larryfilmmaker said:
Zombie Jean? Storm and Wolvie taking over the school? Xavier's death and brain transfer... Cyke's zero involvement in the Phoenix storyline...
I can't think of a single part of X3 that was faithful... what do you mean?
Okay, well. It's just the formula is there, with deferent details.
We have Jean's sacrifice with the X-jet at the end of X2. And I also liked to think of that as the movie version of the "Good Phoenix." The comic story has her sacrificing herself to save the X-men in the space shuttle. After that she lands in the water and than rises. We do have a version of that in the film.
We have the love part, which I thought played a big part in the film. It's present through both Scott and Logan. Sure Scott dies early, but he's still a part of phoenix - he was the first person she contacted using her telepathy and he keeps setting the phoenix off, or suppresses it. And Logan is in love with Jean, divided between whether or not he should kill her. The love part of the Phoenix Saga is present, just different to meet the tone of the film.
I don't think it's silly to have Wolverine suddenly in love Jean, because I don't think it's too sudden. In all the other movies we see a building of their relationship, and it's not like in the beginning of X3 he says he loves her. It develops throughout the film. It was Storm who first said that he loved her.
Sure Jean may not have been covered in flames or have a phoenix surrounding her, but there is no explanation why she would in the films - there really is no solid explanation why Jean was covered in flames at the end of X2. She had to be zombie like too show a contrast between what she was at the end of X2 and what she is in X3.
And the final sacrifice from Jean. The comics have Jean breaking through long enough to use the guns on the moon to kill herself. Movie version has Jean breaking through long enough to let Wolverine kill her. Sure in the comics it was Scott's love that enabled Jean to overcome the phoenix, but in the movie Logan says he would die for her, which I think made her realize that she is still cared about, even though she had done those horrible things.
Could it have been done differently? Yes, but I loved what we got.