X-men 3:
If you haven't seen the movie yet you may not want to read any further; spoilers galore. Well maybe spoiler isn't quite the right term. I'm going to talk about many specifics in the film, but trust me, the movie is not that good and the information I reveal isn't going to change the first time viewing experience in any way.
Right out of the box one of the first things that hit me is how everyone used their powers.. In the first two movies they use their powers like someone who has had special traits their entire life. They were executed in educated ways that had a subtle ingeniuity. Remember, many of the mutants attended a special mutant school to learn control and innovative applications of their abilities. In the third movie the mutants use their powers in the most obvious, sophmoric ways. If I went up to a srtanger and said, "hey boss, if you had metal claws what would you do with them?" 3 of his 5 answers would be in X3. Not to beat a dead horse but X3 just didn't have that well thought out creative spark that made the first two X-men so special.
Kelsey Grammar. I thought he did a great job as Beast, he sounded exactly as I imagined his voice in my head when reading the comics. Although I didn't read all that much X-men, or even Marvel for that matter, he was an excellent Beast. I thought the costume wasn't that great however. I'm sure many a costumer spent many an hour costuming, but a guy in a blue cat/monster suit just doesn't translate to the live action all that well. A blue Cowardly Lion outfit just doesn't cut it in today's cinema. Our standards as an audience are skyrocketing and we need to demand that Hollywood meets them. Movies are expensive! I want my money's worth. Blow me away!
The story had holes in it big enough to throw Galactus through. Almost every plot point was flawed and in most cases made no sense what so ever. [Here are come the spoilers] Scott (Cyclops) dies, and it's about time. He was probably the weakest part of all three movies. His incessent crying and moaning made him almost unbearable. So unbearable that for some reason I took great joy in watching his suffering. Watching cyclops cry always made me laugh.
His charcter never progressed or changed, and his story/death had no bearing on the path of the script what so ever. Now I would think that his lack of importance would land him on the editing room floor, but I guess not. On second thought, without him in the third movie there would be one less action figure to sell. Lord knows every child in America needs the Scott Summers action figure with roller coffin action.
Xavier dies, why? What was the point? I have no idea.
Why did the X-men care if The Brotherhood captured the mutant that could remove other mutant's powers? Not only did the X-men want to stop them but they wanted to stop them so badly that they were willing to risk themselves and the lives of countless innocents. It just doesn't all add up. The movie went way too many different directions and tried to cover too many characters, leaving them all flat, one dimensional and underdeveloped.
The last thing that really burned my bisuits in this movie was that every single mutant had a huge leaping ability. In the final sequence the audience sees twenty to thirty mutants superjumping. It looked pretty lame. Cheesetown, U.S.A. The first two movies showed us unbeleivable powers and made them realistic. This movie took unbeleivable powers and made them ridiculous.
All things being considered it wasn't bad but it wasn't good. The plot problems and shallow characters kept it from feeling like an X-men movie. Don't expect to see witty inside jokes or impressive power usage. If you saw the other two you might as well see this one. You won't be lining back up to see it again but you won't demand a refund either. Overall I put it on par with Daredevil.
Raftman's Razor:
Despite what many of you may think, this is not a hot new band or the latest weapon in Mega-man's arsenal it is a short movie. I saw this movie in a collection of shorts playing in the Chicago film festival. I was pretty disappointed with all the other films but Raftman's Razor stood out. It's about two young boys and a comic book. Now that's a topic I can relate to.
Raftman's Razor is an insight into the budding minds of two "anywere in america" 15 year olds. I think the clever script and a "Wonder years-ish" narrator did a glorious job of capturing the emotion and excitement of teenage fandom. The movie shows two boys bursting with anticipation of the next Raftman hitting the shelf. For me, it hit pretty close to home. I feel the same feeling as the boys every Wednesday when I walk into my comic book store and Rob gives me my stack.
That feeling of adventuring with your favorite three color heros on the next chapter in their explosive, spandex clad journey is what gets me excited. I think that's were I differ from the boys. They got the same excitement for the Raftman but because he was the opposite. He wasn't traveling to distant galaxies fighting ancient mythical warriors. He was sitting in a raft page after page, still and silent. They could relate better to him I guess.
Writer/Director Keith Bearden did a great job of painting pictures that speak louder than words. The snapshots of the boys being goofy really sold the movie to me. The boys playing cards dressed as Banditos was a brillaint portrait. The two boys jumping off the dock took me in an instant back to my grandparents cottage as a teenager doing the same thing. Thanks for taking me back Keith.
I thought the creators did an outstanding job of incorperating the comic book imagery into the film. Very sharp.
Raftman's Razor is a good one. I've never seen anything like it. It was new and refreshing and it blew the other shorts in the Festival out of the water.
