Keeping It Reel

X3 Revisited

One thing I'll also be doing from time to time is revisiting my own ratings.  Sometimes, they need to get re-evaluated for a reason or two.  I did it with Rent and now with "X3:  The Last Stand".

I see so many movies that oftentimes, seeing them once may not be enough to give a flick a fair shake.  Or it could be that the dvd release would offer extras that have to be taken into consideration.  Or in this case, it could be a little of both.

I don't know how I missed it before, but could they have possibly emasculated Cyclops anymore?  He always was a bit of a metrosexual, even in the comic books; however, they seemed to very much sissify him in this movie.  They couldn't even give him the dignity to have a macho death.  He just kind of fades away, leaving nothing but his shades.

They made a mistake of shortening the fight scene between Wolverine and Juggernaut.  The extended scene in the special features delivers more action and also showcases more facets of Juggernaut's abilities.  Furthermore, I still don't like how they got the reason that he wears his helmet wrong.

I found out that I must have picked up the wrong dvd version.  I figured by getting the collector's edition that I had covered all my bases.  Apparently not.  Ethan was telling me the version he got from Wal-Mart has different deleted scenes that are even better than the ones I've seen.  All of them should have been left in the movie.

The storyline was actually very good.  I appreciated it more the second time around.  Having watched it at home with my own personal surround sound proved to be as good an experience as I expected.  I was pleasantly surprised at how watching it in the van with that sound system was just as impressive.  Even though I had to be right up on the screen to see it with my jacked up vision.

Then:  B                  

Now:  B+

More Marvel Mayhem

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I had been waiting for this movie ever since seeing the previews for it in the Special Features of the first dvd.  Almost, but not really.  There's nothing wrong with getting your superhero fix on.  Just ask my friend Sue, aka, Wonder Woman.

"The Ultimate Avengers 2" finds the Avengers pretty much disassembled with all of them dealing with their own personal issues in different parts of the world.  Of course that is when a world crisis emerges and the problem becomes not only getting them back together but the logistics of making it possible because of their spread out locations.

This movie marks the first appearance of the hero Black Panther in a motion picture.  At one point, there was talk of Wesley Snipes portraying him in a real-life action movie.  I still think it could work; however, not with an aging Snipes.  There can never be enough Black superheroes as far as I'm concerned.

Lost of action in this one again although not as well choreographed as the first one.  I can't believe I'm mentioning choreography when talking about a cartoon.  It is the truth though.  Also, they definitely could have used more of the Hulk wreckin' shop.  I don't care if he never was a good fit as an Avenger, they need him in the fold and should have found a way to incorporate him more.

All the shorties liked this one as much as the first one.  For me, it didn't have quite as much bite.  Nevertheless, even though there don't seem to be any plans for it on the horizon, I will still be anxiously awaiting number three.

My rating:  B

Not Enough "Super"latives to Do It Justice

* * * BEWARE...THERE WILL BE SPOILERS * * *

Wow...

I wanted to start off with a nice intro paragraph like I normally do. This time talking about how I was looking forward to this moment being a fan of Bryan Singer's work and being a Norwalk alum.  Or talking about how I grew up with Superman beginning with the Superfriends days to the eventual movies.  No, the best way to start it off is simply...Wow.

When I saw BJ at the Iowa premiere of "Superman Returns", I was thinking to myself there is no way this kid can pull off this role, I don't care who the director is.  He's skinny, has bushy eyebrows, no real presence to him, almost nerdy.  Well he channeled all that into the Clark Kent side and had Clark down perfectly.  Nervous speech and all.

BJ's Superman was incredibly awesome.  He brought some emotional vulnerability to the character that had never really been tapped into before.  You could see in his Superman the effect that living with humans and then eventually living without them had had on him.  You would think that a rookie shouldn't be able to be that believable in his first blockbuster role.  Not since, well, Christopher Reeve, has someone done it so well.

I had mentioned that it was key that the chemistry between him and Lois be there and it was.  As a matter of fact, the reason the love triangle between her, BJ and Cyclops works so well is because of the chemistry between Kate Bosworth and BJ.  You can see how conflicted Lois is having to decide between the life she took on when Superman left and the life she may want now that he's back.  Furthermore, BJ does an excellent job displaying the anguish Superman has to deal with knowing life on earth has moved on without him.

Singer is the king of subtleties when it comes to his superhero flicks.  Here, it's the classic poses he recreates that really work.  Superman's pose from his first appearance in Action Comics with the car and the Atlas pose with the Daily Planet globe.  Then he slips in the shot with Lois' boy showing a glimpse of the trademark Superman single curl after we have already realized that's his son.

Speaking of his son, that's one of the minor tings I will nitpick.  Isn't everything about Superman super?  So how could a regular human woman withstand him conceiving a child?  I think you follow me.

My biggest struggle with this flick was if Superman was gone five years, Clark Kent was gone five years.  Superman doesn't even try to be slick about it.  He reveals himself to the world again on the exact same day Clark makes his re-appearance.  No one makes the connection?  Cyclops eludes to it then it's quickly dismissed.  And Lois, a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, doesn't pick up on this?

As far as villains go, as expected, Kevin Spacey is the perfect Lex Luthor.  Right on par with Gene Hackman's portrayal; however, even a little more sinister.  He's still real anal about real estate scams which seems rather simplistic for a criminal mastermind.  I wouldn't mind seeing him back again, but they really need a villain that can physically go head-to-head with Superman.  If they bring in Doomsday for the sequel, all other superhero movies can pretty much hang it up.

The special effects are where this movie blows everything else away.  Superman's sonic boom flying owns.  His scene with the airplane now parallels the famous Golden Gate Bridge scene from "X3".  Viewing it all on IMax helped to give it all the justice it deserves.  There's so much visual stimulation throughout that you almost overlook the 2 1/2 hour run-time.

I knew this movie would be better than expected.  I just didn't expect it to be THAT much better.  Singer has made arguably his best movie yet.  They've made almost the best Superman movie yet.  And BJ has gained my respect by proving his acting chops earned him this role.  We may not need Superman, but we definitely needed a movie like this.

My rating:  A

Tales of an X-Man Junkie

The time has FINALLY come.  After days of what seemed like months of waiting, I was at long last able to check out the movie I had been anticipated checking out ever since it first debuted last weekend.  Would it live up to the lofty expectations I had set for it?  Were all the negative reviews that it was getting warranted?  Let the debates begin...

As far as sequels go, there are very few instances when the sequel surpasses the original.  The most obvious one that first set the precedent that I can remember was "The Empire Strikes Back".  I don't care what anyone says, especially the young bucks infatuated with the new trilogy, "Empire" was the best of ALL the Star Wars movies.  "Spider-Man 2" was another one that comes to mind.

But when "X2: X-Men United" hit the scene, all bets were off.  It was everything that comic book and superhero freaks had hoped for and then some.  The only bad thing about the movie is that it set the bar so high that it left little room for error for the third movie.

* * * * * BE WARNED!  FROM THIS POINT, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS! * * * *

"X-Men: The Last Stand" may have been a victim of the franchise's own previous success.  It almost didn't matter how good it was, it would still have to compete with the accomplishments of it's predecessor and that's a near impossible task. 

The biggest thing I had to get past with this movie was the fact that Nightcrawler, my favorite of all the X-Men, was not a part of it.  Because of that, I already came into it with a huge chip on my shoulder.  I was determined not to hold that against the movie. However, they could have at least softened the blow by making at least some attempt to explain his absence.  We got nothing.

The thing the X-Men comics has always been known for is having a plethora of mutants coming in and out of the scene.  Both as members of the X-Men and as their enemies.  I'm thinking it probably wasn't the best idea to try to squeeze so many of them into one movie.  It's difficult to get any type of real character identity when there are several of them to concentrate on.

Personally, I could have done without so much of the over-dramatics that was done in certain scenes in this movie.  And the over-the-top orchestrated soundtrack to emphasize it didn't help much either.  When Hugh Jackman makes an effort to emotionally breakdown as Wolverine, it not only seems out of character for Wolverine but also looks out of place given the fact he just doesn't that type of depth to his acting.

I did absolutely love the effects here.  The one scene that will always be most memorable for me in ALL of the X-Men movies will be in this one.  Nothing in the series can now top Magneto's feat with the Golden Gate bridge.  I could even overlook the shoddy job done on Juggernaut's costume (or even the lackluster effort put into his character as a whole) due to the enormity of that moment in the film.

Unknown Reader made it a point to say they killed off too many of the main characters.  I do agree with this and I don't.  At least the way that some of the deaths were handled were done pretty well.  All except Cyclops.  We never really get any resolution to his demise.  It's more or less left to the imagination and I don't want to have to concentrate that much thinking in my action movies.

Despite any shortcomings this movie may have had, there are three people who ultimately give it teeth.  Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart absolutely rule in their roles as Magneto and Professor X respectively.  It's as if these were the roles they were both born to play.  Every scene they're in, even when it's together, they decisively command.  The other person is Famke Janssen.  Nothing more really needs to be said there.

All in all, "The Last Stand" was not going to best "X2".  It does overtake the original.  It doesn't live up to expectations, but that was a monumental goal to accomplish.  Maybe Brett Ratner did not hit one out of the park.  At the very least, he did score one for the franchise.  Even if they did a couple of things to leave it open for yet another sequel, they better not even think twice about it unless Nightcrawler returns.  Possibly then I can grant some forgiveness for all their past indiscretions.

My rating:  B

The Marvel Infatuation

I was trying to think of what my earliest recollection was of reading comics.  Naturally, I can't remember the first one I ever read or the first time I picked one up.  I can recall going to the pharmacy in Norwalk and constantly checking out the latest issue of my all-time favorites, the X-Men.  That's the only one I would ever spend money on, but I would leaf thru the pages of the others to see what was going on with other heroes of the Marvel universe.

Even before Marvel came around, the shorties of my generation were probably first expose to superheroes thanks to our Saturday morning cartoon of the Superfriends.  That cartoon was already fun to watch but when they added the Legion of Doom later on (and got rid of those annoying Wonder Twins and their stupid monkey), it got even better.  At that point, the cartoon got more action oriented was geared more towards older teens.

My cousin Earl Cotton was the one who exposed me to even more wonders in the world of superheroes and comics.  I would visit him in KC and he would have stacks and stacks of comic books of all different heroes in both the DC and Marvel world.  He could tell you anything and everything you wanted to know about the origins of a character, what's currently going on in their storyline, etc.  I'm sure it was there that I was able to read up more on The Avengers and then got interested in them.  They would never be my favorite super group over the X-Men, but they were a very close second.

There was a time when there actually was a movie called "The Avengers" featuring Ralph Fiennes.  When I had first heard that was coming out, I got excited thinking that the Avengers as I knew them were coming to the big screen.  When I later found out that it wasn't I was thoroughly disappointed.  It didn't help matters much that the movie sucked altogether so now it's forever associated with the name that belonged to a much better super group.

It was long overdue that the Avengers got their own movie.  So "Ultimate Avengers"  wasn't the live action efforts that has been dedicated to X-Men and Fantastic Four.  In a way, it's even better that it was a feature length cartoon instead.  Animation affords more flexibility as far as creativity and action since there are no restrictions due to special effects.  The one problem that the creators would have to look out for is making sure as a cartoon, the animation doesn't look hokey, much like the limited amount of Saturday morning cartoons that are out today.  This movie doesn't have that problem.  The animation reminded me of a mix between anime that actually doesn't suck and the animated X-Men series when it was in it's prime.

I like that they don't waste time in this flick trying to delve into the origins of each character.  I realize that the hero movies of today are trying to appeal to a broader audience so they tend to waste time in the movie explaining the background behind the hero.  "Ultimate Avengers" is obviously catered to the comic book audience that already know about its heroes' beginnings.  It does focus on the assembling of the Avengers which is appropriate (even if it's not accurate to how they were originally formed according to the comic book) and it does an excellent job of demonstrating the manner in which they all learn to work as a team.

I really do wish they would have included two of my all-time favorite Avengers: Vision and Hawkeye.   Neither may have been one of the original members but they were the most enigmatic to me.  Vision because of his Spock-like demeanor (he is a humanoid and not an actual human) and  his unique ability to possess complete control over his density.  He was unlike any of the other Avengers who managed to fight with some form of brute strength.  And Hawkeye because of the fact he really had no powers at all but was a master at his bow. Plus, for Hawkeye, to me he had the coolest looking outfit.  Thanks to Hawkeye, my favorite characters in fantasy and fiction movies were always those that were tha bomb with the bow and arrow (see Legalos).

The fighting sequences in this flick were the best I've seen a long time in animated efforts.  If there was a way they could be translated into real life movies, it would even improve the quality of a lot of live-action movies.  Sure they may have left out my favorites and maybe even some favorites of other Avengers fans.  However, as with any super group that's been around for 30+ years (with the exception of the Fantastic Four), there are going to be several members that come and go so of course they can't include everyone in the first movie.  The key thing is that they do now have the possibility to introduce the other characters later.  In fact, when checking out the special features of this disc, it looks like they are already working on Ultimate Avengers 2 and will introduce a couple of more during that one.

It seemed a little short at a running time of only 109 minutes.  Even with that, I still felt it was a superior effort in translating a comic to the big screen (although this was straight to dvd so not actually the big screen).  This a definite must-see for any comic books fan or even anyone that has been enjoying the superhero movement of late.

My rating:  A-