X-MEN 320th Century Fox
2006
PG-13

“Logan, we work as a team!”
“Yeah, good luck with that.”

In the aftermath of the second movie, it appears that relations between homosapiens (humans) and homosuperiors (mutant humans) have found a peaceful middle ground. But, after the government discovers a “cure” for mutations, and begins a campaign to offer those mutants who want to be integrated back into normal society a chance to do so, Magneto begins to gather together an army of mutants who don’t think they need to be made “normal”. Standing in his way is Professor Xavier and his X-Men, who are also divided philosophically with the cure’s ramifications. To make matters worse, Jean Grey has resurfaced (literally), with tremendous powers and completely insane. When she migrates to Magneto’s side, the proverbial crap hits the fans and the X-Men find themselves in a showdown that not all will survive…

WARNING: Geeky spoilerific whining ensues…be ye warned…

It’s apparent that, after reading a few reviews online after watching this third installment of the X-Men franchise, perhaps I am one of the few people that actually enjoyed this movie. Friends and critics so far have panned it, calling X3 the weakest movie in the trilogy. Some have some pretty valid points to that end. Some just wanted to nit-pick in the way that only die-hard comic geekity-geeks can (Gwr Gwir, I’m looking in your direction). Let me tell you what I think…as if you wern’t expecting it…

First, what I completely loved about the movie: From the opening sequences of the movie, it offers some slick sequences that afore-mentioned comic fans can appreciate- we see Prof. X and Magneto (back when they were still friends and Xaviar is still walking) first meet a young Jean Grey, the introduction of the teenaged Angel, and then a brief yet joygasmic romp in the Danger Room, a Sentinel (though not in full view), and the fan favorite Fastball Special maneuver. I just about wet myself. The effects are fantastic, as per usual, my favorites being the re-emergence of Jean Grey from the lake, the floating rocks on the shore (creepy), Magneto’s car-crushing when rescuing Mystique, and of course the massive battle sequence at the end. We get Wolverine going berserker on a bunch of Magneto’s cronies while trying to rescue Jean. And to top it off, people die. Not just a bunch of second-tier mutants (and there are a bunch of them, no doubt), but a few established and beloved characters as well. This is the point of contention with many of the negative reactions to the movie. I, however, aplaud the fact that they had the boys to off them in that fashion. Gives a nice bleak feel of finality to the movie…

Now, the not so great points. I admit, during the entire thing, I felt that a lot of what made the first two movies great (namely, deep characterizations) was put on the back burner for more of the whiz-bang and jaw-dropping special effects. I mean, sure there are many new mutants in this one, and instead of utilizing this to full effect, many just felt like throwaway characters. Multiple Man? Meh. Juggernaught? Wasted potential. Angel? Well, he’s there. As far as Beast goes, Grammer was a spot-on choice for the roll, but I wanted more. More, I tells ya.

What really didn’t set well with me is the way the main established characters were used. Or, more to the point, weren’t used. For all his badass glory, Wolverine felt a bit, as Jean Grey put it, domesticated. Pyro, while you could really touch on his angst and inner turmoil in the second movie, just comes off as a cocky punk you want to slap around. Rogue was woefully underused, and the whole “love triangle” angle between her, Iceman and Shadowcat was completely wasted. And Storm? Why give someone more screen time when you’re not going to do anything with it? And don’t get me started with some of the dialogue…

Now, a minor geekout: While the way Jean was portrayed here was really cool, rendering the whole Phoenix thing as a split personality rather than the cosmic entity amused me. Sure, I understand the difficulties of trying to translate a storyline from a classic comic run to make it feasible in a movie, but here this made Jean seem more like the Scarlet Witch rather than the Dark Phoenix, especially in that dress…

All contentions aside, I really feel that this movie hasn’t been given a fair shake. While I agree that the powers that be should have let the movie bake for another year, just to get things fleshed out, X3 is still, I feel, a nice action movie that has a dark tone. I loved it.

But then again, I happen to love movies that other people hate.