oh, Hugh, why hath thou forsaken me?
I didn't get home until about 1am last night, & had to run out this morning, so this is the first chance I've hat to turn on my computer & blog about X-Men: The Last Stand. Can you tell by the post title that I was not enamored of this latest installment in the X-Men saga?I had such high hopes for this film. I have been dying to see it not just for the past three or four months since I found out when it was being released, but two or three years, since X2 came out. And even tho I'd heard it wasn't wonderful, I thought, "How bad can it be?" The first two were fabulous, so how far off the mark can the third one be?
Well, I am here to tell you, it was bad. Not good. Sad & pathetic, bordering on ridiculous.
Remember how great the first Matrix movie was, & how it blew everyone away? And then how truly hideous the next two were? Yeah, kind of like that. Not quite that bad, but it's a near thing. In fact, more than once I caught myself wondering why extras from The Matrix had been hired for X3, because there was this whole group of leather-wearing, underground-living mutants who looked like they'd just crawled away from Zion with Keanu Reeves.
But I digress. I'd really like to know what everyone else thought of X3, if they've seen it. Or when they see it, since I know it just opened. I can't be the only one who was disappointed.
And I am so disappointed, I'm on the verge of tears. I mean, how can they take something so good, that's been done so very, very well twice before, & screw it up so badly. I blame Bryan Singer. Damn him for leaving X-Men to go work on stupid Superman...which, for the record, doesn't look so hot; they played a preview before X3 & my friend & I both said, "Gee, I was planning to see that, but now maybe I won't bother." So maybe, instead of saying, "Oh, Hugh, why hath thou forsaken me?" I should be saying, "Oh, Bryan, why hath thou forsaken us?"
Am I glad I got another glimpse of Hugh as Wolverine? Yeah. Not thrilled, but glad. Let me tell you, the poor man did what he could. He did the best with what he was given. It was the script that was lacking, not to mention some of the other actors.
Soapbox #1: Halle Berry's complaint that she doesn't get enough screen time as Storm. In this film, they increased it a lot--but not, unfortunately, to the benefit of the movie. She got more face time, but it didn't make the movie one iota better. In fact, it might have made it worse. X-Men is not & has never been about Storm. She is a supporting character. She could be taken out completely & we'd barely miss her. X-Men is & always has been about Wolverine. And I say this as someone who has followed both the comic book & cartoon versions long before the films were made. So there.
Soapbox #2: What is with Wolverine's unhealthy obsession with Jean Grey? What does he even see in her? This is something I totally don't get. Never have, never will. I don't like the actress who plays Jean, but I never liked the animated character, either, so maybe that's why. But I mean, really. Ew. Did Wolverine not put that all behind him at the end of the last movie when Jean supposedly drowned? Did he not tell Scott that Jean had chosen him (meaning Scott, not Logan) & sort of come to terms with that whole sickening, ungodly attraction. And then this whole movie was like a Dr. Phil primetime special waiting to happen. Ick, ick, yuck, yuck. Hated it.
I do have more soapboxes & more complaints about X3, but I have to get ready to go out again. My mother & I have decided to go see Over the Hedge for Memorial Day...& to cleanse my palate of the distasteful experience that was X-Men: The Last Stand.
I'm undecided now as to whether I'll buy the movie when it comes out on DVD. A part of me wants to own them all & thinks I'd like to see it again, just for the few & far between decent scenes that were there...another part of me never wants to see it again as long as I live, or be reminded that something so good can go so horribly, horribly wrong.
But, yes, if they come out with a fourth movie--or especially a spin-off of just Wolverine--I will go see it. I'll have to, to see what happens. Sort of the way I felt compelled to see the third Matrix movie in the theatre, even after #2 was so bad & I knew #3 would be worse. Kind of like a car accident; I know it might be horrifying, yet I cannot look away. :-P
