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X3 is full good moments overall. It's a film about a bunch of cool moments and mutants doing their thing. I'll be honest, this is more like X-Men than the first two films. You have all the wacky battles and over-the-top drama and even the un-needed character deaths. I enjoyed it. Still, I have some issues with certain themes, characters, and scenes.
Young Charles/Eric:
Very interesting FX work. Patrick Stewert specifically looks 20yrs younger rather convincingly. Ian still shows some age, though.
Danger Room:
Wolverine and Storm training teenage mut-... X-Men: Evolution? Anyway, it was nice to have a sentinel; not so nice for it to be off screen the whole time. Logan getting tossed was badass. In this sequence lies my first and most frequent complaint: character plots. Shadowkat is introduced as an X-Man without so much as a flashback detailing her entry. She's just there.
Cyclops:
The only time Scott is a pretty interesting character is when he gets killed off in the first 30 seconds. I like this depressed, stuble-growing, loner Cyclops. I understand why he couldn't be in the rest of the movie, but can't help but wonder how it would be for him to participate. The Scott/Logan/Jean triangle was basically vaporized with 'Cyke as well.
Brett Retner(SP):
It's at this time I notice the director's openning flaws. He introduces (and reintroduces) characters with poor flair. They just appear on screen without so much as a music cue, interesting camera angle or defining speach. Magneto's first scene in the film is what I'm talking about here. Fortunately, you can actually see Brett adjusting to the film mid-movie as the middle and ending scenes seem vastly superior to the first 20 minutes (not by much).
Enter Phoenix:
It's nice how they totally spit on Singer's flaming Phoenix when he was obviously gonna present it for his X3. Still, I do like the one they went for here. Kinda scary when she gets into her final form. Her presence is explained rather poorly. Split personality? Much too forceful. I would've had it so her growing powers simply manifested into this Phoenix entity with a Goddess complex. But that's me.
Angel:
Honestly I expected him to be used for a foreshadowing to a future Apocolyps storyline. Guess I asked for too much.
Magneto Breaks Out Mutants:
Cool how he destroyed that convoy. Very. It's pretty insulting to Magneto as a character, however, that he disowns Mystique over a technicality. Did she not grow up as a mutant? Did she not feel the prejudice? Bad writing. Alot of cool scenes end with bad writing.
Logan Keeps Scott's Shades:
I'm most disappointed in this overlooked and interesting detail. When Logan questions Jean about Scott he pulls out his shades. Wouldn't the writers or the director find that interesting enough to elaborate on? Did Logan have some respect for Scott? We'll never know. Missed oppertunity.
Showdown at Jean's:
Can we safely guess Pheonix killed Jean's parents? I like to think so. The movie gets better from here; after some pretty good scenes. Xavier getting vaporized (or whatever the bitch does to you) really got me at the time. But again a key relationship of the movie-series is vaporized as well. Why have either Magneto or Xavier when the other's dead? The empty wheelchair shot sent it home, though.
Calisto:
Please tell me she wasn't made black to have some type of synergy with Storm. Please. She comes off as some hood-rat from around the way.
Wolverine Jungle Battle:
Something about Logan in the jungle felt right. Then Magneto reminded him why he's not a match for the Master of Magnetism. Gotta admit; everytime Magneto and Wolverine were in the same scene I expected an adaptation of the... Bone Surgery. Xavier got "killed", I was ready for anything.
Rogue:
Sell-out. I would've loved for Bobby to disown her ass and get with Kitty for pulling that shi... Did I just contradict myself? No, I didn't. Anyway, there was absolutely no resolution to Rogue/Kitty/Bobby that satisfied me.
Psylocke:
Just some Morlock thug with powers that has nothing to do with her comic version? Insult to all of her fans.
Building Bridges:
As many times as it was shown and talked about, seeing it in it's entirety was badass. Magneto rules.
The Last Stand:
This is really what people paid to see. On some levels it delivers, but it could've been better. Seeing Beast throw down was unexpected cool. Did Storm maliciously kill Calisto? Abit forced to me. Of all people to go after Juggy when he went after Leech; Kitty?!? Collossus vs. Juggernaut any day of the week. Still, Juggy's line in the floor: Gold. Iceman could've pulled an Ice Slide just once... Speaking of that...
Iceman vs. Pyro:
Interesting and boring at the same time. How?!? I expected more than some DBZ beam battle. I wanna see Ice Slides and Fire Tricks! Iceman going all ice was pretty cool and for some reason surprising. But like many other scenes it was capped off by bad dialogue. "You should've left the school." "You should've stayed." I would've had it like: "You're not so cool after all." *Headbutt* "You're not so hot yourself." But that's just me.
Phoenix Unleashed:
Very visual and scary. I liked it. She just started wasting people at random; by random I mean unimportant characters. Wolverine's 'walk against the wind' was a good moment.
Overall I liked the movie. It wasn't kick-my-ass good but it was interesting. Xavier cheating death totally ruined the angle. But I suppose it coincides with Magneto actually gaining his powers back (my favorite scene in the movie). They're at a point in the franchise to reinvent the wheel here. Go on with the X-Men: Evolution set-up and run with it. But that's me.
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