Doug Millington-Smith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
magicaddict) wrote2006-06-01 01:14 pm
magicaddict) wrote2006-06-01 01:14 pm
So...X3 Then...
...and I can't say that I was overly impressed.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it (though with Emma there I would enjoy anything), but it wasn't quite the world blazing rush that I think Ratner was trying to create.
The special effects were spectacular, if implausible, but then you'd expect that with the single highest concentration of out-and-out flange beasts ever seen on the silver screen, though while some of the ideas were perfectly acceptable (I'm fine with molecular telekinetics. It's Phoenix - she can do whatever the hell she wants. I'm even okay with incendiary car catapults - nothing unexpected from Magneto and Pyro there), I did, however, have a problem with...to avoid giving away too much plot...the method of transport to the final battleground. That was a "fucking kidding" moment along the lines of Xander Cage snowboarding faster than an avalanche in XXX. Only so much the public will swallow whole, guys - get a grip.
Overall, I think they seemed to concentrate too much on visuals rather than on any connection between the characters and the audience. Fine, there were emotional moments, but I always felt as though I was watching, rather than experiencing, them as in the first two films.
The plotline moved forward in fits and starts, and didn't get as far along as I thought it would, even in the knowledge that there would be a fourth so some cards had to be kept to the chest. What was done could have been done in less time, even considering the relatively short run-time of the film.
For the first time, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart looked ever so slightly embarrassed to be there. The first two films had a much more emotional feel to them - probably slightly at odds with the way comic book was written - but made characters with the gravitas that the British contingent brought to them quite acceptable. The third installment was a lot more in your face, kaboom, kapuff and more along the comic-book lines of what was possibly expected from Sommers back when he started, and made the portrayals of Prof. X and Magneto look hammed up at best.
I dislike the fact that the two most important scenes in the film happen at the end of the final sequence and after the credits have rolled. Having seen them, I now think it was as if things were building up to those two all the way through, as though the film was watching back at you with a twinkle in it's eye. Fine, it means we're nicely set up for part four, but can we have part three first?
On the whole, am I glad I went to watch it? Yes. It was an enjoyable couple of hours. Will I pay to go and watch the fourth? Yes. For the above reason. Did they do a reasonable job? Yes. You can tell the direction has changed...direction...but it's still good quality entertainment.
Was it as good as the first two? Not even close.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it (though with Emma there I would enjoy anything), but it wasn't quite the world blazing rush that I think Ratner was trying to create.
The special effects were spectacular, if implausible, but then you'd expect that with the single highest concentration of out-and-out flange beasts ever seen on the silver screen, though while some of the ideas were perfectly acceptable (I'm fine with molecular telekinetics. It's Phoenix - she can do whatever the hell she wants. I'm even okay with incendiary car catapults - nothing unexpected from Magneto and Pyro there), I did, however, have a problem with...to avoid giving away too much plot...the method of transport to the final battleground. That was a "fucking kidding" moment along the lines of Xander Cage snowboarding faster than an avalanche in XXX. Only so much the public will swallow whole, guys - get a grip.
Overall, I think they seemed to concentrate too much on visuals rather than on any connection between the characters and the audience. Fine, there were emotional moments, but I always felt as though I was watching, rather than experiencing, them as in the first two films.
The plotline moved forward in fits and starts, and didn't get as far along as I thought it would, even in the knowledge that there would be a fourth so some cards had to be kept to the chest. What was done could have been done in less time, even considering the relatively short run-time of the film.
For the first time, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart looked ever so slightly embarrassed to be there. The first two films had a much more emotional feel to them - probably slightly at odds with the way comic book was written - but made characters with the gravitas that the British contingent brought to them quite acceptable. The third installment was a lot more in your face, kaboom, kapuff and more along the comic-book lines of what was possibly expected from Sommers back when he started, and made the portrayals of Prof. X and Magneto look hammed up at best.
I dislike the fact that the two most important scenes in the film happen at the end of the final sequence and after the credits have rolled. Having seen them, I now think it was as if things were building up to those two all the way through, as though the film was watching back at you with a twinkle in it's eye. Fine, it means we're nicely set up for part four, but can we have part three first?
On the whole, am I glad I went to watch it? Yes. It was an enjoyable couple of hours. Will I pay to go and watch the fourth? Yes. For the above reason. Did they do a reasonable job? Yes. You can tell the direction has changed...direction...but it's still good quality entertainment.
Was it as good as the first two? Not even close.
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