X-Men: The Last Stand (Thoughts and GIANT MEGA SPOILERS!)

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Fri May 26, 2006 8:33 am

I just got back from the midnight showing. Overall, I loved it! All the character moments and intimacy were taken care of in the first two movies so this one is free to, more or less, go completely balls out.

There are some things in the movie that shocked the hell out of me, though.

1) Cyclops dies. Jean kills him.

2) Professor X dies. There's a bit at the end of the credits that is related to this and (imo) spectacular, but Jean kills Professor Xavier.

3) Rogue loses her powers, as does Mystique.

4) There's a line in the movie that goes, and I quote: Do you know who I am? I'm the Juggernaut, bitch! Not sure how I feel about internet gags making it into the movie.

I can't say enough good things about this movie. It's not high-art, but it's exactly what I look for in a big summer/comic book blockbuster.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Fri May 26, 2006 11:06 am

Thoroughly mediocre, in my view.

Emotionally empty, and too many characters raped to get them to fit into a role that could easily have been given to somebody else.

Visually spectactular, but after Charles dies, it's about as engaging as drinking a cold cup of coffee.

Hound · Post by **Hound** » Fri May 26, 2006 4:49 pm

I can't even remember what happened in the first hour. It was a very dull build up to a decent ending.

Negatives:

Crap pacing. As mentioned above.

Cyclops got gimped. Again. His death was very cheap. Xaviers wasn't exactly great and Jean's was predictable.

There was very little point in Jean Grey returning. She may have become the big bad but she had no real motivation and didnt really do much other than look menacing. It could easily have been any other uber-powerful mutant gone mental. The phoenix thing is barely touched upon bar the fact it's Jeans 'split personality' - a waste.

Too many characters. You are led to believe that Angel plays an important part in the film, but he has about 2 minutes total screen time.

Pyro. What a ******* annoying little ****. I didn't mind him in X2, he had motives for his actions. X3 doesnt delve into why he left the Xmen at all. He just wants to kill them all, even his friend Bobby.

It just doesnt have any of the intelligence of the first 2 films. I didnt believe that mutants were persecuted and I was never convinced at any point that they were involved in a civil war.

Positives:

The Xavier twist was nice.

The special effects were really good. Especially the bridge scene.

Kitty Pryde and Beast were portrayed as well as I could have hoped for. Kitty has a great scene with Juggers.

Storm didnt suck as bad as she did in the previous 2 films.

Love the way Magneto ditched Mystique.

Overall I am very gutted about the way this film turned out.

Ozz · Post by **Ozz** » Fri May 26, 2006 9:33 pm

Professor Smooth wrote:It's not high-art, but it's exactly what I look for in a big summer/comic book blockbuster.

Same here. Too little Madrox, though.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Fri May 26, 2006 10:12 pm

Ok the story was a bit **** but otherwise it was highly enjoyable - I was shocked when old Proff X went, I nearly cried. I like Patrick Stewart.

Loved the Famke V WOlverine bit at the end, and all the special effects were top notch.

Obfleur · Post by **Obfleur** » Fri May 26, 2006 10:27 pm

EDIT: Sorry about this guys.

Dylan · Post by **Dylan** » Sat May 27, 2006 10:07 am

I loved it! Just what a superhero movie should be like, I say!

And though shocked at first, I felt Frasier performed excellently as Beast, my all time favorite character.

The Last Autobot · Post by **The Last Autobot** » Sun May 28, 2006 3:40 am

Cyclops proved to be a waste in all the trilogy.

So Jean was the phoenix because of a mental disorder, mmmm. And she killed Scott, because? He looked her in a bad way?

For a mutant defender Magneto was VERY worried of his "people".

Didnt like the performances in general. I felt the majority of characters quite empty.

Pyro was an ass, and Juggernaut a sadomasoquist porn movie reject.

Well or thats only me. Maybe If I didnt know the characters It would have been better.

Seeing Mystique as a human being was the thing that paid the movie for me.

Edit: I loved Kitty being in the movie. Eat that Juggernaut!

Obfleur · Post by **Obfleur** » Sun May 28, 2006 1:59 pm

Where was the war?
They battled at Alcatraz and that was that.

And why was Colossus even in the movie? He had like on line

Buhu.

Ozz · Post by **Ozz** » Sun May 28, 2006 3:41 pm

Obfleur wrote:And why was Colossus even in the movie?

So that he could play one of the pivotal roles in defeating Magneto?

Obfleur · Post by **Obfleur** » Sun May 28, 2006 5:35 pm

Ozz wrote:
Obfleur wrote:And why was Colossus even in the movie?
So that he could play one of the pivotal roles in defeating Magneto?

He threw Wolverine at Magneto?
They could've just used a cannon

Why wasn't Magneto sent to prison?

Ozz · Post by **Ozz** » Sun May 28, 2006 9:19 pm

Obfleur wrote:He threw Wolverine at Magneto? They could've just used a cannon

It just wouldn't be the fastball special then.

Obfleur wrote:Why wasn't Magneto sent to prison?

I'd guess when Phoenix started to obliterate things, he managed to escape in the confusion.

Obfleur · Post by **Obfleur** » Mon May 29, 2006 8:40 am

Taken from another board where people are saying that 20 minutes was cut from the movie.

According to a couple of guys that got to see the uncut version before the movie came out, this is what made up the 20 minutes:

16 sec of Collossus VS Juggernaut,

Storm confrontation at the mansion

Storm attempting to flush magnetos army away with a big tidal wave but arclight blows the tide back to the X-men and wipes out some troops.

Angel joining the X-men and fighting during the end battle, then he goes to save his dad instead of showing up from no where

The sentiel body revealed (good thing it was cut, it looked like it was made of plastic)

Rogue, Kitty and Bobby love triangle fleshed out a bit more

Magneto and Colossus "fight". (Classic)

Pyro getting away from Alkatraz

The Phoenix flame effect during Jean's rampage at the end of Alkatraz

Ice-man icesliding twice.

Extended Magneto GG bridge and Alkatraz scene (pre-x men arriving)

and this is the collossus/juggernaut fight:

Juggernaut: Im the Wrong guy to play hide and seek with

Kitty: Who's hiding you dick?

Collosus (off screen): Oy, Muscle bag's. *collosus comes into frame and metals up* How about picking on someone your own size

Juggernaut: Ive been waiting for that all my life.

Juggernaut runs into collosus. Collosus stands there, hoping to stop him but goes flying. Jugg's charges but Collosus gets up and smacks him in the chest. Juggernaut grab's Collosus and throws him into the cieling, a large dent forms but Collosus is repelled back down. Collosus hits him twice in the face and makes Jugg's helmet go wrong. Jugg's is now furious and propels Collosus into the direction of leech. Collosus dearmours and he looks confused. He spots leech with a sad expression on his face, almost saying sorry without words. Collosus smiles and taunts Juggernaut. Juggernaut gets his helmet right and charges, he staggers as he gets closer and look's worried. Collosus delivers one knock out punch to Jugg's face.

Collosus (muttering): Who's unstopable now"

Collusus/Magneto fight goes something like this:

Collosus is kicking ass then Mag's sees a shiney metal man in the distance. He holds out his arm and Collosus stiffens. He is lifted up and heads to magneto, Magneto says: "What is it with the X-men and metal." Collossus says: "Well try this without the power of magnetsim on your side". He dearmours and Attacks magneto. Pyro kicks in and flames him. Collosus metals up to take the heat and Magneto sends him flying. Pyro runs after him and says: "wait." and thats about it.

Obfleur · Post by **Obfleur** » Mon May 29, 2006 8:44 am

Ozz · Post by **Ozz** » Mon May 29, 2006 9:33 am

Might be true. I know for sure that the scene in the mansion before X-Men go to the Alcatraz was shortened/altered. You can see some of the original dialogue in the trailers.

Laser Rod Optimus Prime · Post by **Laser Rod Optimus Prime** » Mon May 29, 2006 3:54 pm

It did seem to me that the movie had been seriously compressed to run in a two hour-ish slot. I wouldnt be surprised at all if the 20 minutes are real, as 20-30 minute seems right to cover the parts that felt rushed.

Saw it on friday, didnt come into the topic till monday... something must be wrong with me.

Post by **Best First** » Mon May 29, 2006 8:10 pm

As someoe who read x-men comics for over a decade and is infinitely familiar with these characters...

...i really, really enjoyed it.

Days of Future Past opening - great
Kitty - great
Beast - super great
Big fight - great
Prof X's death - smashing

Cyclops went cheaply but it put the rest of the movie on edge as it established that all bets were off, the new ensemble worked well and the fact the team moved on due to both attrition and circumstance is a great reflection of the comic and Magneto's fate was perfect.

My only real regrets were not enough Petey and it would have been nice to see a Crawler reference.

And thank God someone finally had the nuts to cure Rogue, they have been pissing about with that in the comics for years even though her power is of far more burden than use and always will be.

As regards Jean - it made sense to be her because she has a legacy with the team - any other super powered mo'fo wouldn't have the same resonance

And whyt do Pyro's motives need exploring when they were covered in the last film?

Effects were excellent as well, notably the flying bridge.

Obfleur · Post by **Obfleur** » Tue May 30, 2006 6:33 am

Best First wrote:
And whyt do Pyro's motives need exploring when they were covered in the last film?

But why did he hate Bobby?
Pyro seemed really eager to kill him.

EDIT: Okey, one explanation could be that Magneto has "brainwashed" him.

EDIT2: http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c159/ ... 8b2dd7.jpg

Post by **Best First** » Tue May 30, 2006 8:48 am

Obfleur wrote:
Best First wrote:
And whyt do Pyro's motives need exploring when they were covered in the last film?
But why did he hate Bobby?
Pyro seemed really eager to kill him.

Because Bobby is an example of what he could have been if he had made better choices, Bobby's essentially awalking reminder that Pyro is a dick.

i loved it when Kitty called Vinnynaught a dickhead. genius.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Tue May 30, 2006 11:53 am

I can see it has flaws looking back, notably I think it feels a bit short and lacks depth but this movie is in no way poo, I really enjoyed it too - the bit with Phoenix and Logan at the end was amazing.
And proff X death, maybe I missed all the spoilers but I wasnt prepared for thaty, and I dont like seeing the 'captain' hurt.

Jetfire · Post by **Jetfire** » Tue May 30, 2006 12:15 pm

aw it SUnday. Enjoyed it.

The good stuff:

-All the actors were brilliant in it. Considering the lack of dialohue and character developement every character was brought to life by the actors.
-Beast stole the show. Grammer as we suspected was perfect for the part but did didn't phone it in, his "Oh you get the point" speach in the final battle was both funny and great.
-The action was superb. Best of the series.
-The demonstrations of Jeans powers were particluarly good.
-Fast paced so you aren't exactly bored.
-Nice Ironic end to Magneto.
-Kitty and Iceman were great in their moments together.

The Bad:

-Script was almost no existent.
Plot was muddled.
-No character developement. Everybody felt like they were where they were at the edn of X2.
-Rogue, possibly one of the most powerful plots was Rogue deciding if she wanted to continue to be a mutant or not was washed over for a quick chat with Logan and a quick cut to Rogue lining up.
-Virtually no reflection on Cykes death. Some of my friends didn't exactly know if he had been killed or not until the end.
-There was almost no pint of Jean Grey being in the plot. F##k she didn't even bother to fight near the end. Why was she so dangerous to the world exactly?

So overall 3 stars out of 5. Very enjoyable end to the series.

Lots of bad, plenty of mindless fun. Not on par with the second and a bit below the first.
If it wasn't called X-men 3 and had been called Rush Hour 3 then it wouldn't have been hammered so badly by people who have seen it and everybody would say it was a fun action movie.

Post by **Best First** » Tue May 30, 2006 12:32 pm

Impactor returns 2.0 wrote: And proff X death, maybe I missed all the spoilers but I wasnt prepared for thaty, and I dont like seeing the 'captain' hurt.

i went in totally spoiler free and was relieved that i did, it made it a lot tenser. spoilers are teh bane of films these days, its alot easier to be cynical about a film when you know what is goig to happen.

so which characters were 'raped' then? I don't see it any major issues with teh ones who had anything approachiong a key role.

Better than X-Men 1 in my opinion, more going on, beter action, more pay off.

Plot wise theres as much going on as x-men 1 and given that there doesn't look like there is going to be a sequel in the near future this movie didn't have to lay down threads like 2 did, just tie them off, which it did in most cases IMO.

On the Rogue front, what more do you want? A 5 minute clip of her listening to radiohead and looking mopey? Notto mention the fact that, for her, its an obvious choice anyway thatt he comics have always hammed up unconvcinigly. Give the poor girl some sausage already.

Agree however that Cyclops could have done with more reflectionn.

I think the obvious continuity issues howeevr are that Moira Mactaggert had a good haircut and Callisto was fit.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Wed May 31, 2006 10:50 pm

Jsut saw it today and really enjoyed it. I'm not a hardcore hardcore X-fan, though I'm familiar with the characters, but I thought it rounded off the trilogy nicely...also went in spoiler-free, so all the deaths were a bit of a shock, though I was glad Scott bit the dust (he's such a nonentity), X and Jean were a bit more of a shock to the system. I think I would have preferred them to take out Halle Berry instead though - she's even more annoying than Cyclops...

The bit I have a teensy problem with:

Why the fudge did Logan kill Jean at teh end? Why not just jab her with one of the mutant-cure syringes that were lying around all over the place? If he really loved her that much, surely he would have gone for the option that didn't involve stabbing her through the heart. After all, Frasier stabbed Gandalf with, like, four of those things, why didn't Logan get him to save one so he could neutralise Jean's crazy psychic powers?

Makes no sense at all...though I do agree that seeing Rebecca Romjin in the buff was worth the seven bucks entry fee alone. Would have been nice to see a bit of denouement with Angel and his dad too, maybe with Angel smacking him around a bit until he showed some respect.

Getaway · Post by **Getaway** » Wed May 31, 2006 11:26 pm

I too have just come back from seeing it. I did enjoy it, but thought that the whole Cyclops thing was badly handled, no one seemed to give a stuff that he was missing even when Wolverine found his glasses there was nothing, didn't like that bit.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Wed May 31, 2006 11:33 pm

On the jabbing Jean bit - I dont think Jean would let Logan get close with a needle - she seemed to be able to sense those things even with her back turned.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Wed May 31, 2006 11:34 pm

Impactor returns 2.0 wrote:On the jabbing Jean bit - I dont think Jean would let Logan get close with a needle - she seemed to be able to sense those things even with her back turned.

But he got close enough to stab her through the heart with his admantium claws?

Poor excuse

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 12:36 am

Maybe the phoenix had blown all the needles away when she kicked off?

Post by **Best First** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 8:30 am

Metal Vendetta wrote:
Impactor returns 2.0 wrote:On the jabbing Jean bit - I dont think Jean would let Logan get close with a needle - she seemed to be able to sense those things even with her back turned.
But he got close enough to stab her through the heart with his admantium claws?

Poor excuse

His claws are part of him though - his healing factor is what enabled him to get close enough to use them, that and the fact Jean was probably holding the pheonix back to some extent.

She would have oblitereated 'the cure' in his hand.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 10:14 am

Have to say once more the special effects at that point were truly amazing.

Ozz · Post by **Ozz** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 10:40 am

Impactor returns 2.0 wrote:Have to say once more the special effects at that point were truly amazing.

The only thing that was missing was a fiery bird.

Hopefully what Ob posted is true and it will feature on the DVD version.