The flight in the xfilms

[Angamb]

I saw the trailer and thought the same exact thing. I am really wishing that the X-men franchise would get a new studio, director, and writers that can handle this property the way it should be handled and have faith in the property to take chances with it financially and creatively because although the X-men movies were good none of them were as great as they could have been.

Totally agreed. Fox seems to be unabble to do the x-men justice. And a proof of it maybe is the box-office. Good, but not as great as other big movies.

 

[Storm22]

although the X-men movies were good none of them were as great as they could have been.

That could be said about any movie really, it comes down to personal expectations and preferences. No matter what kind of X-Men movie they make there are bound to be some who are still disappointed/want more.

Having said that I would like to see some other studio other than Fox take over with future X-Men movies. There should definitely be more movies!

The Golden Compass does look really good too.

 

[Angamb]

Just a comparision, who of you think Heroes and/or The 4400 have had better use of the issue of humans with powers than the x-movies?

 

[Storm22]

Heroes and The 4400 pale in comparison to X-Men imo. Heroes is esentially a carbon copy of X-Men anyway. Having said that I prefer it to The 4400.

 

[Obsidian]

Storm's constant spinning around while flying was annoying and repetitive. There was no real variation in Storm's powers. Just some lightning and flying, with a bit of thunder and darkness. I wanted her to mix it up. They should've kept the scene with the tidal wave in.

Magneto's is undoubtedly the best.

 

[WideAwake]

I don't think any of the characters in the X movies are actually flying (save for Angel), they are more or less levitating themselves.

In the comics and TAS, characters with the ability to fly have some sort of explanation behind it (save for Rogue): Magneto uses magnetism, Storm creates winds that can carry her, and Phoenix levitates herself with her telekinesis. I think that's what they stuck to in the movies, and which is why it looks a little wooden: when Phoenix lifts herself, it makes sense for her to stay in a vertical position. Same with Storm, her flying looked good and realistic throughout the films, though it did look a little weird in the Danger Room scene.
Magneto's flying looked the best, really majestic.

 

[cronosred]

That could be said about any movie really, it comes down to personal expectations and preferences. No matter what kind of X-Men movie they make there are bound to be some who are still disappointed/want more.

Having said that I would like to see some other studio other than Fox take over with future X-Men movies. There should definitely be more movies!

The Golden Compass does look really good too.

Your totally right it does come down to personal expectations and I edited my post now to reflect that it's my opinion. The thing is the X-men are one of my two most favorite comic book franchises and I felt and expected the X-Men franchise to have that epic large scale no holds bar feel that the lord of the rings/narnia/golden compass movies have or seem to have, a studio,director,writer that not only has faith in the property but also realize the story,action,fantasy,and fx are all equally important parts that need to be well balanced to make a great comic book movie, and with Fox I realize that will never happen.

 

[Storm22]

I don't think any of the characters in the X movies are actually flying (save for Angel), they are more or less levitating themselves.

In the comics and TAS, characters with the ability to fly have some sort of explanation behind it (save for Rogue): Magneto uses magnetism, Storm creates winds that can carry her, and Phoenix levitates herself with her telekinesis. I think that's what they stuck to in the movies, and which is why it looks a little wooden: when Phoenix lifts herself, it makes sense for her to stay in a vertical position. Same with Storm, her flying looked good and realistic throughout the films, though it did look a little weird in the Danger Room scene.
Magneto's flying looked the best, really majestic.

Good point Wide Awake. The flying characters in X-Men are different and use a more realistic approach to flying than the likes of Superman and Human Torch. They emphasise the points you made, in the movies too - when Dark Phoenix levitates in Alcatraz you can actually see a car and debris levitating under her, highlighting her telekenesis, when Storm flies you can hear and see wind currents around her and with Magneto you can hear and sometimes see the magnetism. As said I think they were consciosuly going for a more realistic look with flying in the X-Men movies instead of a wow approach.

 

[BMM]

The only flying scenes that I think are questionable are:

Storm when she lets herself down in the Liberty Statue lobby.
Storm in the Danger Room when she and Wolverine twirl together
Storm evacuating Alcatraz
Phoenix (this was pretty bad)



Scenes like Storm evacuating Alcatraz are the reason I'm glad flying wasn't used if they didn't have the budget to do it properly... I think a lot of CGI would be needed in order to demonstrate hefty feats of flight... and the X-Men films never really had big enough budgets for luxuries like these until The Last Stand, and even then, a lot of The Last Stand's budget was used to ensure that the film simply met its deadline.

Given the budgets of other superhero movies, it's pretty crazy to think that a movie about the X-Men got by on 75 million dollars (although I do understand the logic behind it).

 

[Storm22]

What's wrong with Storm evacuating Alcatraz? All she does is fly up.

 

[the a1ant]

I was happy with how Storm flew in X3 (minus the DR scene - blegh!). I thought it was a realistic depiction on how she uses the winds to fly. It would be cool if they did not worry about that stuff and just go crazy ala Superman and Matrix, but it works with the realistic tone Bryan Singer set up.

Magneto and Angel had the best flying scenes, imo; really graceful and natural. Phoenix should have been less stiff.

 

[Storm22]

And a proof of it maybe is the box-office. Good, but not as great as other big movies.

What other big movies are you talking about Angamb? In the category of Superhero movies the X-Men trilogy is the second biggest franchise financially after Spiderman.

 

[Angamb]

I was meaning other movies, like Harry Potter, Pirates... and there are so many films that had a better box-office than X3. Just search it on Box-officemojo.

 

[flavio_lebeau]

See I disagree flavio, I actually really like Storm's flight in the DR (I think we discussed this before) She's leaning forward because she's in a hurry imo, she's flying pretty fast there too - it's kind of like how you lean forward skiing if you want to go faster, the same thing probably applied with Storm flying in this scene. I think that flight scene is another good example of more dynamic flight, instead of hovering, which as you say, is what most flying in the X-Men trilogy really was.

I agree with you xmenfilesfan, I would have liked to have seen flying like in the Matrix, minus the obviously fake looking CG models. The scene in Revolutions with Neo vs. Smith fighting in the Storm over the city could have easily been replicated with Storm and Phoenix imo. I would have loved to have seen some aerial fights or aerial displays of power eg. Magneto could have easily levitated in Alcatraz and thrown cars at the others, instead of standing there.

I understand your point, though I don't think it worked visually. At least not for me.

As for the aerial battle, I agree, I'd like it, IF they made sure it wouldn't look as fake as it did in Matrix 3. It was horrible in that movie, although the preemise and background were beautiful. Storm vs Phoenix would be nice.

 

[BMM]

What's wrong with Storm evacuating Alcatraz? All she does is fly up.

There's nothing wrong with the execution of the wirework or anything, but I think it's the kind of uber bland and lazy flying that should be avoided. Storm's a windrider, but in this scene, it appears as though she just looks up to the sky, opens her hands, and is subsequently dragged out of frame by a string. She doesn't look like she's taking off or anything, which would be one thing if her winds were carrying her away, but her cape just hangs there and her hair sits still while she's pulled out of the shot. It's not consistent at all with how she flies or how she's been shown to fly previously.

It's not like this kind of nitpick ruins a movie or anything but it's the attention to the details that can make all the difference in the world, whether it be the fire in Phoenix's eyes or Storm being affected by the winds on which she flies.

It's just the kind of listless flying I wouldn't want to see just for the sake of seeing flying I guess.

 

[flavio_lebeau]

There's nothing wrong with the execution of the wirework or anything, but I think it's the kind of uber bland and lazy flying that should be avoided. Storm's a windrider, but in this scene, it appears as though she just looks up to the sky, opens her hands, and is subsequently dragged out of frame by a string. She doesn't look like she's taking off or anything, which would be one thing if her winds were carrying her away, but her cape just hangs there and her hair sits still while she's pulled out of the shot. It's not consistent at all with how she flies or how she's been shown to fly previously.

It's not like this kind of nitpick ruins a movie or anything but it's the attention to the details that can make all the difference in the world, whether it be the fire in Phoenix's eyes or Storm being affected by the winds on which she flies.

It's just the kind of listless flying I wouldn't want to see just for the sake of seeing flying I guess.

yeah, I also hated how in some shots they simply forgot to make her cape and hair flap. Huge mistake on the character and shows a total lack of care to details.


and woooow, I love the first and last shots of Eva Green flying on that trailer. Awesome.

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

I hated Storm's flight in the Danger Room. I mean--what was that? She was flying hunchbacked, when in reality her flight should be resembling Superman's.

However, I couldn't stop grinning when she came spinning down from the skies in Jean's neighborhood. Now that sequence was flawless. I also liked her arrival in Alcatraz.

With Jean, I was definitely dissapointed with her flying/levitation. I think if her figure had been accompanied by the flaming rapture manifestation her rigid body formation would have made more sense. And something tells me they intended for her to have that SFX with that sequence.

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

There's nothing wrong with the execution of the wirework or anything, but I think it's the kind of uber bland and lazy flying that should be avoided. Storm's a windrider, but in this scene, it appears as though she just looks up to the sky, opens her hands, and is subsequently dragged out of frame by a string. She doesn't look like she's taking off or anything, which would be one thing if her winds were carrying her away, but her cape just hangs there and her hair sits still while she's pulled out of the shot. It's not consistent at all with how she flies or how she's been shown to fly previously.

It's not like this kind of nitpick ruins a movie or anything but it's the attention to the details that can make all the difference in the world, whether it be the fire in Phoenix's eyes or Storm being affected by the winds on which she flies.

It's just the kind of listless flying I wouldn't want to see just for the sake of seeing flying I guess.

*scribbles out co-signature*

Egggggscellent point! I feel the same way...someone dropped the ball in this regard.

 

[gothicFLAVOURS]

I was meaning other movies, like Harry Potter, Pirates... and there are so many films that had a better box-office than X3. Just search it on Box-officemojo.

You can't really compare those. HP has a huge following because of the books and Pirates because of Disney. Comics don't really attract a mainstream audience (you just have to compare X-Men Comics sales with Harry Potter sales).

Regarding the flight, wasn't Singer the one who didn't want the characters flying around because he wanted to base the franchise on reality? Fantastic Four, Superman and Spider-Man movies, even though they're based on reality, are more comic-ish than the X-Men movies. Besides, the potential mutants who can fly of the X-Men were lamed down (especially Rogue) so they should add some good ones in the next X-Men movie (Wind Dancer, Monet, Cannonball...)

 

[britrogue]

The Human Torch in FF always upsets me now. It just makes me think of what Phoenix should have been

 

[Angamb]

Everyone has commented Storm and Phoenix... but what about Angel?

Personally, I was dissapointed. Only two flight moments, short, and the last really poor.

When I watched one of the first episodes of Heroes, the scene when Peter Petrelli was in the top of the bulding was really great, the music... all.

Edit: That scene was beautifull, in general. The music gives the scene a magical tone, something extraordinary, special, emotional. So definetly, much much better than the first Angel scene.

A few more shots to the Angel scene, with a more emotional/epic music, and maybe a few comments by some humans in the streets, impressed with a real angel flying under them, would have made a perfect Angel sequence, in my opinion.

 

[flavio_lebeau]

Everyone has commented Storm and Phoenix... but what about Angel?

Personally, I was dissapointed. Only two flight moments, short, and the last really poor.

When I watched one of the first episodes of Heroes, the scene when Peter Petrelli was in the top of the bulding was really great, the music... all.

Angel's first flight was done well, imo. But all the others (2 i think?) looked terrible. The final battle part was awkward, and the San Francisco part on the last scene screamed CG.

 

[xii22_loop]

Totally agreed. Fox seems to be unabble to do the x-men justice. And a proof of it maybe is the box-office. Good, but not as great as other big movies.

Fox shouldn't being doing any movies, Ive been doing research and boy are the people are Fox shhmucks! With the way they handle movie productions. Ugh.

The Human Torch in FF always upsets me now. It just makes me think of what Phoenix should have been

+ what we might see from Selma Blair in hellboy 2 (her fire effects in the first Hellboy also make me sad to watch because all I can think of is Phoenix)

 

[Angamb]

Yes, I saw Hellboy long time ago, before X3, and inmediatly thougth in Phoenix, wishing to see something as good as that or better. But everyone know what we got.

It really sad all this lack of good action sequences...

 

[Storm22]

People had problems with Angel's flying?? I thought that was pretty much perfect!