Spoiler Alert! If you have not seen "X-Men: The Last Stand" and intend to do so and do not want to know how it ends, do not read on.
I went to see the new X-Men movie last night. I had really liked the second moive, and never seen the first one so I can't comment on it. This installment was not nearly as good as the previous one. Sure, it was entertaining, but not quite $10.75 of entertainment and the end annoyed me. (Yeah - movies are now $10.75 in Manhattan. I understand theaters are barely hanging in there, but every time I go it is 25 cents more to see a film. At what point is this a self-defeating proposal - need to raise prices to make money, but raise them so high that no one goes any more? Anyway, I'm not sure how many movies I'll see this summer at that price. Certainly for the new Pirates of the Carribean flick and Snakes on a Plane. I loved Clerks and the preview for Clerks II did look great, but I may have to rent that sucker. End of digression.)
Anyway, X-Men: The Last Stand is again on of those us-against-them, good-vs.-evil films in which you can sort of feel like the good guys triumphed. Yet it was also about man's redemptive/deathly love for woman. As The Explorer pointed out, wasn't it great that Wolverine saved Jean Grey (and the world) by admitting his love for her, which then leads her to die? If it was done well, it could've been touching, but I heard giggles and I don't think that it brought a fuckin' tear to anyone's eye. A super macho director like Brett Ratner just had no idea how to pull it off.
The final verdict: cool that the most powerful mutant is a woman, sucks that she can't control it and it (and the love of Wolverine, who tries to help her get control over her powers) kills her.
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Suzanne,
ReplyDeleteI very skillfully skipped over what you said about the latest X-Men. My son got me watching the other X-Men and I really enjoyed it.
By the way, my computer is out of commission so I commandeered my wife's computer and her new blog-site she started yesterday.
Eddie
Everyone knows that the best way to save a powerful woman from herself is to destroy her. Basic common sense, right?
ReplyDeleteAs for astronomical movie prices, thank God there are so many free outdoor movies in New York to balance out the $10.75 craziness...
Although I guess the free movies are only 3 months a year...sigh!
ReplyDeleteX-Men 3 was a great action film, though it lacked a good emotional and involving story. I really, really liked its usage of special effects, especially the scene during which Jean Grey is found in her childhood home and, subsequently (and to put it vaguely), fucks some shit up. Whoever was a foley artist on that movie did a spectacular job, as well. But, like I said, poor story. Hopefully, the Wolverine spin-off movie will help the X-Men franchise redeem itself.
ReplyDeleteAlso, not to say homosexual men can't be macho, but Brett Ratner is gay, so I'm not sure if it was his intention to exploit the doomed, sacrificial relationship between Jean and Wolverine. Personally, I'd partially blame the filming of it on whoever wrote the shooting script.
And, yeah, movie ticket prices are no fun. I can count the number of movies I saw in theatres over the past school year. Shameful, seriously.
Rebecca, I read in Entertainment Weekly that he always dates super models and other men hate him because of his harem. Of course, I realize that it could all be a cover, just like Tom Cruise, but I wonder where you heard he is gay. (Part of me refuses to believe that the person who made the Rush Hour movies could possibly be gay.)
ReplyDeleteOkay, nix what I said about Ratner. I could have been thinking of Bryan Singer, the director of the first two films, who is an openly gay man, and who, incidentally enough, traded places with Ratner to become the director of Superman Returns. I still wouldn't venture to call him macho--I feel he did nice work with Red Dragon--but the Rush Hour movies were pretty terrible.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, the climactic confrontation between Jean Grey and Wolverine moved me a little--but only because it reminded me so much of the season six finale of Buffy, where an evil Willow repeatedly rips apart best friend Xander's flesh, while he approaches her and continuously says, "I love you" until she turns from bad to good again.
Yes, Bryan Singer rocks. His presence was missed on the X-Men 3.
ReplyDeleteThere are other Buffy parallels as well. At the end of season 2 or 3, Buffy is forced to confront Angel's alter ego and, after expressing her love for him, stabs him through the stomach with a very large sword, banishing him to a hell dimension that it would take him at least half a season to escape.
ReplyDeleteRatner is no Joss Whedon, that's for damn sure. Anyone else psyched for the Joss Whedon Wonder Woman movie? We definitely need some feminist superheroes out there. Let's hope it becomes a series!
ReplyDeleteCharisma Carpenter as the lead, perhaps?
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