(no subject)

[mari4212]

I'll start with the unreserved squee part of the weekend.

Two things really: one, I got to hang out with lady_tigerfish and x5jondi, my high school friends who are now back from college. It's the first time we've all been together since Christmas, so we were all pretty excited to get together. We talked, or actually babbled excitedly, and went to see X-men III. More on that later.

The other source of squeefulness was today. Our church celebrated it's 175th aniversary this Sunday. The church was packed, the bishop and about ten other clergy members showed up, and we had a brass band come in to join in on the music. It was beautiful and joyful, and fun to celebrate being a church together.

I'm spending tomorrow babysitting for one of my sister's employees. I've never met these children before, so this could either be really good or absolutely horrible, depending on how well behaved these children are and how well they respect authority. If I don't post tomorrow, it's because I've collapsed in a little whimpering heap after I get home. On the plus side, I've talked with my sister and I might have a summer job worked out.


X-Men. Let me start by saying that it was a good movie, and definitely better than the average comic-book movie. And I do think that the movie told the story it intended to tell very well. You could also tell it's the last movie by looking at the body-count. A lot of people died. And I did like many parts of the movie, especially Rogue's decisions.

But on the other hand, I felt cheated. I mean, I know the movie writers didn't like Scott, that's been obvious from the first movie. And I know that after having focused so much on Logan, there wasn't really enough time to develop Scott's character enough to have him play the role he did in the comic book version of the Phoenix arc. But I really disliked just killing him off in such a cheap way, and I didn't like how they then had Logan do what Scott did in the comic book series.

I know that I'm in the minority when it comes to prefering Scott to Logan, but it just felt off to put Logan in Scott's place during the movie. It didn't feel real. For me, that detracted a lot from the rest of the film, which I did feel was good.

As a side note, did anyone else miss having Beast talk like an English professor turned scientist on speed? I mean, they did a good job on him but I missed the high-speed patter.

Comments

[writtenwings.livejournal.com]

Wow, several of your thoughts are pretty much opposite of mine. I was actually mad at Rogue, for one. I mean, it was realistic, and I don't begrudge the movie-makers, but I'm mad at the character XD And in the comics, didn't she develop her powers quite a bit more than she had a chance to in the movies? Didn't she end up retaining some powers from mutants she'd touched even when she wasn't touching them anymore or something? I was a little disappointed, but oh well.

... Done rambling, sorry. x]

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

I can understand being upset at Rogue, because it does feel like she's giving up, but consider it from her perspective. She can't touch anyone, ever, without hurting them. Maybe because I'm so tactically oriented, I'd go nuts if I couldn't touch people. She's never been able to control her powers, and they've been used against her. At that point I'd say some things aren't worth it.

Actually, from the movie plotline standpoint, there's another reason to have Rogue lose her powers. She's still accepted at the school, even after losing her powers, which contrasts with what happens to Mystique.

Looking back, I'm actually disliking more of the movie. On reflection I find that the end loses coherence, and I'm not sure if anything was actually solved.

And please, continue rambling. I like to hear other opinions.

[writtenwings.livejournal.com]

I get what she was feeling, definitely, but I know I'd try to master it, personally. At least try. The cure will be around for a while, but it looks like once you take it, that's it. No more mutant powers for you. I couldn't give up on it that easily. So it's just a personal thing -- I've always wished I could fly or do something, you know?

The thing I was most upset with that I can put a finger on is the Angel kid. It seemed like his part was supposed to be pretty important. The set-up made it seem that way. And then -- no.

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

If her mutant power had any real positives, I'd think it would be a much harder choice. But in the movies, she doesn't retain the powers, and in the comics, the only reason she kept the flight and the invulnerability was because she held onto the other woman until she nearly killed her. It's not a nice power to have, and she can't really do anything other than hurt people with it. I dislike it being shown as her way of keeping Bobby as a boyfriend though. Even if it was eventually a choice for herself, the fact that it's framed around her boyfriend makes it suspect, and that I do dislike.

Angel was set up to be more than he was, and it didn't work well. Someone else penknife commented that it felt like there were too many plots going on in the movie and that none of them were fulfilled. I think if they'd stuck with doing either the mutant cure or the Phoenix arc, it would have worked better and there would have been time to work out the storylines. Angel would have fit in very well with the cure storyline, but he has nothing to do with Phoenix and it didn't work.

[writtenwings.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly. Too many plots. -frown-

...her power would suck. Eh.

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

It would have worked much better as two separate movies. The first chronicling the Phoenix arc, without killing off Scott or as many other characters, focusing just on what Jean becomes and how this works, elaborate and leave time to react to what Xavier did to Jean, let him explain himself more thoroughly. We could even leave Magneto mainly out of this, or have him in more as another option for Jean to go for. No huge battle at the end.

Then we could have a second focusing on the Mutant Cure. We could bring in Beast and Angel, but have the central plot of the story focus on Rogue's decision and the fallout.

[writtenwings.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that probably would have worked better -- though there probably would have had to be a huge battle at the end. Haha. Hollywood doesn't like anticlimactic movies. -shrug- There'd have to be something big at the end.

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

I'd love to remind them that it is possible to have a suspenseful climax without the huge battle.

But yeah, there probably would have to be a battle. But if it at least made sense, I'd accept it more.