Now playing in North American Cinemas
Rating: 2.5/5
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Kelsey Grammer, Shawn Ashmore, Anna Paquin
First, let me just say that my introduction to the X-Men story came courtesy of my older brother who collected comic books sporadically over his pre-teen and teen years. So, I don't qualify as an expert or a die-hard fan. I really didn't get into the X-Men until the 1990's saturday morning cartoons aired on Fox. My knowledge of the Phoenix saga is woefully inadequate. So I apologize in advance for actually enjoying a film that has pissed off so many people. I just went to the movies to be entertained, to see Hugh Jackman in a wife-beater and to hear Kelsey Grammer prattle on about how well-read he is.
That's right, I don't ask much from movies and that my friends is why I will never be utterly disappointed. Sex appeal. Shit blowing up. Comic relief. This film provided the three keys to making me happy. For me it was no worse than the first two in the series. In some ways it was ever better.
Were there too many mutants? Er, um, yeah, but it's a freakin' war. I suspect that the same folks complaining about it now would say there were too few mutants if things had been scaled back a bit. What of the missed opportunities to exploit the backstory of Juggerknaut? If you don't know, you don't care and it really would have ruined the film for me if it had been an hour longer, inflated with all that drama.
It's not a perfect film. There are sequences in which it would make perfect sense for a mutant to use his/her abilities to quickly diffuse a situation but it appears that said mutant developed a case of amnesia. Yeah, Storm, I'm talking about you, biotch! Also, what happened to Nightcrawler from the last film? I guess Alan Cummings was too busy filming The L Word.
By far, the best performance was put in by Sir Ian McKellen as Magneto. No shocker there. I know this is sacrilege, but I found Patrick Stewart a bit flat and I just wanted to slap Anna Paquin for that shiatty Southern accent. Shawn Ashmore is Canadian, so I don't have a negative word to say about him. Ahem. Hugh Jackman was, well, he was Wolverine. He can't really screw that up now, can he? As, for Halle Berry, my brother said to tell you that he needs to see more cleavage. That is all.
Veridict: Summer fun!
|
