X-Men 3: The Bad Guys All Wear Black Hats

after being a pansy in the last, finally looking a bit like he would kick some ass, only to have implicitly killed

after being a pansy in the last, finally looking a bit like he would kick some ass, only to have implicitly killed

Here are my thoughts. Excuse me if it seems poorly written and all over the place, these are just my thoughts on the film, and not a true review. Plus I have 2 bandaged fingers causing me a great deal of pain, so I'm not exactly in one of my best moods.
*Possible Spoilers*

I saw it yesterday. So disappointing, if anything it's only served to remind me just how good the first two were. In fact, having just watched the second film again just now, I get the impression that nobody at Fox made that same effort. This film feels so disconnected from the first two that at times I felt it was part of a separate trilogy.
Established characters behave strangely different than before (this is not part of the plot, just lazy story telling) and the dialogue in this film serves no purpose than to move whatever plot there is, along. Any witty banter in this film occurs during the films numerous (and admittedly, epic) fight scenes, thereby crossing off another lazy film cliche from the list, along with the sub-plot of the reluctant hero learning the benefit of team work, and the love triangle between Bobby, Rogue and Kitty (the one who can walk through walls), resulting in Rogue questioning her powers and turning to the new "Mutant Cure".
These issues, of course, are barely touched on. There are far too many action sequences and scenes of destruction to get through, for anyone to worry about a little thing like "character development".

It get's worse. Within the first half of this film 2 major characters get killed off for what seemed like no good reason other than to advance the plot, and not once was there any real emotional pull when it happened. In X-Men 2, Jean Grey died to save her team and her friends, and bid a final farewell to Scott through Professor X. They even had room for a prayer, courtesy of Nightcrawler, and a mention in a speach at the end. In this film, one character get's a 2 minute funeral and a boring speach, while the other is, laughably, forgotten about completely.
Oh yeah, another dies later on as well. These mutants, they're dropping like flies!

It's not all bad news, though. The fight scenes seen in the trailer live up to all the hype (and then some), and a scene early on in the film (set 20 years before the events of this film) establishing the friendship and early partnership between the younger Eric (Ian McKellan) and Charles (Patrick Stewart) is one of my favourite scenes of any film this year (and if the rumor I heard was true, a truly stunning example of CGI being put to good use).
Also, although most of the newer characters are given about as much screen time as glorified extras, newcomer Kelsey Grammar at least makes the most of his lack of screen time and creates a truly likeable and memorable "Beast". He truly grasps the role with both hands (or are they paws?) and develops it as fully as he can. The scene where he first encounters the source of the mutant cure (a boy named Leech, is it?) generates sympathy and understanding of his plight and perhaps yearning to be "normal" again.

Of course, if this had been any other comic book franchise I wouldn't mind, but the fact that it was X-Men, the first true revival of the comic book movie genre and what I consider to be the smartest of the lot, this kind of dumbing down has left me cold (please note, I've never read a comic other than the Beano, Dandy, or one issue of Sonic the Hedghog when I was 8. I'm just referring to the films).

However, this film is enormous fun and won't leave you feeling bored, and there were occasional moments of old X-Men brilliance.

But it's not the finale I wanted.

I'd give it a 3/5. Not bad, but not that good either.

Here are my thoughts. Excuse me if it seems poorly written and all over the place, these are just my thoughts on the film, and not a true review. Plus I have 2 bandaged fingers causing me a great deal of pain, so I'm not exactly in one of my best moods.
*Possible Spoilers*

I saw it yesterday. So disappointing, if anything it's only served to remind me just how good the first two were. In fact, having just watched the second film again just now, I get the impression that nobody at Fox made that same effort. This film feels so disconnected from the first two that at times I felt it was part of a separate trilogy.
Established characters behave strangely different than before (this is not part of the plot, just lazy story telling) and the dialogue in this film serves no purpose than to move whatever plot there is, along. Any witty banter in this film occurs during the films numerous (and admittedly, epic) fight scenes, thereby crossing off another lazy film cliche from the list, along with the sub-plot of the reluctant hero learning the benefit of team work, and the love triangle between Bobby, Rogue and Kitty (the one who can walk through walls), resulting in Rogue questioning her powers and turning to the new "Mutant Cure".
These issues, of course, are barely touched on. There are far too many action sequences and scenes of destruction to get through, for anyone to worry about a little thing like "character development".

It get's worse. Within the first half of this film 2 major characters get killed off for what seemed like no good reason other than to advance the plot, and not once was there any real emotional pull when it happened. In X-Men 2, Jean Grey died to save her team and her friends, and bid a final farewell to Scott through Professor X. They even had room for a prayer, courtesy of Nightcrawler, and a mention in a speach at the end. In this film, one character get's a 2 minute funeral and a boring speach, while the other is, laughably, forgotten about completely.
Oh yeah, another dies later on as well. These mutants, they're dropping like flies!

It's not all bad news, though. The fight scenes seen in the trailer live up to all the hype (and then some), and a scene early on in the film (set 20 years before the events of this film) establishing the friendship and early partnership between the younger Eric (Ian McKellan) and Charles (Patrick Stewart) is one of my favourite scenes of any film this year (and if the rumor I heard was true, a truly stunning example of CGI being put to good use).
Also, although most of the newer characters are given about as much screen time as glorified extras, newcomer Kelsey Grammar at least makes the most of his lack of screen time and creates a truly likeable and memorable "Beast". He truly grasps the role with both hands (or are they paws?) and develops it as fully as he can. The scene where he first encounters the source of the mutant cure (a boy named Leech, is it?) generates sympathy and understanding of his plight and perhaps yearning to be "normal" again.

Of course, if this had been any other comic book franchise I wouldn't mind, but the fact that it was X-Men, the first true revival of the comic book movie genre and what I consider to be the smartest of the lot, this kind of dumbing down has left me cold (please note, I've never read a comic other than the Beano, Dandy, or one issue of Sonic the Hedghog when I was 8. I'm just referring to the films).

However, this film is enormous fun and won't leave you feeling bored, and there were occasional moments of old X-Men brilliance.

But it's not the finale I wanted.

I'd give it a 3/5. Not bad, but not that good either.

I just wonder why Mystique lost her power and reverted to her human self was that simply for the movies? I mean I always thought Mystique was born blue like Night Crawler, and if she has lost her powers, she would remain blue, just unable to morph into anything else.

I just wonder why Mystique lost her power and reverted to her human self was that simply for the movies? I mean I always thought Mystique was born blue like Night Crawler, and if she has lost her powers, she would remain blue, just unable to morph into anything else.