DUDE WTF!? XMEN 3

A few tidbits for y'all to chew over from Superherohype.com:

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I didn't know if you were interested but I can confirm that Ian McKellen will be playing Magneto in the prequel. I was told this by John Bruno at a screening of X3. The company who worked on X3 to deage them is also going to be doing the Mags prequel. According to John, Ian is really excited.

I was lucky enough to spend nearly 2 hrs alone with him asking all sorts of stuff... by the way Silver Surfer is also in FF2.

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And:

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$196 Million Worldwide, But Still No X4 Plans?
Avi Arad tells Variety that they are going to move forward with the two spin-off movies instead of X-Men 4:

A big second frame decline is thus likely. But with nearly $200 million in domestic grosses by next weekend a virtual lock, Fox execs won't be shedding too many tears.

More likely, they'll be talking to their partners at Marvel about the next step for the franchise, since "Last Stand" was supposed to be the final film in a trilogy.

"The first reaction, which we should discard, is here comes 'X-Men 4,'" said Marvel Studios topper Avi Arad. "We're working on 'Wolverine,' which is definitely a continuation, and we have a very interesting script about a young Magneto."

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Also as for the reason why Gambit wasn't in this last movie, apparently they offered the role to Josh Holloway (Sawyer on Lost) and he turned it down. And they never offered it to anyone else in case he reconsidered.

It would have been funny to hear Sawyer with a Cajun accent.

...And Nightcrawler didn't return because Alan Cumming didn't like the arduous make-up process. Pity, though - great character and well played.

I saw X-3 last night... overall, not bad. A good rounding-off to the series. Disappointments, though. The pace and structure felt rather choppy and uncertain, with rapid changes as to what was actually central to the plot.

(SPOILER)Phoenix was a significant let-down, though. From what others had told me (about the comics and TV shows) I was hoping for a truly unchained, unstoppable force - something elemental, neither good nor evil, but potentially a creator and destroyer of unimaginable power. It would've made a nice contrast to the 'cure' aspect of the plot - you'd have a mutant powerful enough to unmake the world, with the opposing idea of a simple injection that can eliminate everything that makes the mutants who they are. The movie didn't really have an 'epic' feel to it like that. Also a shame that the Professor had to be killed off... in the previous two movies, they've had to use some plot contrivance to incapacitate him, since he's so powerful. However, with the introduction of Phoenix, they should've been able to keep him in the story - since there was finally something he couldn't overcome (I saw the post-credits bit, by the way).

Nice story and nice ideas, just a bit of a jumble. That's to be expected when they're trying to hurriedly tie up all their loose plot ends while simultaneously having a whole new storyline on the go.

More emphasis on a smaller number of mutants would perhaps have given the characters the attention they deserve...

Still, the movie was fun and had some quality moments. Good performances (Xavier, Lensherr, Angel, Beast, Juggernaut, others), too. Can't go wrong with Vinnie Jones when you need an unhinged thug character. Kelsey Grammar was a great choice, too, even if I was slightly reminded of the greatness that is Gary the Rat a few times. Unlike most people, I always liked Cyclops' character in the movies... he was just under-used and not given enough chances to shine, I thought.

Did anyone else think that Storm looked really emaciated in this film? Ms Berry could use a few pies, imho.

Best line: "Grow those back!" ~ Wolverine.

Ms Berry could use a few acting classes, I think.

It's clear that the government hasn't thought this through at all. Their media campaign is nonexistent - surely they could put a better spin on things than "we have the cure, because clearly you are diseased!".

With such a volatile issue, could they have not housed the vaccine/whatever in a safer environment where the already nervous patrons don't have to be shouted at? Or is this supposed to make people think of abortion in the United States?

Even after such a procedure, the government would need way more planning in place. For example, mutants have been broadly rejected by their homosapien counterparts, and so clearly there are going to be trust issues in integrating ex-mutants back into society. They feel untrusted by humans, and I imagine that a lot of the mutant population are going to feel resentful towards those who take advantage of "the cure" in order to blend in with those who previously wanted them dead. How are ex-mutants supposed to deal with the loss of identity associated with such an action? If all of the world's mutants are being traced, will there be an official register of ex-mutants? Will they need regular testing? ID Cards? Will previously broken families be able to be fused together again? Will people have to lie about their genes on job applications?

OH GOD I WORK FOR THE GOVERNMENT WHY CAN'T I STOP THINKING

I think you're looking a little bit too far into this movie, dear.

NO I'M NOT! SOMEONE NEEDS TO CONSIDER THESE THINGS!

Also, what Kishi said regarding the bridge.

Erik is allowed to say things such as "what have I done?" because he is in shock and doesn't actually have to talk as if someone is scripting all of his lines all the time. If you just lost the powers you had relied on all your life and unleashed holy hell upon the world, would you stand up and give a grandiose speech, or would you mumble like an old man and run?

Think of the old mutants, man! It's not like Magneto was signed up for the pension or anything. We need some sort of coping strategy in place! We can't just hire everyone to rebuild the bridge and clean up Alcatraz. And I don't think Xavier had life insurance, either.

OH GOD THINK OF THE WIMMEN AND CHILDREN

I thought the fact that they backtracked on both the whole cure thing (it works! wait, no it doesn't) and the whole Xavier thing (he's dead! wait, no he isn't) just goes to show how sloppy and mistake-ridden the script was. Bah!

Maybe a mutant needs to make a tangible effort in order to recover his powers. On top of that, maybe only mutants with powers comparable to Magneto's are able to overcome the cure's effects. It may very well not be a case of "Oh hey it wears off in a week."

Yeah. People who get in car accidents can learn to walk again, just not the next day.

STOP HATIN AND START PARTICIPATIN!

Also, Mark Inglis is a great big bastard and I need to make a thread about him over there even though I just said something about antihate.

Ok, I will say this, I would pay good money to hear Ian McKellen read from a dictionary and I adored every scene he was in even when he was being silly and moving bridges he shouldn't have been moving. And if he told me to, I'd join the bad people in a second cause I <3 him so much.

You know something else I would've liked to see developed more? The kid behind the cure.

There's those couple of scenes where mutants are doing fantastic things in the outside world (Angel fleeing the skyscraper, Magneto moving the bridge) and he's just kinda sitting there like "holy moley, that's awesome" or something. You think a kid like that would've had some kind of desire to be free, you know? I would've loved to see him raise some hell just because other mutants can't use their powers around him.

they definitely could have developed a lot of stuff more deeply, but they'd have ended up making three movies instead of one. There's only so much you can fit into a 2-2.5 hour movie.

The movie was 1 hour and 45 minutes.

well then they could have added a little more, i guess.