X-Men 3: Less and More

As someone who enjoyed both X-men movies, the second more than the first, I was one of the many who was terrified by the thought that 20th Century Fox had tapped Brett Ratner to replace Bryan Singer, who had gone off to do Superman Returns, on X-Men 3. I was even more terrified by the thought that, instead of moving production back so that they could better ensure the quality of the film, the way Sony/Columbia Pictures pushed back Spider-Man 2, Fox was dead set on releasing the film in May 2006, which meant that shooting would have to wrap faster than the ink could dry on Ratner's contract. I felt something heavy in the pit of my stomach upon reading post upon post of obnoxious fanboy gloating that the new Superman would "own" the new X-Men movie, as the slang goes. It kind of ticked me off, considering that DC/Warner Brothers pissed that franchise away almost two decades ago and were finally able to revitalize it by swiping one of Marvel films' most prized directors, who, back when he had been tapped him for the first mutant movie, was a seemingly illogical choice.

When the credits rolled, however, my feelings, although slightly mixed, were still leaning towards gladness that Bryan Singer had left.

X-Men: The Last Stand, is easily a better movie than the first X-Men movie, but is also at the same time less and more than its most immediate predecessor, X2.

The story in a nutshell, a pharmaceutal company has come up with a cure for genetic mutation, causing shockwaves in the mutant community, most notably the fugitive Magneto (Ian McKellen), who is determined to take this cure and all those who push it out. Also, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) comes back from what seemed like certain death in the second movie, but with a strange malevolence about her.

One of Singer's strong points was his characterization, although the only real beneficiaries thereof in the first two movies were Wolverine, Magneto and Rogue. Also, and I know I'm not the first person to say this, I truly felt that Singer showed a larger sense of scope, particularly in X2, than Ratner showed in the new movie. One got the whole widescreen sense of it, with visual tours de force like the opening/Nightcrawler scene, and the scene where the x-jet is pursued by fighter planes. His very strong visual sense is also clear from all the new Superman Returns trailers, and we get a very good idea of the kind of X-Men movie Singer could have made had the Fox executives not been so stingy with the budget. I guess the poor guy just got tired of fighting for more money.

That said, X-Men: The Last Stand, while certainly having benefitted from all the groundwork laid down in the first two movies, does a lot more as an emsemble piece, and as an action movie than either of its predecessors.

In the first two X-Men movies, the focus was almost strictly on Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), while other characters essentially made cameos, most notably Kitty Pryde, who was so unimportant to Singer that I think she was played by two different actresses in X-Men and X2. Here, she not only gets exponentially more screen time, but a very capable actress in the young Ellen Page to make that time meaningful. She even, for a moment, gets involved in a little love triangle, which gives the story a touch more flavor, although it's not very well developed. Others who get more screen time and nuance are Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), Storm (Halle Berry) and a welcome new addition to the X-family (on screen, anyway) in the form of Hank McCoy (the brilliantly cast Kelsey Grammer) who was only mentioned in X2.

Singer's actions scene in the first two X-films were, for the most part, godawful. All of the fight scenes of the first X-Men were an absolute joke and lent themselves quite readily to allegations of being poorly done Matrix ripoffs (which were probably right on the money). X2 seemed to offer so much more promise with that opening fight scene involving Nightcrawler, which was easily more riveting to watch than anything that happened in either of the Matrix sequels that came out that year, but all its action scenes thereafter fell sadly limp.

I read somewhere that Singer's directive to Jackman and his sparring partner, Kelly Hu a.k.a. Lady Deathstrike was to fight savagely, and not as if they were skilled martial artists. Well, apparently, Singer chose to flip the bird at about twenty years of Marvel continuity because the reason why Wolverine is the Marvel Universe's biggest badass is, besides the adamantium claws and the healing factor, the fact that he knows how to fight. Singer threw this out the window and as a result Wolverine came across as a complete and utter wuss for two consecutive movies. Maybe he was just too cheap to hire a choreographer.

Not so in this installment. There are moves. There is grace. There are, count 'em, TWO fastball specials (geekboy slang for whenever Colossus, the steel X-Man, pitches Wolverine like a fastball-hence the name-at a bad guy). There are even fight scenes involving other X-Men! There are well-timed, well-placed battles, like the first skirmish in the suburb between X-Men and Magneto's goons, including a well-cast Juggernaut, and the climactic confrontation at Alcatraz, as well as a nicely done scrap between Wolverine and a number of Magneto's minions somewhere near the last act. Also, Ratner can claim of the distinction of having pulled the X-Men franchise clear from any allegations of the Wachowski brothers' influence; none of the fight scenes look anything like the stylized violence we saw earlier this year in V for Vendetta.

It is obviously unfair to flog either of the first X-Men movies in order to praise this one, because Singer started this ball rolling in considerable style, but comparisons are of course, inevitable. That said, however, Ratner does an admirable job paying off some of the things Singer set up in X2. In particular, I had been looking forward to a Pyro/Iceman duel, and I wasn't at all disappointed. They gave them a meaningful, menacing run-in halfway through the film and had it all come to a head in a memorable fire vs. ice showdown.

There has been much debate on how the Dark Phoenix storyline was handled. To be honest, I haven't read those comics in their entirety, although I know, like any respectable fanboy, how it goes. All I have to say is that it would have been difficult for any director to tell the story without the Shi'ar or the alien Phoenix Force or even the Hellfire Club, all of whom played such pivotal parts in the comics, and as a result Ratner and his writers were severely hobbled. I think that under the circumstances, they acquitted themselves rather well, and the visual interpretation of the Phoenix, particularly in that scene at the Grey house, was appropriately creepy and had a more much more visceral effect than some cornball flaming bird surrounding Famke Janssen would have had. There did seem to be some influence from Lord of the Rings, though, particularly that scene where Galadriel wigs out.

All told, while there are aspects of Singer's storytelling that I miss, there is territory here that Ratner covered that Singer, judging from the way he directed the first two films, would not even have bothered to explore, and for this I am quite grateful.

That said, I am still looking forward to Superman Returns. I take solace in knowing that Superman doesn't have to know any special choreography, so at least I know there won't be any laughable fight scenes.