I enjoyed it, nice time at the movies, and IMO the best X-Men movie. It has more heart than the first two. There was a nice balance between the character's relationships and the special effects making it a good summer movie. It's not as great as the Spiderman series, but I left the movie thinking it was headed in same direction. Worth making the trip to the theatre. I don't own the first two, but I'm probably going to pick up the DVD for this one.

*********** SPOILERS BELOW ****************

I thought it was the worst of the three. The direction was just very ordinary. It was like the makers had to juggle too many plots. What was the major plot? The mutant cure? Dark Phoenix?

The best FX supported the most bizarre idea. I'm talking about the Golden Gate bridge. It just seemed like Magneto was just showing off (as were the FX people). Surely there were easier ways he could use his powers to move his people. Well, if he could uproot and move the Golden Gate (without it falling apart moreso) why couldn't he just have crushed Alcatraz from a distance? The last time I was there, Alcatraz had lots of metal. Let's say there wasn't enough metal to work with. Later on when he's opposed by the soldiers who are using plastic, you're telling me he couldn't rip off bits of metal from somewhere else (like that bridge) and make short work of the soldiers? I know I know - otherwise we wouldn't have had a superhero battle at the end.

Wow Keith, you should invest in some stainless steel suspenders of disbelief. I liked it and didn't mind the logic gaffes Keith found in there. I felt it was the most epic of the three.

Hey I wouldn't have gone to see Xmen3 (or the first two films) if I couldn't suspend my disbelief. There's a difference between not being able to do that and throwing out a need for internal logic.

Hey I wouldn't have gone to see Xmen3 (or the first two films) if I couldn't suspend my disbelief.

Good point ;)

Keith,

I'm in complete agreement with you about the bridge along with so many other things about the movie. X2 is by far my favorite super hero movie. X3 like T3 in my opinion are not part of the true franchise. Hopefully Singer will be back for X4 and clean up the mess and bring the franchise back to its proper glory.

Kevin

I thought X3 was the end of the line, hence the title "The Last Stand".

So they say, but after the credits a certain someone makes a re-appearance.

I thought X3 was the end of the line, hence the title "The Last Stand".


How about someone make a fan film where they are in their senior years, and Wolverine has come down with some sort of incurable virus that causes him to start rusting. And the rest only have maybe 1/10 of their powers left, and about the most powerful thing Storm can conjure up is a pleasant summer drizzle, so she hires herself out to water the neighborhood lawns once a week. In a fit of self rightous anger, they decide to pool their resources and take down the paperboy for not getting the daily news up on the steps..you all can take it from there.:-)
Oh, and cyclops has gotten a job at a local metal fabricating plant as some sort of human spot welder.

Real action stuff that would be, hehehehe.

I'm in agreement with Keith on this one. All the plot holes, inconsistencies, and lame dialogue really kept me from enjoying the film. There's a difference between suspending your disbelief, and taking it out in the backyard and shooting it in the head.

(mild spoiler)


How about killing off a major character offscreen, with no fanfare, and no one even really seems to care?

How about when one second it's broad daylight, and the next it's the middle of the night?

Do those words have a place for this movie? Originally when Brian Singer was given the job for the first movie, it was Brett Rattner who wanted to undermine the project and steal his budget. I think he's done a good job in doing this film. People say this is supposed to be the last movie, but with so many loose ends like that, and a really big franchise, how is that going to happen? Also there's the political side of the series. Brain Singer left for Superman after Rattner was fired from the picture, only because they took way too long to sign his deal. The story was taken from the "Astonishing X-Men" comics, which is a great story no doubt, but completely un-original.

And my own guilty selfishness to throw in I was extremely disappointed to barely see a sentinel... could have been a great addition to the climax of the picture, seeing how the major players of the sentinel project were in the picture i.e. Bolivar Trask...

Fox has a deal with Hugh Jackman for a solo pic. Hopefully they don't get stupid and call it just "Wolverine," "Weapon-X" would be cool, but a lot of background work on Wolvie was done in the first couple movies.
Halle Berry was given a bigger role in this obviously because she's become an A-list actress, and was demanding more money and a bigger role or she would leave the franchise... or so that's the word.

I'm tired, I think I'll stop complaining now...

Next picture... better developed story, more sentinels. Maybe Days of Future Past? Bishop and Cable? sweet :-)

Personally, I think Rattner needs to be shot. Not for any of the major issues (Of which there were quite a few...) but because he added (Or allowed someone to add) "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch". It wasn't all that funny as a stupid internet video, and it sounded amazingly cheesy and dumb coming out of Vinny Jones.

[QUOTE=Ben Brainerd]Personally, I think Rattner needs to be shot. QUOTE]


Alright, guys...go to AICN.com if this is where we're going with this. Remember, we're on DVinfo. Let's converse in a mature manner if possible. Thanks.

Having been an Xmen fan since the first issue, I was mildly pleased by the 3 flix in general. There was also a huge amount of dissappointment with them too. They should have stayed truer to the story, starting with the original characters- Ice man, Angel, Hank McCoy, Gene Gray, and Cyclops. They would have been able to get the basic premises of the mutant battles, plus the sub stories, like Hank changing into Beast. He would have a better understanding of what it is like being that different than everyone else. Most of the others blend in with the homo sapiens.

But, they were ok. Bret Ratner's contribution was a highpoint in the trilogy, because it did finally unite the original Xmen... sort of. It was cool watching Ice man finally ice up, plus they finally did the danger room. It was a tad tame, but still cool.

By the way of hands, how many stayed till after the credits???? Any diehard Marvel film fan knows you stay till after the credits... :)

I always do, anyway.

Somethings after the credits :o Should have stayed :P

I don't feel like Cyclops is getting enough time in the limelight either, but yah, maybe thats just me.

It's not just you.

Now that you mention it, Cyclops was pretty weak in the movies. He wasn't the butt kicking leader like the animated stuff.

Eh, I've read enough of the comics - especially the Chris Claremont era that the movies take most from - to realize that Cyc' is a bit of a milquetoast.

missed the after the credits, had to get the kids...can someone who did stay e-mail me that spoiler please?

I thought the first in the series was a very mediocre movie. I just didn't care about the characters. It turns out that most of the character development was left on the cutting room floor. You can see it on the DVD. It is a much better movie with the extra footage intact. Some things don't make sense without that footage, particularly the conflict between Cyclops and Wolverine.

I thought the second movie was fairly well-done and entertaining until the GREAT HAND of THE ALMIGHTY SCREENPLAY came down from the sky and decided to kill Jean Grey. There were so many ways that she could have been saved or that situation prevented by her companions that it really left a bad taste in my mouth. Why didn't ice-boy freeze the water behind the dam? It was already quite cold. Hmmm? The list goes on. That logic flaw was huge. I suspend belief, but when they go out of their way to have mutants with special powers, those mutants should use them appropriately.

I don't mind at all when a movie sets up it's own universe with different laws of physics and human behavior, but I expect the people in that universe to abide by those laws once they are spelled out. I don't like when writers get lazy because they decided something should just happen.

That's why I liked the 3rd movie best, it had decent character development. Not great but decent. And it made an effort to lightly explore the main themes in the different relationship pairings between characters. Not as great as Spidey, but headed in the same direction.

The first two movies, had okay characterizations, but it was more about - character A can do this, now let's put him in this situation.

Vs. the third movie, where there was more of a focus on - character A (who has this special power) feels like this, towards characters B, C, D, E, & F, and now he's in this situation, what's he gonna do? ... and thus you have your plot coming from the characters vs. from the action. Now I'm not saying the 3rd movie is a tour de force, but it has a nice balance for a light and fun blockbuster summer movie.

That's how I prefer my sci-fi - a good mix of character, relationships, and theme exploration, all coming together to create the plot as it goes along. A pure logical action plot from the audience's perspective is okay, but then I feel like you end up in Poseidon territory.

FWIW: I agree from an action plot perspective (audience's logic) the Golden Gate Bridge scene seems weird, that's not the best way to assault Alcatraz, but it makes total sense from the character of Magneto. He may seem logical on the outside, but he's driven by very single unified emotions inside which include a god complex. The best way for him to assault Alcatraz, is to show those puny human ants that he's better than them. And he doesn't care who has to die for that point to get across. For him it's about a statement not a "logical" outcome.

As for Jean Grey's death, it makes sense because they originally wanted to get into that plane and take off, but when it wouldn't, she snuck out and shut them all in there, thus, ice man couldn't get out to freeze the water.

[X-MEN APOLOGIST MODE=OFF]

Well, before I knew that the third movie would butcher Phoenix beyond all recognition, I was all for Jean dying underwater, because it's similar to what happened in the comic. Can't have Phoenix without it. But then this movie came along . . .

What did they leave out about Phoenix? (I'm not familiar with her comic book character at all) I agree, in the movie, she was just a Macguffin for everyone to react against - "let's get the Phoenix on our side, oh wait, maybe that's not such a good idea ... etc."

Well, that's a very long story.

Suffice it to say that Phoenix was a universal force, not a Xavier-created split personality, with majesty and fire, one that found itself attached to Jean out of her desire to save the lives of her loved ones -- not some psycho mute who stood around doing nothing until an FX display was desired.

"As for Jean Grey's death, it makes sense because they originally wanted to get into that plane and take off, but when it wouldn't, she snuck out and shut them all in there, thus, ice man couldn't get out to freeze the water."

When the dam started getting cracks, that was a good time to ice-over the already-almost-frozen lake. As I recall, it was really cold out that day? The other deus ex machina was their magical airplane suddenly having a dead battery or maybe a bad alternator just when the danger was peaking. Actually, it may have been some sort of cold engine needing to warm up BS which is even worse. I don't remember everything, but I seem to recall that parking the ship downstream was a bad idea from the beginning. It just seemed like a bad deus ex machina.

Also, I believe it was established that ice-boy could freeze water from another room. They at least needed to have him try and fail instead of just sit around like a dufus. I really hate "just because" moments in a movie, especially if they effect a main character or the entire plot. The movie was good except for that. I will probably go see the current iteration because of that and the director's cut of the first. The first one was butchered almost as bad as James Cameron's "The Abyss" in editing. Instead of the end being decimated, the beginning of X-men with the character development was looted. It's a much better movie with the extras. I recommend it to everyone before going to watch the current episode.

When the dam started getting cracks, that was a good time to ice-over the already-almost-frozen lake. As I recall, it was really cold out that day?

Question -- sincerely -- have you always lived in Hawaii? :)

When a lake freezes over, it's only the surface. Maybe a couple of inches if it's really, really cold. A tiny, tiny fraction of a percentage of the water. A literal "drop in the lake" compared to the millions and millions of gallons of water in the lake and flowing down the river.

If Iceman could do that, he wouldn't be a mutant. He'd be a god.

If they hadn't shown the amazing control over ice that he posessed in earlier scenes, I would agree with you. He made a wall of ice, from a distance, out of thin air. Well, the air had a bit of humidity. He was not a god in general, but he was a god with ice. Considering that the lake was already cold, he could have frozen a few feet of ice along the wall of the dam to shore it up and buy them some time.

What I am getting at is that I don't like when a character or situation is set up in the beginning of the movie, then ignored at the end because the script decides someone needs to die. The writers need to take into account earlier actions when they are going to do something pivotal. If they were driving a Lemon Surplus jet that can't be depended upon in a crisis, they need to show it having quirks and blowing smoke out the tail pipe earlier in the movie. If making a big wall of ice is too much for the ice guy, they need to show him having a limitation before a perfect situation for his abilities is presented and he mysteriously fails to act. Other characters could have saved the day without someone needing to die. That scene was important and needed to be written better.

I was going along great until that scene. I left the movie thinking "those people are idiots, they rely upon deficient machinery, and ice-boy is a hysterical coward that won't be there when you need him". The rest of the movie wasn't like that, so I was really surprised at the end. I wonder if, like the first movie, something important was left on the editing room floppy drive?

Well, to be fair, the Blackbird WAS hit by a missile . . .

But I get you.

The story was taken from the "Astonishing X-Men"

Only the cure was taken, nothing else unfortunately.

Brian Singer didn't want to do x-men 3 because the producers were clashing with him about story details.

Ummm... what happened to NightCrawler? I thought that was a great character from X-Men 2... *BAMF*

As for Jean Grey, they could have done the ending differently. What they did with Magneto, Wolverine could have done with Jean... instead of using his claws.

I did like the fact that they showed the training room, and gave us a glimpse of the Sentinels (from the training room).

As for all the other minor mutants, they weren't even worth mentioning in the movie. I don't think that's the same girl that played Kitty Pryde in the previous movies. This girl has another movie out right now, where she plays some teen psycho trying to hook up with an older guy (a photographer) via IM's.

I broke down and went to the latest episode. I was pleasantly surprised. There were far fewer problems than the earlier movies. The only significant problem was the fault of the previous movie. The Phoenix story line seemed to come out of nowhere. I think a bit more foreshadowing should have been done in earlier movies. I agree that many of the newly-introduced mutants were unimportant, but they were "pawns" after all...

Here are my thoughts on the movie franchise.

The first X-Men Movie clearly moved away from the comic, and that was all Bryan Singers doing. That trend continued in the sequel and of course with an already established Universe of its own, this latest installment had no choice but to follow suit. Taken as creations in their own right they are ok, though like most readers of the comics I hate a lot of things the producers and directors took license with.

Each of the movies offered a different element that was done right, and others that did not work. In this latest installment, I think the CGI/Effects were miles above what had been done in the previous 2 movies - I'm not going to argue the validity of whether or not Magneto would have moved the Bridge, but he is an Egocentric and Machiavellian character, so he does not have to be logical.

I enjoyed the movie, and thought it was a decent action/comic book movie. There were parts that really came through, and others that were clearly rushed. Also, I think there was a shorter span of time for production based on the negotiations involved with the change of directors, contracts for actors, etc. With that in mind I think Brett Ratner did a credible job.

The storyline had a lot of dangling ends, but so did the others (I have yet to see a comic book movie without dangling plot lines). There was some character development, and I think a longer movie would have offered a better balance between eye-candy and genuine story-telling. The Phoenix Force was in the comics later said to have awakened the mutant potential of Jean Grey who became very Phoenix like on her own - so there's some credibility for the lack of the other worldy part in the story. Itw as also shown that Xavier did indeed place mental blocks within Jean so she would learn to develop her powers without almost going mad like he did or making mistakes like he did - so there is some credibility there as well (I've been reading comics since I was 5 and at one time owned the Xmen series from 1 - 200+) so, I'm familiar with these plotlines form the comics. But the movies are entities apart from the comics and we may not like it but that what they are - adaptations, not literal translations.

The cinematography was pretty good, and the lighting. Ditto for the editing, though I wonder how much footage they shot that they couldn't work for the movie either due to budget or time constraints.

I enjoyed myself and would rate it better than the first, but maybe a smidgin below the second, simply because the movie needed more development, and more time for the story to play out.

Just my 2c.

:-)

Here are my thoughts on the movie franchise...

The storyline had a lot of dangling ends, but so did the others (I have yet to see a comic book movie without dangling plot lines)...

:-)
How many comic books do you know that have plots that "end"? The comic book movies will always have endings like this for two main reasons.

1. The actual comics are continued, with new characters and stories
2. The obvious setup for future sequels, depending upon the success of the movie

I mean, many people didn't appreciate Ang Lee's The Hulk, so odds are that there will not be a sequel to that. Maybe if Ang Lee had made the Hulk a homosexual, then more people would have loved the movie? (much sarcasm intended)

Ok, my two cents. As a youngin many moons ago, I loved the X-Men comic book, cartoons etc. Heck I even designed a blue print on how to make my own steel spike glove. This ofcourse was looked upon with curiosity by my teacher.

But seriously, the plotof X-men reminded me of how sometimes people video, all over the place. It seemed everytime I became comfortable with sub-plot, the story left it long enough that I forgot what was really going on when the end of the sub plot was resurected.

And to kill off two main characters in one fail swoop was damagaing to the whole feel of the movie. After Xavier died, I almost was like, 'well time to go now,' movies over.

Then to really replace the lead character of Xavier with more camera time of his arch enemy was just a little much for me.


That's my two cents. I can say that X-men 3 will be the reason I rent Superman. Hollywood has gone nuts with superheros, save Spiderman.

Lol, hey Tom. I agree man, definitely the producers want to leave room for a sequel or sequels. But, I was more concerned about having some closure to the story based on the fact we'd already had two, and this was the third.

C'est la vie! Maybe we'll never have total closure but some effort to tighten up the story would have been much appreciated and resulted in a more complete movie.

And, hey Steven. I hear you man, the constant shift in view was a little distracting but I do think with a longer movie it could have panned out better? Who knows, extended version anyone?

Lol, :-)

Ok, my two cents. As a youngin many moons ago, I loved the X-Men comic book, cartoons etc. Heck I even designed a blue print on how to make my own steel spike glove. This ofcourse was looked upon with curiosity by my teacher.
Your teachers probably thought you were attempting to design a Freddy Krueger type glove. ;o)