Holding Out On You

Whoops. I was blabbing about the new X-Men movie the other day but kinda forgot to tell you how I felt about it. Sorry about that. I meant for that post to see the light of blog last week. But then that Clerks 2 promo caught my eye and I ran with that instead. As a result, I left out my reaction to the third and final (HA!) installment of the X-movie franchise.

Very similar to the opinions expressed at Progressive Ruin and that by Tom the Dog. Longtime readers who devour my words, memorize them, and keept them close to their heart, remember that I mentioned on this blog in the past that my expectations for the third X-Men movie this time last year was bottom of the barrel. Slowly, as content became available on the 'net, I slowly started to get interested enough to see this. So, what do I think after seeing it?

Not bad. Good, not great.

Should you be surprised? I mean, Brett Ratner will never be mistaken for Brian Singer. The X3 helmer is not exactly a top ten comic book director. Extra screen time for Halle Berry didn't help. The special effects certainly would have benefitted from some extra time, care, money, or all the above.

But there was plenty of stuff to enjoy. The film certainly did not drag, that's for sure. I liked Kitty Pryde. Jamie Madrox kicked multiple asses as Multiple Man. I was stoked with the handling of the Beast. (Definitely loved hearing the classic McCoy line.) I was surprised by the film's casualties and depowerings. Always good when a movie makes you think that almost anyone else could be next. Although, if they really wanted to, there were probably some "outs" if future directors want to use those characters again.

Overall, I was pleased with this movie and thrilled with the trilogy as a whole. There was a LOT of ways to do the X-Men wrong and this franchise got a lot more right than not. And I still think there's more room for more X-movies down the line, and I'll be in the theater opening weekend, more than likely.

"You should have stayed in the school."
"You never should have left."