May 28, 2006
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movies I’ve seen recently…
X-Men : The Last Stand (2006) B-X-Men : The Last Stand (X3) ended up A LOT better than I expected. In
fact, I think it’s better than the other two x-men films. Why? The
first one was good, but the need to introduce the characters got in the
way of the movie a bit, and the action was also very subpar then. The
second one however goes the opposite direction by having as much action
as possible, while the plot was relegated to your simple “running from
bad guys, then fighting bad guys, and oh don’t persecute me” cliche. X3
on the other hand is nice combination of both, in that we’ve got two
plots that I thought worked rather well (the cure + Dark Phoenix), and
action that was necessary when the story needed it to be (as opposed to
X2 where the plot mostly revolved around the action).I could be a super fan boy geek and complain about why Sentinels this,
why Angel that, or why a favorite mutant isn’t more prominent in the
story, but I’d rather judge the movie as an entity outside of the comic
book continuity, as what was established by the other two films. In
that regards the MAJOR event changes to some of the characters do make sense,
especially considering this is most likely the last X-Men film outside
of single character spin-offs (Wolverine).The fact that this IS a movie with a huge cast means that there will be
primary characters and secondary characters. So comic book fans of
characters like Colossus or Psylocke will have to accept that they will
play a much more minor role compared to how they were in the books.
That’s the reality of the matter. Speaking of characters, it’s true
that there aren’t too many additional character development among the
established cast. But that’s just it, the main majority of the primary
characters have already been established from the previous films, so
the only development revolved around the plot (which it does
well). Out of the newer characters, Kelsey Grammar as The Beast did an
excellent job, and was given the appropriate amount of screen time.
Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde was a delight as well.It terms of the story itself, I feel that “the cure” was appropriate to
the movie. The mutants have always been an allegory about minority
cultures. The first film introduced us to what mutants are. The second
film introduced us to mutants being persecuted. The third film now
introduces us to the idea that if you are a “minority” who could do
something to become part of the “majority,” would you do it? X3 does a
good job in pointing out that being a mutant isn’t always a gift for
everybody, but a curse as well. Out of the three movies, this is the
one that actually merits philosophical discussions.
Jean Grey as the Phoenix was simply amazing to watch. The shocking actions she does in the movie shows how far she’s gone
from the person she once was. It gives weight to the notion that she
really is somebody to fear. Heck, she can telekinetically manipulate
things in a molecular level, and the movie doesn’t shy away from that
by watching her literally turn people and anything else into nothing.X-Men : The Last Stand does have it’s flaws though, in that some
dialouge were kinda weak, and there are action sequences that were a
little unbelievable. Overall
though, I feel that this is the best movie that got the proper feel of
how the comic books really were. Kudos to Brett Ratner as director, and the
screenplay by Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn.*edit* after watching it a second time, I felt compelled to change the grade for X3. Sorry.
Where The Truth Lies (2005) B-“Where the truth lies” is something of a film noir-ish murder mystery. It deals with how back in the 1950s/1960s, celebrities lived a loose lifestyle that sometimes faces some real tragedy. 15 years later, Alison Lohman plays a journalist trying to unravel the death of a young woman, who was last seen with two celebrities played by Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth. While Bacon and Firth were excellent in this film, I thought Lohman seemed absolutely mis-casted as the journalist (and I’m a fan of hers from Matchstick Men). The story itself is interesting in that while you are figuring out whodunnit, you are also watching a woman who gets sucked into the dark under belly of celebrity life. The movie even suggests an “Alice in Wonderland” comparison, with Alison’s journalist being “Alice” going into “the rabbit hole” that is bizarre world of celebrities.
There are some moments of unbelievable coincidences though that kinda brings down the story a bit. While in the end the mystery worked well enough, the whole thing isn’t as compelling as it probably should have been. I enjoyed it enough though. Oh, it has to be mentioned that there are several nudity and sex scenes in the movie, so this is not a mystery you want to watch with kids.
