CRS
Chandler, Arizona, United States

There's an old saying. If you don't want someone to join a crowd, you ask them, "If everyone were jumping off of a cliff, would you?" Well, I have. So my answer would be "Yes". True story.
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Review of X-Men: The Last Stand

Friday, December 01, 2006

this entry brought to you by weird al yankovic, "trapped in the drive thru"





My favorite line in X-2 happened when one blue mutant marveled in awe at another, incredibly sexy blue mutant who can morph into other people and asks, why would she choose to be blue if she could change herself to look like anyone else? "I shouldn't have to," came her icy, yet poetic response. X-3 doesn't have any of these moments; in fact, new director Brett Ratner definitely chooses awesome technical bluster over Bryan' Singer's often disquieting eye for matching riveting action sequences with humanism.

From a comic book geek's point of view, there were a few ups and downs. Angel, though gorgeous, was under used and didn't really need to be in the movie, though I, for one, loved Kelsey Grammar's Beast, and got a kick out of watching him going all-out in the battle at the end. Still, X-3 has an annoying habit, when it comes to the bad guys, with giving generic, non-existent characters speaking roles, instead of using actual, pre-existing characters from the comic's rich, 40 year history. For example: one mutant claps her hand, emitting a seismic blast-- why not use Havoc, or Richter, both existing characters with similar powers? Why use a muscle-headed dude that throws his bones, rather than slinky, ferocious Marrow? Why use a Chinese guy with the powers of, apparently, a porcupine, instead of any pre-existing character that doesn't suck? Many fanboys also had a problem with the characters that died, but I didn't mind who they killed off (this being "The Last Stand", I wouldn't have even minded if they killed Wolverine, if they thought it would benefit the story). The problem is that when characters die-- some of them weak links to the series over all, some of them extremely important-- the scenes lack proper emotional impact. Another disappointment is that Rogue, who the series up to this point has put a lot of emphasis on, is treated like a third-class character and is practically ignored, which is frustrating because her throw-away subplot could've been fascinating and anchored the movie. It's as if Ratner-- who did an incredible job with Red Dragon-- is afraid of doing an X-Men movie with any sort of character development or depth other than the main love story.

Still, fanboy complaints aside, this isn't to say X-3 isn't an awesome movie-- it's flawed compared to its predecessor, but then, I called X-2 a classic action movie to be mentioned with the same reverence as other classic action movies like Aliens and T2. Thankfully, X-3 is more like Terminator 3 than Alien 3, which is to say, it's a wonderfully paced, more explosive sequel with interesting ideas and turns for the series, with solid performances, but low on contemplative thoughts that its predecessor had. The first two X-Men movies were, in the larger scale, metaphors for humanity; the third is a action movie sequel, albeit a good one. Especially pleasing in the pyrotechnics department is Magneto finally showing how dangerous he can be, going on a rampage, crushing cars with the flick of a wrist and tossing them like toys, uprooting the Golden Gate bridge and displacing it; it's terribly satisfying watching the old man do so much unadulterated damage. The climax, which features giant explosions, cars being flung around, human beings being obliterated by the dozen as one seriously destructive mutant is let loose, and utter chaos as the two factions of mutants, the ones that feel like humanity must be wiped out in order for mutant kind to evolve, and the X-Men, who feel like the only way to survive is to tolerate one another, duke it out with one another, is riveting, and with the precedent of important mutants getting killed throughout the movie, there is genuine danger. Still, despite how much fun X-Men : The Last Stand ultimately ends up being, it's difficult not to see some of the gaps in the storytelling and wishing that Ratner would've explored them, for the sake of depth and meaning, which has been something that has made X-Men traditionally stand out from not just the summer blockbuster, but has also been what made the comic books stand out on the rack at the comic books store for 40 years.
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on this day last year a rather simple entry that i came up with when i was having a conversation with my mom that life would be easier if entire conversations could be summed up in one word, and if the person simply responded whether they liked or disliked talking about that subject, like on the sims.

on this day last year ever wonder what's up with black people and "grillz", or gold teeth? wonder no more.

on this day last year a quote from a black actor that caught my eye.
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with love from CRS @ 10:10 PM 

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