why, oh why......

Rating: 5/10 (28 May 2006)

Like most people, I had been HIGHLY anticipating this movie ever since finishing X-Men United. Even when I found out that Bryan Singer was not going to be directing this movie, my hopes for the third installment going out with a bang overshadowed any doubt I had in Ratner. How idealistic my mindset was. How foolish I felt walking out of the theater. I had never felt this angry, and had never been soooooooo disappointed. WHY RATNER WHY, YOU INCOMPETENT FOOL!! The 7.4 rating as of now is complete B.S. This movie does absolutely no justice to the first two Xmen movies. The hour and forty minutes seemed like 4 hours.
First off, the story was horribly developed. It seemed forced and there was no fluidity. Not once did I even feel a sense of urgency for the characters.
Second, the integration of the plot with the action seemed very "flipflopish". It was as if the action was just implemented at the wrong times. The cool CGI just compensated for every long period of bad development.
Third, the action itself was not impressive. When I watched the first two installments, I was constantly impressed with how these animated characters came to life in the fighting scenes. The way they manipulated their powers and abilities was smooth and creative. In this third movie, all the action seemed very dry and unmotivated. Ratner relied heavily on the CGI effects other than the creativity Singer incorporated. I remember the scene in the previous movie, the way Magnito escapes the plastic prison by manipulating the iron, and who could forget the NightCrawler (btw, I hate Ratner for not including him in this one) scene in the white-house. Those were done perfect. But NOT ONE SCENE stood out to me in X3, it was just chaos.
Fourth, the development of the characters just makes me want to punch Ratner in the face. This movie jumps for one character to another so quick that you don't get a chance to absorb any one of them. It was as if Ratner just wanted to show you a mutant quickly using his/her ability in random parts of the movie without ever "elaborating" on the mutant. Even if you already know who the mutant is by just knowledge of the comic, it is still nice to see them develop even just the tiniest bit. Just think of Colossus' development in the 2nd movie, but nowhere near even that.
This movie was just flat out very boring. I would give it a 5.5 (since a 5 would put it on the level of white chicks lol) but my disappointment rounds down. I honestly tried hard throughout the movie to enjoy it. But Ratner does not give any benefit of the doubt. I have no doubt that Superman will show what Singer could have done with X3.
*********spoiler************
the ending with Magneto that signifies that this movie is not the last stand gives me and other fans of the beloved XMEN a glimmer of hope that Singer will come back to finish it off the right way.
********end spoiler*********
I really, really hope this movie completely bombs in the box office. It sounds cruel, but we need to give Singer a sure sign to come back.