confused and unfocused

Rating: 4/10 (29 May 2006)

X-men 3 is clearly a movie with either too many aspirations or writers with too much power. though it starts well, setting up its focus by explaining where jean Grey's power came from and why it has grown into the phoenix (and, consequently, how they were going to change the origin from the comic in order to accommodate the non-comic reading viewer ship), it quickly falls into the trap most ensemble movies fall into--the dreaded too many sub-plots that drag the movie's momentum.
the characters from the last movie are still in shock from jean's death, and show it none too believably. Scott is a wreck, and wolverine is still his cool self. metered out, the tone of sorrow could have been believable, given the acting chops that the mainstays have. i mean, come on, you have a heavy emotional element and actors like Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry and Anna Paquin (Oscar winners and stage legends all) and you decide not to allow them to shine with the gravitas at hand? the relationship between Scott and wolverine is limited to a few sentences about who is hurting more. how did that happen after the buildup over the last two films of the love triangle between them and jean? could we not have seen more of the return to base after such a tragic outcome as the end of the second film? and Scott's grief is limited to his not shaving and not teaching. no interactions between him and the professor is ridiculous. the professor would be the best person to council and help Scott, as he had been his mentor and father figure for so long. and yet there is no mention from the professor about it other than oh, yeah, um.....he feels bad (paraphrased, of course). Scott eventually makes his way to northern Alberta to lake alkali (a terrifically long trip taken up in a matter of a couple of scene changes) and again, mentions his grief in a short outburst of firing rays into the lake. give me a break. if i had that kind of power, i would have fried the lake to a steam bath to find her body and cradle it one last time, or at least not have stopped until i was spent. jean wakes from her 'telekinetic cocoon' to find him on the shore, and not wasting a second, kisses the bastard, then kills him. good scene, and good segue to the team who hear the psychic call from phoenix. no explanation as to why no one else heard it, though. bad call on their part. one of the main subplots begins around this time with rogue and bobby(iceman). rogue is becoming jealous of others being able to touch her boyfriend (esp. the cute little kitty, played by ingénue Nova Scotian Ellen Page) and is bitchy in a superficial way because of it. another chance to allow the characters involved explore a love triangle that is scuttled by not enough screen time. Anna paquin is left to throw a range of emotion in a few seconds, so reminiscent of soap operas you almost expect to hear the scene ending soap music when they focus on her face. the whole thing is drawn out by too much action that goes nowhere and not enough focusing on the struggle that someone like rogue would have to go through not being able to touch anyone (which studies have shown humans need in order to keep sane) and finding herself on the losing end of a relationship change unless she drastically alters her body. out of all the metaphors for the modern society, why wouldn't they explore this one? and then there was the main plot, which is a serum derived from leech's body that will take away (supposedly permanently) mutants' powers. why they needed this is beyond me. phoenix's powers alone would have been enough to provide the reason for a big fight between mutants that the movie makers so obviously thought they needed for a special effects budget. it allows the introduction of beast and angel, who seems to have just been thrown in for no reason other than to throw him in. he is the son of the man who makes up this serum (who, for reasons unknown to us, tests it first on his son). why cant movie makers learn that if all you are doing is adding a character simply because you want them in a movie you aren't doing anything for them and just cheapen them. which is a shame, because if they had just decided to focus a bit more, and develop characters a bit more (like they did in the second movie with wolverine and rogue, and the love triangle b/t jean and the boys) they would have found that without the serum plot line, they had themes of sorrow and change bred of desire. look at the characters who resemble or follow that completely---magneto with his turn towards war; rogue and her complex; wolverine and his desire to be with jean; jean's death and the changes it wrought; beast and his latent desire to be human looking (never explored was his possible conversation with rogue whom he could in some way relate to); Pyro's continuing slide to delusions of grandeur; and jean's desire to be herself in Phoenix. finally, with the professor coming back in another body, his own change. for this movie, they certainly should have kept the Bryan Singer. obviously he was the man who was able to keep the idiot voices from changing what vision he would have had---or maybe he wasn't able to, as might well have been the reason for leaving the project. shame that Ratner couldn't have found the balls to tell people that no, he couldn't add one more character as a draw for a big opening weekend.