View Full Version : Movie Review--X3: The Last Stand
martok2112
May 27th, 2006, 11:30 PM
FILM: XMEN 3: The Last Stand
DISTRIBUTOR: 20th Century Fox
DIRECTOR: Brett Ratner
PRINCIPAL CAST: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Steward, Ian McKellen, Famke Jansen, Halle Berry, Kelsey Grammer, Anna Paquin
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for intense sequences of action violence, some sexual content and language
RUNTIME: 1hour 44mins.
Story: 3.5
Acting: 5.0
Sound: 4.0
Visuals: 4.0
Endorphin Factor: 2.0
Big Screen Experience: 3.0
Scoring system:
Average: 3.5
MOVIES IT COULD BE COMPARED TO: X MEN, X2
DETAILS: Well...I have to admit, I was a little let down by this film. I was really stoked to see it, (caught the first showing opening day) but it just didn't quite deliver.
Visual effects were decent, but I think the CGI was very wanting. Everyone played their parts to perfection, so I wasn't let down by character performances....and Kelsey Grammer played a pretty cool Hank "Beast" McCoy. This movie is set up to be the final film of the Xmen trilogy, but certain things lend themselves to a sequel (stick around after the end credits roll).
Other than a couple of emotional moments in the film, nothing really reached out and grabbed me. There weren't any "holy frack" moments for me in watching this. There was some good humor...and the action sometimes got a little convoluted, but nothing blew me away like I'd hoped.
I can't believe I just don't have much to say about this movie. Yes, I'll get it on DVD, but I am far from inclined to go back and see this film again.
BOTTOM LINE: If you do wish to see this film, go see it as a matinee. I don't think I could justify evening show prices. I also don't forsee this film doing very well at the box office.
Darrell Lawrence
May 28th, 2006, 02:34 AM
Interesting comment about the box office, considering it set a record for a Friday Opening. So I heard :)
KJ
May 28th, 2006, 05:52 AM
Wait.......there's an Endorphin factor here? ;)
Yeah the fim was good but not great. And everyone who stayed behind must of gotten blatantly tipped off about the ending, cos great and fantastic as X2 was nobody was motivated to stick around after the credits in case it was one of those films with some scenes afterwards! And X2 was out in 2003 when the Matrix Reloaded was kicking about at the same time which as you know had the trailer for Matrix Revolutions after its credits.
Personally they should stop that kind of practice with films, generally unless a film's got a kickass soundtrack i'm not motivated to stick around afterwards and X3 was sorely lacking a soundtrack of anykind to begin with (where was the original X-Men soundtrack to begin with in this film anyways?).
Its was a fun romp indeed but i agree with Martok everyone, X3 sadly doesn't have the wow factors of the X2 or even the first two Spider-Man films even if you should see the film for the action sequences for what they are. I'd say see the flick for the story and characters, but there lies the problem?
Brett Ratner messed up badly here. Just thank god he didn't do Superman after all which is bound to be much better than X3!
I too might get the DVD to complete my X-Men collection when X3 is out later on in the year on DVD, but only for completion sake mind you. I just hated what Ratner did with the characters. Yes as you might have heard, Rogue and Cyclops were wasted in this movie but none so more than the newly introduced character "Angel". He is practically the new Darth Maul of the X-Men series! His face is everywhere for the film and he is seen in adverts and promotion for the movie, late night clips on TV shows etc but he is hardly in the movie at all.
:wtf:
Average to almost good flick at the end of the day which is sorely lacking any reply value (i saw X2 twice but X3 won't lure me to see it twice?). Now i'm off to see The DaVinci Code. Yeah you heard right, regardless of what i've heard i have to see the film to judge for myself which is what everyone else is doing considering its actually earning money at the box office.
KJ
kingfish
May 28th, 2006, 03:17 PM
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=14731
X-Men Makes $44.5 million in One Day!
Source: ShowbizData May 27, 2006
According to early Friday estimates from ShowbizData, X-Men: The Last Stand, the third chapter in the Marvel superhero franchise, has grossed $44.5 million in its first 24 hours, including midnight showings on Thursday night. It opened in over 3,688 North American theatres, which is fairly small by today's standards, although it averaged roughly $12,000 per theatre, as fans of the previous movies flocked to see the movie as soon as possible.
Although it didn't break the opening day record or one-day record held by Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith which grossed over $50 million on its opening Thursday last year, the Brett Ratner directed action flick has made more on its first Friday than any other movie. Previously, the biggest Friday opening was held by Spider-Man, which opened in May 2002, though last November's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire came very close to beating it.
X-Men: The Last Stand is certainly going to make a valiant effort to destroy the current three-day weekend record held by 2002's Spider-Man with the added advantage of being a holiday weekend with most people out of work and school on Monday.
It's almost guaranteed to top the previous Memorial Day records held by Steven Spielberg's The Lost World, which grossed over $90 million its opening weekend, and Shrek 2, which earned more than $95 million over the holiday weekend in 2004.
Last week's new movies, Sony's The Da Vinci Code starring Tom Hanks, and DreamWorks' Over the Hedge took significant plunges to make room for the mutant threequel with the Dan Brown adaptation grossing an estimated $10.2 million yesterday, barely a third of its opening day last week. Over the Hedge made roughly $7.6 million yesterday.
Check back on Sunday or Monday to see how things turned out for the three movies.
KJ
May 28th, 2006, 05:19 PM
But at the end of the day though, all that means Jack especially if the film is no good?
Look at Titanic the top most grossing film of all time. Whatever made it so watchable at the time, were those girls pawning for Leonardo DiCaprio and the fact Titanic was in cinemas for 9 months plus (a record there in itself) which made it that big to begin with. It always some fact that makes movies bigger than they really should be.
Memorial day holiday is just another one to take advantage of. Regardless of films earning ridiculous amounts of money which great films deserve and crap ones don't. People use to be concerned about the quality of the movies and the reply value they once had, they hardly have that now if they're going to be on DVD within 4 or 5 months time are they.
Let the bean counters worry about how much the films make, its not as if we have a vested interest in whether or not such films make any money anyways that should be a studio concern and not ours. Quality of a movie should be our concern let Hollywood worry about numbers, when their remakes flop and their hardcore action popcorn flicks crash and burn cos they are heartless and appeal to nobody.
Besides the big hitters are coming up in July with the likes of Superman Returns, Pirates Of The Carribean 2, Miami Vice and Snakes On A Plane!
Don't count your chickens just yet as the summer's about to begin! there seems to be plenty ahead yet to come still.
KJ
KJ
May 29th, 2006, 05:09 PM
Noticed online that there's talk of the deleted scenes some of which were partially seen in the trailers and seen in the early screen test version, but weren't included in the final cut of the film, are now hotly debated as to whether or not they will be in the DVD version.
So far what i've picked up on discussion boards, news reported and discussed articles on the web about X-Men 3 The Last Stand.
Alternate ending "coda" scenes at the end credits
-Moira McTaggert walking into a hospital room to check on a patient (the same subject being talked about at the beginning of the film who had no consciousness) who says to her, "Hello Moira" in Charles' voice (most widely seen ending) "SEEN IN MOST PRINTS!"
- A shot of an empty corridor in the X-Mansion, but suddenly the walls start shaking, and the scene moves outside to Jean's grave, which has a giant hole in front of the tombstone (reported to be shown at theatres in France)
- A scene with the human Mystique walking up to Magneto and giving him a wallet (not sure if this is confirmed)
- A scene at Alkali Lake, where the water suddenly turns red and a beam shoots out from under the water (reported from theatres in France)
- A scene in a hospital where two doctors are looking at an unconscious Cyclops, and they say he has brain damage, then his eyes open and the screen goes red (supposedly seen during a pre-release screening)
- A shot of Pyro walking into Xavier's school (reported at theatres in Hong Kong)
- (from trailer) the speech where Xavier talked about angels and demons, in reference to the mutant war
- (from trailer) a shot of the Sentinel's leg crushing a car
- (from aired footage on The Tonight Show) Wolverine hollering when Colossus throws him towards the Sentinel
- (from pre-release screening) noises of the Sentinel's body crashing into the ground, as well as Wolverine hitting the ground
- (from trailer) Leech being put into a cat-scan machine
- (from pre-release screening) different dialogue during the mansion sequence with Storm, Hank and Wolverine
- (from trailer) Bolivar Trask saying to the President, "You are talking about declaring a war on U.S. soil."
- (from pre-release screening) Magneto saying in the church sequence, "Who will you stand with when this massacre is upon us?"
- (from trailer) Magneto throwing a police escort vehicle into the semi holding Mystique
- (from trailer) Scott screaming at the sky during the Alkali Lake sequence
- (from publicity photos) Angel standing by a window before his father tries to inject him with Cure
- (from magazine photos) a diagram being shown that details how Cure is injected into the body (may be a storyboard)
- (from pre-release screening) Logan telling Xavier that he was only able to find Scott's glasses at Alkali Lake
- (from trailer) Logan saying to Jean, "We can make it like it was!" while she has tears streaming down her face
- (from trailer) Magneto screaming while down on the floor during the house sequence with Jean and Xavier
- (from magazine photos) a scene where Storm gives Kitty a hug after Xavier's death
- (from magazine photos) Colossus consoling a child after Xavier's death
- A scene with Rogue's mother (confirmed by the film's scriptwriters)
- (from trailer) alternate shots of Magneto walking along the bridge at sundown, and the Golden Gate Bridge falling at night-time
- (from trailer) Logan telling Bobby before the final battle, "You might not come back. She (Kitty) might not come back. Are you ready for that?" and Bobby saying, "We're not kids anymore."
- (from IGN.com) a scene where Pyro shoots a fireball directly into the camera during the final battle sequence
- (from pre-release screening) Colossus getting levitated over to Magneto, and then Colossus says something to the effect of, "Try it without the power of magnetism on your side," and de-armors himself, then he tries to hit Magneto, but gets rushed by other mutants, and when he armors up again, Magneto throws him away
- (from pre-release screening) at least TWO instances where Colossus and Juggernaut fight each other: one where Cain is going into the Alcatraz facility to kill Leech, and Colossus locks arms with him for a few seconds trying to stop him, before getting thrown into a vehicle, and then, later on when everyone is fleeing the island, Colossus throws Juggernaut towars Leech, which causes him to lose his powers, and when Cain runs towars Colossus again, he gets knocked out (the second incident is unconfirmed)
- (from trailer) at least one unused shot of Juggernaut running through a wall that didn't make it into the final cut
- Psylocke using her psychic blade (confirmed by the film's scriptwriters)
- (from magazine photos) Storm shooting a tidal wave and flushing part of Magneto's army away on Alcatraz Island
- (from magazine photos) an expansion of the scene between Rogue and Bobby at the end, where they kiss
- (magazine photos) a scene where Hank is holding books, inferring that he is going to teach at the school (KJ: I have this picture 'saved' on my my hard drive so this was indeed shot!)
- (from magazine photos) Wolverine going back to Canada for some reason (there is a publicity still of him in the bar, and the man credited as the bartender in the first film was also listed in the credits for this film)
- (from pre-release screening) every time Colossus armors up, a metal clinking noise is heard
Rumored for the DVD version
Colossus vs Juggernaut scene added during the end-battle
--- It was cut because of time constraints. Because Colossus had alot of action against Juggernaut the studios decided to completely do it CGI wise ( with the actors ofcourse ) but it took too much time. They cut the scene and saved it for the DVD version.
- The "She might not come home" speech by Wolverine added
--- There was no time or purpose to put this into the final version. It made sense that they "stood together"
- Added scene of the CGI Wolverine "sliding" down the back of the Sentinel.
--- Again it took too much time and that was something Fox didnt have.
- Added scene of Kavito Rhoa expressing her doubts of the Cure.
Kavito Rao : "The cure seems flawless Warren ... but there are signs of..."
Warren : "Signs of what? This is the only chance we got to save us humans against the growing threats of ... mutants. Before you know it will become an endangered species!"
- The Phoenix Firebirds shown once Jean starts to disintegrate people
--- It was removed because it didn't fit into the real-world. Rumor has it that it might be put on the DVD 2-DISC version.
Food for thought!
KJ
martok2112
May 29th, 2006, 07:18 PM
Would love to see some of this turn up in a special edition DVD. Might give the movie a little more value in my eyes. :) Thanks for reporting this, KJ. :salute:
jjrakman
May 30th, 2006, 08:57 AM
I really liked the first two films alot but this one just fell flat.
It seemed at times that Magneto and Professor X stepped out of character. When X says, "I don't need to explain myself least of all to you." that didn't really sound like something X would say to me, and I don't think Magneto would have used mutants as "pawns", or just turned his back on Mystique. I think he would have mourned her as though she had died. But maybe I'm wrong.
Also, not only did half the cast either die or get cured, but it was done in such a way that so anti climactic. None of the characters who died got the treatment they deserved in their deaths. It did seem like they wanted to get it over with.
I was also disappointed in the fight between Pyro and Iceman. That was something I thought could have been expanded a bit more.
And what was the point of having Beast in there? He did little more than hang upside down and be blue. You could have easily changed his character into a human and not known the difference.
As far as Beast, I think it would have been more interesting if he had been in that position as a human promoting the cure, then become a mutant and change his mind.
As for Angel, I think everything was fine up to and including his flight out the window, but that flight over the protestors, should have been maybe some sort of symbol for mutants. I think they could have played into that more.
I just think Beast and Angel were lost opportunities.
I was also really disappointed in Rogue's decision to get the cure. It seemed like an immature impulse to do it so quickly without more dialogue. I kept waiting for her to reappear at the end in the last battle to suck out Magnetos powers, but it was not to be. But then it didn't really seem like the writers knew what to do with her, since she wasn't in most of the movie.
And that really seems to be the primary problem in this picture. They just didn't know how to make a movie with an ensamble cast.
Part of me is glad this is the last one, if this is how they're going to turn out. Part of me wants another one so it doesn't end on this note.
spcglider
May 30th, 2006, 01:30 PM
Spoilers ahead:
"Okay...who DOESN'T want to be in any more sequels?"
(Several respectable actors raise their hands)
"Alright then, you're dead and you're dead and YOU'RE dead... and they will all be pathetic useless deaths, too."
I gotta say I was truly disappointed in the film. I didn't think it stood up at all to the previous two. And I don't think that even judicious editing or addition would have helped. I just didn't like where they went with the story and what they did with the characters.
What was with the awful rubber muscle suit on Juggernaut? And Kelsey Grammer had no neck! Of course, they had to over-do the bulkiness in his chest to cover up his prodigious gut so he always looked like he was wearing a neck brace... like Batman.
And Magneto? Hellllloooooo? Ever hear of a little invention called a BOAT? No need to hijack the Golden Gate you big dork.
And finally, where was the Phoenix effect???????????????????????? (infinity)
I mean, holy cow... only one of the most important single iconic images in the X-Men universe goes completely unused in the final cut (if it was ever in there at all).
Nope... I didn't like this one at all.
-Gordon
KJ
May 30th, 2006, 02:27 PM
Agreed, its enjoyable film alright but boy its got major flaws thats almost ugly to mention. And surprising now, you can go back and look at all the traliers for X-Men 3 and see several of the scenes and alternate angles they chose to cut out of the final film (Cyclops scream at Alkali Lake for example). Alot of films have little things like that but X-Men 3 one of the most blatant films in a long time to do this, when i think about it i'm a little shocked i didn't make the list of deleted scenes myself even though i gathered up pictures from the film online months before the release of X3 to begin with.
I'm going to see if i can locate that screen test version and see what exactly was removed from the final cut and how many scenes either suffered or were improved in the earlier cut of the movie.
Wish me good fortune on this!
It seemed at times that Magneto and Professor X stepped out of character. When X says, "I don't need to explain myself least of all to you." that didn't really sound like something X would say to me, and I don't think Magneto would have used mutants as "pawns", or just turned his back on Mystique. I think he would have mourned her as though she had died. But maybe I'm wrong.
The betrayal of Mystique pissed me off the most. It was the biggest WTF moment in the entire series. Even though it draw early critism for the first trailer, Juggernaut's appearence in the film wasn't all that bad to be honest nor was Vinne Jones' bad oneliners. But the fact he seemed to be based on the "Ultimates" version of Juggernaut i.e. he's powers aren't mystical and he's a mutant, and no mention was made to him and Charles Xavier being Step Brothers was another strike against this movie.
Angel, Psylocke, Cyclops, Mystique and Rogue being totally wasted were the biggest crimes made in this movie. And even with more screen time Halle Berry still hasn't mastered the characterization of Ororo Monro i.e. Storm in three movies! A pity.
KJ
martok2112
May 30th, 2006, 05:09 PM
Spcglider...I like your signature. Great song. "One Tin Soldier" by Coven. :salute:
spcglider
May 31st, 2006, 06:49 AM
Spcglider...I like your signature. Great song. "One Tin Soldier" by Coven. :salute:
Thanks! It was just floating around in my mind one day and I decided to drop it in as a sig.
-G
jewels
July 3rd, 2006, 11:00 AM
X3 fell flat for me: too much whiz-bang effects without enough story and character interaction to stand on.
Jewels
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