Originally Posted by Sedai
Didn't like the X-films Sleeze? Damn, X2 is definitely up there in the "best comic films" for me. Really, I think Singer nailed X2, and it couldn;t have been handled better. Massive ensemble cast, multiple story threads, dark tone. I love X2, and watch it frequently. The first film I am not so crazy about.
Eh, I don't know. I have a love/hate relationship with those films. I like some of what they have to offer, but other bits just rub me the wrong way. They were done with the right kinds of things in mind (dark tone, parallel narratives, social commentary), but they ended up feeling like Playskool versions of what they could have been. The writing is only so-so, but pretending to be great.
I
really like the first 30 minutes of the first one. To me, that really captures the climate of X-Men. After that, it starts to fall into a formula, which continues for the next two films. Not everything is formulaic, of course, and there are some interesting turns. For my money, the absolute BEST, most engaging character-driven scene comes from
X2, in which members of the X-Men and Magneto's crew have to work together. Man, what tension! What an opportunity for a clash of ideas and believable personalities.
Suffice it to say, the X-Men universe is a big one, and after two films, I'm a little disappointed at the fact that it's only now (after this initial trailer for
X3) seeming to unfold. Perhaps it's just me, and I'm asking too much. But to me, the characters have been largely stripped of complexity (leaving only a fake indication of complexity), and worthwhile risks just haven't been taken.
A good example of something I didn't like:
In
X2, Nightcrawler and Storm have a brief "heart-to-heart." They tried to make a commentary on this overlying social issue regarding mutants, and where people stand, and the scene ended up filling forced and manufactured - as if the writer needed to show a depth to the characters, and just decided to use obvious dialogue (ie. "most people will never know anything beyond what they see with their own two eyes.") instead of letting it come naturally from the character.
It's hard to explain. It's like, you don't always have the wise character say the wise things, the jerk character say the jerk-like things, and the angry character say the angry things. That's just bad, formulaic writing, and I feel that that's what Singer gave us. Nightcrawler comes off meek, so all his lines are meek and heartfelt. Stryker is the militant villain, so all his lines are militant diatribe. I really like the Nightcrawler line I quoted above, and it's true - but coming from a flat character with no real development, the line feels like nothing more than pretty colors.
I understand it's difficult to adapt something like this, especially when you consider having to deal with an ensemble of superheroes (and having to develop them all at once). They've done a fair job, I guess. But I would like to have seen more attention given to representing the
person, not the character. We all know who Wolverine is. He has claws, and he's big and hairy and acts like a jerk. But that's not ALL he is. There's a real person underneath the costume.
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