Profile of Brett Ratner in Variety

[Theweepeople]

What do you mean the original X3 script was "arguably the most dynamic"?

The original X3 script is pretty much what we got:

-Cyclops being killed by Jean Grey, and going out like a "fart in the wind"
-Magneto's abandoning of a cured Mystique
-Jean Grey killing Xavier
-Magneto using the Golden Gate Bridge to get to Alcatraz

etc...

I'm not saying that all these things are -bad-, but the original X3 script was not very well liked, and is pretty much the same thing we got in the film, which you hate so passionately.
So what exactly about the original X3 script made it so "dynamic"?

I know I already explained this to you awhile back. First off the original script had mutants breaking out of Al-catraz in the middle of the film. Not the end. Ratner shortened the script. Secondly, just because something is more dynamic doesn't mean it has more quality than something else. There were many things that I hated about the X3 script but, I thought it sounded really dynamic because it was going to incorporate two very popular and complex storylines(Legacy Virus and Phoenix) from the comics. Therefore, the script appeared to be a lot more dynamic than the storylines of X1 and X2. Unfortunately, the dynamism of the original script was not translated to film.

 

[X-Maniac]

I know I already explained this to you awhile back. First off the original script had mutants breaking out of Al-catraz in the middle of the film. Not the end. Ratner shortened the script. Secondly, just because something is more dynamic doesn't mean it has more quality than something else. There were many things that I hated about the X3 script but, I thought it sounded really dynamic because it was going to incorporate two very popular and complex storylines(Legacy Virus and Phoenix) from the comics. Therefore, the script appeared to be a lot more dynamic than the storylines of X1 and X2. Unfortunately, the dynamism of the original script was not translated to film.

The idea of a Magneto prison break-out and a Washington showdown sounds great, in theory (though the prison break-out would cancel out the Magneto vs prison trucks sequence). Of course, we don’t know how it all meshed together in the story...but it does leave questions. If Magneto moved the bridge, attacked the prison and freed the mutants who then used the bridge as an escape route... how did they all get to Washington? Does he fly them across country on the bridge and land the bridge again, in Washington this time? Is that feasible? Somehow seeing the mutants emerge from a hidden forest location into SF seems better than having them conspicuously travelling from SF to Washington (either on the bridge or in some unknown way) with no government intervention. I’m not saying it wouldn’t work, but I want to know the mechanics of what they had in mind.

It’s interesting to think too about an entire prison full of mutant criminals. If there are that many mutant criminals, then weaponising the cure as a defence seems more reasonable - mutants look like a danger. As it was, we got a few mutant prisoners (Juggernaut, Multiple Man, Mystique) and the rest of the army were part of a mutant underclass of street outlaws living in the real world but having established their own social grouping and codes (nice nod to the Morlocks), and who were easily rallied to Magneto’s cause because they were living outside normal social rules and therefore disaffected with normal society and its rules and authorities.

 

[Theweepeople]

The idea of a Magneto prison break-out and a Washington showdown sounds great, in theory (though the prison break-out would cancel out the Magneto vs prison trucks sequence). Of course, we don’t know how it all meshed together in the story...but it does leave questions. If Magneto moved the bridge, attacked the prison and freed the mutants who then used the bridge as an escape route... how did they all get to Washington? Does he fly them across country on the bridge and land the bridge again, in Washington this time? Is that feasible? Somehow seeing the mutants emerge from a hidden forest location into SF seems better than having them conspicuously travelling from SF to Washington (either on the bridge or in some unknown way) with no government intervention. I’m not saying it wouldn’t work, but I want to know the mechanics of what they had in mind.

I'm amazed that you have no idea how hypocritical this sounds. You told me quite a few months ago that you were convinced that Magneto's base was on the east coast. I wondered how was Magneto able to transport all of those mutants across the US to San Fransisco so quickly without the US government detecting them. You told me this question was trivial and now you're asking the same type of question.

 

[X-Maniac]

I'm amazed that you have no idea how hypocritical this sounds. You told me quite a few months ago that you were convinced that Magneto's base was on the east coast. I wondered how was Magneto able to transport all of those mutants across the US to San Fransisco so quickly without the US government detecting them. You told me this question was trivial and now you're asking the same type of question.

I don't think I was 'convinced' it was on the east coast. It's possible, but equally possible it was on the west coast, or somewhere between. But, on reflection, it's easier to imagine Wolverine riding a long distance to the base than it is to imagine Magneto's army travelling a long distance to SF undetected. So, on balance, I personally prefer to think it might have been on the western side of the USA. However, the novel has Magneto and his army travelling in a plane, so it could then have been anywhere.

 

[narrows101]

Here's something interesting:

"Why the Web Hates Brett Ratner"

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-webhatesratner7aug07,0,4871995.story

 

[Gilpesh]

"I mean, he accomplishes more in less time. It took him one movie to undo what Brian Singer accomplished in two."

Damn straight.

 

[Theweepeople]

I don't think I was 'convinced' it was on the east coast. It's possible, but equally possible it was on the west coast, or somewhere between. But, on reflection, it's easier to imagine Wolverine riding a long distance to the base than it is to imagine Magneto's army travelling a long distance to SF undetected. So, on balance, I personally prefer to think it might have been on the western side of the USA. However, the novel has Magneto and his army travelling in a plane, so it could then have been anywhere.

If the storyline actually made sense then I wouldn't have had a problem with the location being on the east coast or west. Unfortunately, Wolverine's excursion to Magneto's base takes away the possibility of it being on the west coast near San Fransisco. There is no way Wolverine could have traveled all the way back to the X-mansion and then travel with the X-Men to San Fransisco in time to stop Magneto.

I don't have a problem with Magneto having a base on the east coast. What I do have a problem with Magneto's army showing up at San Fransisco a few scenes after Wolverine left Magneto's base. That's bad directing. There's no way Magneto could easily transport an army of that size across the country in such a short time period without our government noticing them. The Magneto of X1 and X2 would have found the least conspicuous way to take his army to the west. It would have taken more time but, at least it would have been more believable. The methods he used to go San Fransisco in such a short time should have immediately alerted the authorities near Al-catraz. Witnessing how unprepared the military was for Magneto's attack on Al-Catraz was pretty far-fetched.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

I wonder if you nit pick to this extreme with the comic books as well...

 

[Neto Magnus]

I think the real problem here is the fact that the filmmakers choose the location of the prison and/or cure facility in Alcatraz. In X2, Magneto was locked up in a prison that was seemingly near Washington DC. Now if they had used that same prison for the climax in TLS, there wouldnt be a continuity problem thus eliminating San Fran altogether.

 

[X-Maniac]

If the storyline actually made sense then I wouldn't have had a problem with the location being on the east coast or west. Unfortunately, Wolverine's excursion to Magneto's base takes away the possibility of it being on the west coast near San Fransisco. There is no way Wolverine could have traveled all the way back to the X-mansion and then travel with the X-Men to San Fransisco in time to stop Magneto.

Why does Wolverine’s trip to Magneto’s base take away the possibility of it being on the west coast near SF? Why is there ‘no way’ Wolverine couldn’t have travelled back to the X-Mansion and then travelled with the X-Men to SF?

In the time taken for Wolverine to get back to the mansion (a few days?), Magneto and his army were somehow making their way from the forest to SF.

I don't have a problem with Magneto having a base on the east coast. What I do have a problem with Magneto's army showing up at San Fransisco a few scenes after Wolverine left Magneto's base. That's bad directing.

Why is a gap of a few scenes bad directing? The movie isn’t happening in real time.

There's no way Magneto could easily transport an army of that size across the country in such a short time period without our government noticing them. The Magneto of X1 and X2 would have found the least conspicuous way to take his army to the west. It would have taken more time but, at least it would have been more believable.

How do we know how he moved the army and how long it took? It must have been inconspicuous or the government would have tracked him. You say the Magneto of X1 and X2 would have taken more time but we don’t have time details, and we don’t know how Magneto moved the army and exactly how much time it took. An estimate would be several days, the time it took for Wolverine to ride back to the mansion (with breaks on such a long trip, if Magneto’s base was on the west coast) plus the short time taken for everyone at the mansion to prepare for a trip to Alcatraz. So, it must have been several days.

The methods he used to go San Fransisco in such a short time should have immediately alerted the authorities near Al-catraz. Witnessing how unprepared the military was for Magneto's attack on Al-Catraz was pretty far-fetched.

We don’t know the methods he used. He’d be clever enough to find some technology, or some mutant’s power, that enabled travel without alerting the authorities. Magneto obviously had the ability to travel without being intercepted - this information is provided to us at the start of the movie, when we are told that the government has had hits (sightings? terrorist events?) in Lisbon, Geneva and Montreal. Therefore travelling across distances without government intervention is already established as possible by some means of transport. Therefore, his travelling to SF is possible too.

And the military were not that unprepared - they had plastic needles in plastic weapons and took out the first wave of Magneto’s army.

Times, locations and distances were not shown... but they weren’t shown in the previous X-movies either. And the convenience of people arriving at certain locations at certain times has happened before as well in the X-movies. Those things aren’t problems, they are part and parcel of storytelling, especially where a movie’s length dictates that we don’t see every detail of every event. Sometimes, such conveniences will stand out as too obvious and contrived - to me, the Venom meteorite happening to land right by Peter in SM3 was too convenient, as was Sandman happening to stumble into an open-air testing pit. I didn’t see any conveniences in X3 of that nature.

 

[Neto Magnus]

well to be fair magneto wasnt running around all willy-nilly. In the deleted scenes, he was in hiding. But its harder to move across country with over 100 people.

 

[X-Maniac]

I think the real problem here is the fact that the filmmakers choose the location of the prison and/or cure facility in Alcatraz. In X2, Magneto was locked up in a prison that was seemingly near Washington DC. Now if they had used that same prison for the climax in TLS, there wouldnt be a continuity problem thus eliminating San Fran altogether.

I like that idea. There would need to be a gap in time beteen the prison break-out and the Brotherhood’s attack on troops in Washington DC to enable to X-men to be aware of the break-out and to respond to it by getting there to stop Magneto. What would happen with the escaped mutants during that time gap? I’m not sure what the idea was behind using Alcatraz, how it came to be in the story - maybe it was going to be a mutant island prison like the Genosha of the comicbooks. Also, we don’t know exactly where Magneto’s prison was in X2. No location was given.

 

[X-Maniac]

well to be fair magneto wasnt running around all willy-nilly. In the deleted scenes, he was in hiding. But its harder to move across country with over 100 people.

Yes, I agree. It might have satisfied some compalints if only he and Pyro had been travelling around and if the prison where Mystique and the other mutants were held had been near the place of the final conflict.

 

[Neto Magnus]

I like that idea. There would need to be a gap in time beteen the prison break-out and the Brotherhood’s attack on troops in Washington DC to enable to X-men to be aware of the break-out and to respond to it by getting there to stop Magneto. What would happen with the escaped mutants during that time gap? I’m not sure what the idea was behind using Alcatraz, how it came to be in the story - maybe it was going to be a mutant island prison like the Genosha of the comicbooks. Also, we don’t know exactly where Magneto’s prison was in X2. No location was given.

Here's how I look at it. Magneto could break out the prisoners, kill all the guards and make his "nothing can stop us" speech and head out for war. The X-men would see this on the news and immediately show up. Then duking it out on the Washington Mall. But then the whole Leech thing doesn't fit into the equation.

I dont know why the govt would reinstate Alcatraz as a mutant prison. But in the movie it makes sense for Alcatraz to be the location where Leech is held. To me it didn't quite make sense that Magneto would send an army to kill one kid and sacrificing mutants like pawns. It seemed out of character. He coulda just sent Callisto or someone to go and kill him. How did he anticipate the army being at Alcatraz?

Yes, the location of the prison in X2 was never quite revealed but you have to factor in these events like, Deathstrike being close to the prison from her office or Xavier and Cyclops getting their via car (cuz the jet was being used by Storm and Jean). And if I remember correctly, when Mystique was going through Stryker's files there was an overhead shot of the prison that seemed like it was on an island near DC.

 

[kg576094]

My review for Rush Hour 3

I'm no fan of the Rush Hour series, but damn you Chris Tucker just irritates the hell out of me with his dancing, singing or over-acting in this rubbish. He is completely needless in this movie because his gags are mostly unfunny and stupid, while Jackie Chan does all his usual action which he recycled from his large archive of action movies. And worst of all, Brett Ratner's direction is as generic and sloppy as ever with such a predictable script incapable of creating any real drama or sense of danger in any of the scenes at all. (spoilers) Luckily for them, the taxi driver just so happened to be there at the right place and time to shoot the bad guy and end the story. Well, don't everything seem to work out so coincidentally and way too lucky in this movie? God forbidden you ask simple questions like where he found the gun or the courage to kill someone. Does anyone find it amusing that he went from American-hating , supposedly because of his distaste for America's war on terrorism to American-loving by the end of the movie because it's cool to kill someone? Gosh, someone need to tell Ratner it isn't cool to be a murderer or to promote violence in a PG pic for kids.