rogue going nuts because of the psyches of everyone she absorbed running amok in her head...), it is rather disappointing. Even if some of the actors would be getting too old to play their parts if the movies went on, there are plenty more X-Men left (and I wanted to see Gambit).
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Everything just felt wrong and unncessary. The golden gate bridge part in the movie? Totally cheesy and didn't really make much sense.
Everything was rushed. The script was lazy and sometimes incoherent. And none of the action scenes was innovative or had the "wow" factor except for the one moment when Ice Man turned into solid ice. Everything else was same ol' same ol'.
And the worst part of it?
The freakin' dialogue.
"A Good Defense is a Good Offense" - Wolverine,
"God help us all" - Guy in the control room,
"What have we Done" - Guy in the Control room,
"He's (juggernaut) coming for the boy" - XMen member
"Not if I can get there first" - Kitty (Repliy)
Are you kidding me with this stuff?
I didn't mind those issues as much. There was enough good stuff to counteract those negatives, IMHO.
But the movie could have done so much more. We needed to take the President's viewpoint further. He was the only one in the government who seemed to wonder if what they were doing with the Cure was morally correct, and we needed a bit more of that. Instead we basically had the idea that "the Cure is evil, and those who are making it are evil" shoved down our throats. When it isn't nearly that simple. The Cure had many different potential ways of being used. It could be used as a weapon, as we saw, and that has serious moral implications to consider. It is taking away something which is an integral part of a person. In some ways, it could be considered worse than a police officer shooting to kill. But what of the mutants who want the Cure? Quite frankly, I think Storm needed to be smacked, especially after the way she treated Rogue. You don't have a problem with your power. You can turn it off, control it, and live a normal life if you wanted to. Not everyone else is that lucky, girl. Unfortunately, Hank McCoy was far too diplomatic in how he pointed that out. Rogue was totally incapable of human contact, and that is a terrible thing for a person. Who the hell did Storm think she was, to so casually declare that there was nothing wrong with Rogue?
I thought of Leech as soon as I heard about the Cure, since he was the only mutant I knew of who had the power to suppress other mutant's powers. But Leech's power was temporary, affecting only the area around him (though his range was much larger in the comic books. Perhaps it will develop with as he ages, and perhaps he will lose his human shape and become the little green creature he was in the comic books as time goes on). I doubted from the beginning the validity of the "permanent" power suppression because of that knowledge, so I really wasn't that surprised when Magneto started to get his ability back. I just hope that Rogue doesn't get hers back at an inopportune time (such as when her and Bobby are "dancing" [to use a Doctor Who euphemism]). Of course, Leech is now in the school, so I suppose that he could damp out Rogue's power. But somehow, I don't think the idea of going "could you come over here? I'm trying to sleep with my boyfriend" would work too well, especially since Leech is just a little kid at this point...
Anyway, my final analysis is that while it was a decent movie, it was nowhere near as good as it could have been.
