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by Jennifer Fallon, published on May 31, 2006 At the beginning of this movie, things are chugging along quite nicely for the mutants of the near future. They have a Secretary of Mutant Affairs in the Whitehouse (a very blue and hirsute Kelsey Grammer as the Beast), a sympathetic president and the Xavier Academy for Gifted Youngsters (aka mutants) is back in business. Of course, there are a few changes. Scott (aka Cyclops) is a lost cause, still grieving the loss of his girlfriend, Jean Grey (Famke Jansen), and Logan (aka Wolverine – a very buff Hugh Jackman) appears to be the responsible one now. But, of course, this is the X-men and nothing is ever as simple as it seems on the surface. The problems really start when billionaire and embarrassed father of a mutant, Warren Worthington II, discovers a “cure” for mutants and sets about unleashing it on the mutant population. This divides the mutant community, many of whom are quite happy to be mutants and sets them against each other in a manner that can only end in a spectacular, special-effects filled climax. To further complicate matters, Jean Gray rises from the dead, returning as Dark Phoenix, the only Class 5 mutant in existence and apparently, she’s pretty pissed off… This film is really two movies in one. It’s an insightful examination of a number of relevant political themes – terrorism, morality and the right to be different, stuffed inside an action-packed special-effects fest aimed squarely at the 14 year old boy, demographic. You can’t accuse Director, Brett Ratner of holding back when it comes to the special effects. Magneto (Ian McKellan) rips the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge out and relocates it across the bay to Alcatraz (he’s never heard of boats?), at one point. And we get a truly impressive array of superpowers in the final showdown. But to me, the film suffers from the fate of all stories where you have an omnipotent hero: if your hero can do anything, you really don’t have a story, so you have to find ways of curbing their power so the mere mortal (and less talented mutants) have something to do. As a consequence of this, the character of Dark Phoenix spends much of the film standing around looking all brooding and menacing, and even stands back to allow the other mutants their moment of cinematic glory before she decides to do anything with her unimaginable powers. The bottom line, however, is that if you love your superheros like I do, and you loved the other two X-men movies, you’ll love this one, too. The film broke every box office record in existence when it opened in the US, and deservedly so. This film knows its audience and they won’t leave the cinema disappointed – particularly they wait until the surprise scene hidden away at the end of the credits. Source: www.jenniferfallon.com.au |
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© 2006-2010 Dominik Keppner
© 2006-2010 Dominik Keppner
