The narrative itself seems rather ill-conceived, a lot is crammed in which results in none of it having integrity. There are some unusual plot twists that the audience do not see coming at all, these are handled with basic skill.
I don’t think too much was crammed in....but editing/pacing made it seem so because of the final running time of the film. And maybe one or two characters could have been trimmed out.
The choice of locations in this movie are absolutely awful, using very plain and dull exteriors that are overused. The characters themselves have been turned into one dimensional beings since 'X2' and the level of writing makes for bad performances all round.
I find nothing wrong with locations as such. The mansion/school obviously has to feature - for the first time we see the gardens (funeral scene), the Danger Room, and a modified infirmary; Jean’s parents’ house is fine; the Dept of Mutant Affairs; Worthington Labs main HQ and Alcatraz site; Magneto’s forest base; the church where the mutant community action meeting was held; Alkali Lake. I don’t think other locations or sets were necessary for that script. The Washington showdown, and a ‘wrath of Phoenix’ destruction in SF didn’t happen because of script changes to create more closure and a ‘happy’ ending.
I agree there was some dodgy acting and cheesy dialogue in places. Bryan’s work in the previous movies was never cheesy, for sure.
The direction is exceedingly uninspiring, using a rotating pan far too often and using the camera in the most basic of fashions, which comes across to the viewer in a bad light. This would seem the product of a film school, generic and stereotypical with no creativity.
I sort of agree. Considering that Phillipe Rousselot and then Dante Spinotti worked on this movie, it’s surprising (astounding in fact) that the cinematography wasn’t more breathtaking. The colour palette was nice and rich though. A few nice shots - looking over Alkali Lake, Angel’s flight of freedom, the slow motion in the Phoenix vs Xavier battle, the initial tearing away of the bridge, the X-Men’s arrivals at Alcatraz. But... the camerawork is not that inspired in many other superhero movies. SR has visual craft in places but that’s NOT enough to make an overall good movie. The cinematography in X1 and X2 is nothing remarkable. The tiny CGI figure of Jean holding back the wave in X2 (shot fom above) is annoyingly as fake as the tiny figure of Superman lifting the island in SR - an attempt to show scale that doesn’t work. Far better to begin with a close-up of the characters and then zoom out, which gives scale and keeps a convincing sense of reality.
The constant usage of second rate computer generated images distances the audience from the movie, as we can clearly see it's very fake and the director makes no attempt to hide this, coupled with atrocious wirework, only the make-up effects deserve credit.
The CGI seemed excellent. Where do you think it was second rate? Only two bad pieces of wirework - Beast’s horizontal flying leap at Alcatraz and Phoenix’s stiff-legged levitation on Alcatraz. Otherwise fine. Remember the previous movies where Storm’s elevator flight was awkward, most of Toad’s movements were awkward, Sabretooth’s leap into the trees looks fake, the police cars raised by Magneto look obviously hoisted in the air by crane. Storm’s flying at Jean’s house, her tornado twirling and her descent on Alcatraz were fine. Effects for Magneto were as good as always, though the lack of synchronisation between hand gestures and vehicle movement when he attacks the prison convoy does irritate me a little (though the delayed response is not a flaw and was seen before with the police cars in X1).
In conclusion, this may very well be the film that has killed off the franchise. Changing established characters into clichéd stereotypes through a narrative that fails repeatedly, not too mention the lack of artistic talent and poor set decisions. This movie is below mediocre, it can entertain for a while, but certainly goes down hill after twenty minutes. Keep your expectations very low.
I find it above mediocre, but can see where it disappoints.
