X-Men: The Last Stand - Scene By Scene

[Boba_Fett_123]

Okay, I know this is "another review thread", but I have thoughts and I'd like to share them. We're now five months out from the movie, and there's still a LOT of debate going as to its merits. I'm admittedly a fence-sitter: I like it, I've seen it several times, but man it gets a lot wrong. It's hard to articulate that position, because I say a lot of bad things about the film, and then give it an overall good rating. It seems incongruous, but it makes sense in my head. So I wanna share the contents of my head with you (scary, but bear with me). What follows is a scene-by-scene commentary of X-Men: The Last Stand. It's almost like you hear my voice while watching the movie. Chime in, tell me where you agree, where you disagree; after all, that's why I'm sharing in the first place. It's got an admittedly humorous bent (or at least a sarcastic one) but I am being very serious in my judgment of the film. Here's the first section:

1. 20 Years Ago – So far, so good. The monologue is noticeably absent, and it’s a little strange to jump straight into the film, but the scene itself is nice. Already the pacing problems begin to show themselves, as Erik and Charles take no time at all to talk to the Greys. There is some nice banter between them, though, and sets up their background quite nicely. Still, the scene moves too quickly, as though the writers are in a rush to unload the parents, who really needed a bigger role, especially later in the film. Haley Ramm isn’t too terribly good of an actress, but she does an okay job. The cameos by Lee and Claremont work, as does the display of Jean’s power and Erik’s comment “I like this one.” Xavier’s warning is also effective. All in all, a good scene.

2. 10 Years Ago – Ah, this is more like it. Cayden Boyd is a fantastic actor, as is Michael Murphy. This scene is, tonally, what this movie should have been. Pitch-perfect. This scene segues into the opening credits, which are nifty, but again, they seem out of place in this position, as the previous two films opened with credit sequences. John Powell’s score is very strong, however.

3. The Danger Room – Ah, yes. The Danger Room. All that waiting doesn’t seem quite worth it now, does it? This scene suffers quite a bit from the editor’s Wolvie-centric knife, as a lot of potential characterization is either cut to the minimum or totally neglected in favor of following Logan around the entire time. And the acting is pretty bad all around, except maybe Anna Paquin’s. Let’s not start on the Sentinel—it either needed to be seen and explained, or not seen at all. What we got was silly. Colossus’ metal form is perfectly okay; I don’t see what the big deal was. Of course, even when directly addressed, Colossus doesn’t get any lines. So whatever. Halle Berry decides to start acting like Storm in the hallway, and does a pretty good job. And Logan is actually in character—sit back and relax, but don’t get too comfy, because it doesn’t last. As a brief introduction to the characters, it works. All in all, not so bad, but definitely needed to be fleshed out.

4. Scott Grieves – Jimmy Marsden, we hardly knew you. Powell’s score is really nifty again. I wish that cue was on the soundtrack. Anyway, this scene is brief, but it works. Scott misses Jean, and she’s somehow haunting him from beyond the grave. If only their connection was given more importance than “here’s how we can kill Scott off”.

5. Rogue and Bobby – Rogue’s angsting about her powers because…well, actually, I’m not sure why, because X2 definitely implied she’d be getting used to them and start being a full-fledged X-Man. Come to think of it, so did the Danger Room scene, oh, 90 seconds ago. I guess the semi-hug between Bobby and Kitty is the reason, and that works well enough, but since that subplot goes nowhere, it’s considerably less effective. But Rogue should be yelling at him about that, not being all passive-aggressive “oh I can’t touch you! but I wuv you! but you don’t deserve me! but I really wuv wuv you!”. Good acting from Anna, but not the character as she should be portrayed given her arc from the previous films.

6. Scott and Logan – And so it begins. Logan is assimilating Scott. Jimmy really sells Scott’s tortured soul, and Jackman does a really good job of playing Cyclops. And another awesome statement of the Phoenix theme. Once again, the scene is too short, but it isn’t a terrible problem. Yet. Here’s the deal: this is the last time we see Scott do anything important in the movie. And all he’s doing is walking down a hall. Mull that over. But we’ll cover that injustice when the time comes. For now…

7. Meet Beast – Hehe. He’s upside down. I love Kelsey Grammer as Beast. As far as I’m concerned, he’s the best thing about this movie by far. Such a perfect way to introduce him. I wonder why his secretary gets him after the meeting has started? Shouldn’t he already be there? In fact, shouldn’t she get him ahead of time? God, she’s an awful secretary. On to the meeting, where Bolivar Trask pretends that he’s gonna be an important character, but is really just a trivia question pasted onto a character who is nothing like the original trivia question. But whatever. They’ve been tracking Magneto, which kind of begins to sell him as an Osama-esque threat to national security. The scene-in-a-scene with Mystique doesn’t work. Why was it set up like that? And on that note, why is it noted that she was imitating Trask? Continuity would say that they should have noticed that Senator Kelly was, y’know, dead. The scene with Mystique is nice, but it needed to be it’s own scene. It’s silly that they’re sitting at a meeting watching this interrogation. That just wouldn’t happen. Hank’s reaction to the cure is really good. Josef Sommer kind of hams it up as the president—the “on principle” line is really overdelivered, but it’s still effective. And better than the real thing.

8. Ethics class – Really hamfisted setup for a particularly uninspired “twist” at the end. I like the discussion of ethics, but I’d like it more if it tied into the Phoenix story like it really should have. I hate Dell product placement. But in seriousness, these ideas of power and responsibility needed to relate to Jean, and the writers dropped the ball.

9. Charles and Storm - This scene is a giant missed opportunity. What should have been a chance to flesh out Storm’s backstory and character just turns into mindnumbing exposition, and the ridiculous statement that Scott’s a “changed man”. Well, he is if you leave in his room by himself for however long it’s supposed to have been since X2 ended. Writing off the leader of the team like that? I have a feeling Tom Rothman wrote that line. It doesn’t work, it reeks of shoehorning Scott out of the story, and honestly it’s just bad writing. Oh, and there’s something Xavier’s not telling us. Zak Penn insists that’s not about the cure, which would be true, because Xavier doesn’t know about it yet. Otherwise, Hank wouldn’t have come all the way from Washington on his way to San Francisco to deliver that news in person. Oh, wait, that doesn’t make any sense…I thought Hank was a doctor? I guess he’s got some frequent flier miles saved up. Anyway, Penn says it’s a reference to Phoenix, but it doesn’t really make any sense. In fact, the entire exchange is stupid, and doesn’t move the story forward at all. It’s just words to give Halle something to do. It shouldn’t have been hard to put in a line, just a line, to give Halle more depth. If Storm was going to get a bigger role, there needed to be some meat added to it. Instead, they just blew up her role in X2, giving her roughly twice the screentime and halving the significance.

10. The Cure – Here we go. More Kelsey is always good. The reunion of Storm and Hank works well, and feels natural. I like it; the film could use more moments like this. But the scene immediately devolves to the PowerPoint style of scripting that Kinberg and Penn seem to favor. Seriously, this scene goes from one talking point to the next like a flowchart, not natural conversation. It’s too fast, and it seems like they just can’t wait to get the exposition out of the way. I’d normally accept this, but it’s not like they’re making room for more interesting characterization, because as soon as the expositing is over, the scene ends. Logan’s back in character, which is good to see. If only he’d stay that way. I have a feeling some of these scenes were written before the Scott “parameters” were set.

11. Storm Reacts to the Cure – I realize it’s not technically a scene, but this deserves its own entry. This does not work. For one, Halle is speaking way too quickly, like she’s reading a cue card that Kelsey’s holding for her. Second, it doesn’t make any sense. She’s being offensive, she’s spewing vitriol that really has no relevance to the situation…it’s not even like she has a point. She’s just reiterating her stance without giving reasons. And she comes off like a *****. This is not Storm. Not good at all.

12. Announcing the Cure – the scene more or less plagiarizes Whedon’s scene from Astonishing X-Men #1, with the Alcatraz bit shoehorned in because Ratner thought it’d be cool. Anna’s reaction works. But wait—we’re back to Halle the über-*****. She pretends to apologize to Hank for being so insensitive, but then she freaks the hell crazy on Rogue not fifteen seconds later. Rogue needed to have something to say after Storm insists that nothing’s wrong with Rogue, though clearly it is. Of course, Rogue shouldn’t even be contemplating the cure, but I’m beginning to think by this point that no one involved in this movie watched X2.

 

[crawler]

I like your break-down of the movie thread, Boba_Fett_123

keep it goin

 

[Boba_Fett_123]

13. The Church of Magneto – Oh man. The most rushed scene EVER. The talk of committees is pretty entertaining, and the overacting extras are hilarious. Oh, hey, Psylocke? Eh, she’s gone. Magneto! Yay Ian! He delivers his speech, which is really good. Except that he delivers half of it on the way up to the stage. And then he talks so fast that its over in seconds, and bam, he’s off stage again. It’s like Ratner told his actors to speak faster than they normally would just to get through shooting faster. I guess he wanted to party that night. The bit with Magneto’s camp tattoo finally gets the tone right, for the first time since Scott’s scenes. Why does Callisto have a menagerie of convenient powers? Oh well, at least Magneto’s not using Cerebro. Again.

14. Mystique on the truck – It’s fluff, but it’s funny fluff. It’s worth it to see a close up of someone telling the President to shut up. I like to pretend it’s Dubya in that cage. The girl talking about killing him is suitably creepy, and a nice callback to Mystique’s ****ed up sense of humor.

15. Meet Jimmy – And now Beast is in San Francisco. At least we get to see Shoreh. Her skill is almost wasted on Kavita Rao, but hey, it’s Shoreh. Beast’s reaction to Jimmy’s powers are great. Third time the tone feels right for this film. Cameron Bright is kind of a bad actor, though. I still wish Rao and Beast talked a little more after the scene was over.

16. Alkali Lake I – Beautiful helicopter shot of Cyclops going to the lake. This is the kind of visual opulence I knew Ratner would bring. The scene starts off very well, as something eerie is plainly going on. Jimmy acts the hell out of it too. The scream sounds a little over-modulated, but it’s okay. And here is the travesty. That whirlpool. Every fanboy in the audience is on the edge of his seat, waiting to see Jean shoot out of the water in a brilliant display of…wait, what’s this? Angle on Scott…okay, well…what’s that light? Is that…aw, ****, it’s Jean. WTF? That’s it? That’s what I waited three years for? Let’s get something clear: the budget for this movie was INSANE. We needed more than a flashlight and a Saran wrap filter on the camera for ****ing PHOENIX RISING. But I could deal with just that. Instead, it gets worse. You see, for every second Scott is onscreen, Tom Rothman loses three cents, and we can’t have that. Jimmy and Famke act out the shock of the whole thing very well, and it’s nice to see them finally kiss. And she wants to see his eyes. Cool, an homage. They’ll have a romantic afternoon at the lake then go back to the mansion, but the ****’s gotta hit the fan at some point. But at least it…wait. That’s not how it happened in the comics. Why is she…what’s with her eyes? His skin is…a cut? A shock cut? WTF?

17. Alkali Lake II – In a scene that’s more or less unnecessary, but allows us to see our stars running heroically, Xavier tells Logan and Storm to go to Alkali Lake. No ****? So they go. Another cool shot, more random words for Halle to say so that her mouth doesn’t get tired. “You don’t wanna be here”. “Do you?” Are you ****ting me? The movie nearly collapses on itself at this scene. Good thing it’s so damn short. The effects are really good, though, and at least the mood is right, if not the words. Or the situation. Or the fact that Scott will not be mentioned again in five minutes time. Even though he ostensibly died. They don’t even look for Scott. Just, oh, hey, Scott’s glasses. I’ll just pocket these, they’ll come in handy when I assimilate Cyclops later on. You see, it’s not Xavier this time around. It’s Locutus. That’s the plot of X4: Locutus impersonated Xavier and made crazy **** happen. No lie. Rothman loves the crossover potential.

18. Examining Jean – Exposition. Snore. A cocoon of telekinetic energy. That’s the only possible explanation. Yup. Whatever, Borg scum. Jean’s mutation is seated in her limbic system, and Xavier blocked them off until she could learn to control them. But Jean developed a split personality and zzzz….Sorry. It’s just so boring. Anyway, the name Phoenix comes out of nowhere because they figure at least one aspect of this story should be faithful to the source. Xavier is really creepy, but he kind of sells the dilemma he has. Until he tells Logan he doesn’t have to explain himself. You sorta do, Charles. But yeah…so far, the Phoenix saga is pretty disappointing. Singer pretty explicitly set up an evolution of Jean’s powers, and to drop that and say she was Phoenix all along seems like more work than is necessary. It works as an explanation, but he seems a little eleventh hour for my taste.

19. Angel’s Cure – Who? Oh, right, the kid with the wings. He’s kinda hot now. I wonder what’s gonna happen. Rao offhandedly mentions Hank’s “personal issues”. I would rather have seen Hank talk about his personal issues, but I’ll settle for characterization however I can get it at this point. Again, this is a well acted scene. Ben Foster does a good job, and for once Ratner’s breakneck pacing serves the scene, ratcheting up the tension until Angel breaks out of his bonds. The pose looks kind of dumb, but okay, I’ll bite. The way he runs is a little silly, too, but again, not the end of the world. For some reason, Ratner puts the camera right in Michael Murphy’s face. I know Murphy knows better than to look in the camera, so it’s gotta be a choice on Ratner’s part to have that angle. It’s really distracting though. The shots of Angel flying are great, and I love Jimmy looking out the window at it. The tone is spot on here. I feel like I’m watching the sequel to X2.

20. Magneto Rescues Mystique – I like this scene. The effects are cool and shocking. Mystique killing the guard is kickass. I don’t like how the rest of the Brotherhood appears out of nowhere, though. It’s very Ed Wood. Mystique and Magneto have nice interaction. Multiple Man…oh, man. Eric Dane does so much with so little. Seriously, in about fifteen seconds he totally captures the character. In fact, it might be the most faithful translation in the film. As for Juggernaut…well, I guess it’s cool he got in. I wish he’d had some relation to Xavier, but as a mindless thug I guess it’s cool. And then Mystique takes the bullet for Magneto. Forgetting for the moment that Rebecca Romijn is naked, Powell’s score really kicks in. McKellen acts the scene really well, as does Romijn. It’s really sad. I probably would’ve lost the “she was so beautiful” line and held the shot of Mystique instead, but it’s effective as it is.

21. Hank Resigns – The president is on a slippery slope. Basically, this scene serves to get Hank back to the X-Men. Though I’m still trying to figure out how he’s already back in Washington. Unless it took Callisto a really long time to track down Mystique, in which case, she sucks.

22. Logan and Jean – I really like this scene. I even like that it’s Logan and not Scott, because Logan is IN CHARACTER. See, it’s amazing, Logan’s not half as annoying when he acts the way he’s supposed to. Anyway, the makeout session is maybe a bit superfluous, but there’s no denying these two have chemistry. There’s a reason this relationship moved to the center, and I honestly don’t have a problem with that, as long as Logan acts like Logan. The problem starts when he acts like Scott. But that’s for another day. Famke does a great job of acting the Phoenix part, but the scene doesn’t kick into high gear until Logan asks Jean about Scott. You can see the change in Jean’s eyes as Phoenix vanishes for a moment. The effects are great as Jean loses control. The writing is great, the cinematography is awesome, the acting is wonderful…I’ve said it a few times, but it’s worth repeating: the tone is appropriate. Especially Jean’s pleas for Logan to kill her. The rest of the movie needs to match this scene in tone, and then we’re getting somewhere.

23. Magneto Plots – The cure is gonna be a lightning rod. And something about an army. Oh, and Callisto senses a big electromagnetic force. I’m not sure why Phoenix is electromagnetic, but that’s what Magneto decides Callisto feels. I think we could’ve done without this scene, in exchange for some characterization elsewhere.

24. The Infirmary II – Xavier yells at Logan. He sells the fear. And then suddenly…

25. Jean’s House – Why was that last scene so short? We didn’t need either of those. The necessary plot points could have been dealt with in the beginning of this scene, or, honestly, skipped over. I’m gonna cover the Xavier/Magneto/Jean parts in a bit, but first, the rest. The fights are really well done. They give us what we want: action. It’s well executed action, and it serves to pace the confrontation between Xavier and Jean. I like it. The X-Men get their asses handed to them, but it works. Not much else to say. Now, the good stuff-this is the best scene in the movie, hands down. Famke absolutely sells it. Now, my conspiracy theory. Judging by the trailers, the promotional material, and this scene, I think this movie was a lot more Jean-centric than the final cut we saw in theatres. I think a lot got cut, more than is even on the DVDs, to make Jean a secondary plot, and essentially window dressing in the third act. But this scene…this is the benchmark for the entire film. This is a worthy successor to X2. This is what the rest of TLS should have been like. Instead, the movie gets a lot worse from here on out. This scene proves that Ratner and co. have it in them, so I wanna know what happened as far as everything else is concerned. Some people have said it’s too fast, but I’m curious, how long would you like to see Xavier and Jean concentrate at each other for? It’d get old. I like Logan’s struggle, I even like Xavier’s smile, though I wish that was the only remnant of the “twist” we got (it’s called subtlety, Brett: look it up). The only thing missing is the firebird, and again, budget = astronomical = no excuse for skimping on Phoenix.

26. The Funeral – Logan and Ororo rush into the living room, too late to save Xavier. And Logan cries like a baby. Or should I say like Scott? That smile was clearly Locutus entering Logan’s mind and allowing him to assimilate Scott. No question, it should have been Scott in this scene. It essentially is, except he’s being played by Hugh Jackman. Next: There’s really no other way to put this. Ororo’s eulogy is pretty good. But Halle delivers it really badly. She sounds like she’s reading a script. She doesn’t sound convincingly sad. Good thing Powell wrote the awesome cue in the background. Question, though: where did the huge ****ing memorial come from? And why are the X-Men stopping to have a fullblown funeral for Xavier, but not Scott? Not that I’m complaining, because anything to slow the pace down. But it doesn’t make logical sense to totally forget Jean and just have a funeral, even if it is very sad that Xavier died.

I'll finish tomorrow or Wednesday. Exams beckon at the moment.

 

[DarknessOfDeath]

I have to agree with what you said about the infirmary scene. Its my favorite emotional scene out of the 3 films, especially when we get a glimpse of Jean's powers out of control causing the entire room to shake, according to Scott's line in the beginning of X2 and then of course the "Kill me," plea.

 

[La_She-Beast]

I agree with all your points Bobba Fett... specially with these...

10. The Cure – Here we go. More Kelsey is always good. The reunion of Storm and Hank works well, and feels natural. I like it; the film could use more moments like this.

*Sigh* so friggin' true...

like she’s reading a cue card that Kelsey’s holding for her.

LOL, again, so true.

I would rather have seen Hank talk about his personal issues, but I’ll settle for characterization however I can get it at this point.

God, again I'm saying it, Kavita shouldn't have said that line. Hank should've said it It's like: "Beast has a dilemma? Who cares."

I thought Hank was a doctor? I guess he’s got some frequent flier miles saved up.

I don't understand this though...

 

[The Ones]

I don't understand this though...

I think he meant Hank could get from 1 place to another, even if its miles away, by the next scene

But yea, i agree with you on every point

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

Good breakdown.

I must say, I do disagree with quite a few of your points.

But with the way you broke it down, you at least have points. And I must say they are good ones. Even if I disagree with a good chunk of them.

But I'm looking forward to reading the rest of what you've got. Perhaps after I've taken a look at them, I can do my own breakdown.

Not to hijack the thread or anything, but rather to compare ideas, and see where ideas agreed, and differed.

 

[X-Maniac]

Interesting, I'l respond from home later (I'm at work at the moment). I agree with some, but not all, and have additional observations too.

 

[Boba_Fett_123]

Good breakdown.

I must say, I do disagree with quite a few of your points.

But with the way you broke it down, you at least have points. And I must say they are good ones. Even if I disagree with a good chunk of them.

But I'm looking forward to reading the rest of what you've got. Perhaps after I've taken a look at them, I can do my own breakdown.

Not to hijack the thread or anything, but rather to compare ideas, and see where ideas agreed, and differed.

I'd love for other people to do that. I'm interested to see your take on a lot of my opinions, actually.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

I agree with alot of your points here so far. Disagree with some. Except just let me state...

Storm's opposal to the cure is very within her character, what's not within her character is the out right rudeness to people like Beast and Rogue who might want to take it.

Not brought up yet, but Storm's militant/she has to be stopped/she killed the Professor reactions to Jean are very within her character as well, but it wouldn't have hurt the film to have a little Jean/Storm interaction.

Just as you assume their was cuts to Jean's overall screentime and more to her story. I think their was more to Storm's. We saw in that 7 minute preview that she did apologize to Beast after her frankness with him about the cure. They cut that out in the theaterical cut of the film. Who is to say there's not more Storm screentime laying on the cutting room floor, where there isn't only her militant side, but also her fiercely passionate and caring side as well? Hasn't Halle come on record saying things about her character we didn't see in the film? I believe so.

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

Wow. Good job--and I agree with about 95% of it!

 

[Boba_Fett_123]

I agree with alot of your points here so far. Disagree with some. Except just let me state...

Storm's opposal to the cure is very within her character, what's not within her character is the out right rudeness to people like Beast and Rogue who might want to take it.

Not brought up yet, but Storm's militant/she has to be stopped/she killed the Professor reactions to Jean are very within her character as well, but it wouldn't have hurt the film to have a little Jean/Storm interaction.

Just as you assume their was cuts to Jean's overall screentime and more to her story. I think their was more to Storm's. We saw in that 7 minute preview that she did apologize to Beast after her frankness with him about the cure. They cut that out in the theaterical cut of the film. Who is to say there's not more Storm screentime laying on the cutting room floor, where there isn't only her militant side, but also her fiercely passionate and caring side as well? Hasn't Halle come on record saying things about her character we didn't see in the film? I believe so.

Hey, I'm right there with you. But in the film, Storm is just an incredibly rude person. There's no argument to back up her statements, which are kind of insensitive. Some more material was DEFINITELY needed, and I do think that it is out there somewhere, but was cut in the interests of time. Of course, I do tend to prefer Storm as "earth mother" over "militant", so our opinions are likely to differ anyway, but I know exactly where you're coming from.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Well, I prefer her with both sides, cause that's how she's always been to me. A caring loving woman who knows when it's time to put feelings aside and be a leader and fight.

But you are incredibly right in the case that they totally neglected the ''earth mother" side in this film for the most part. She's completely rude, snappy, and *****y. It works with her reactions to Wolverine when he's being his usual self, cause it can be called her being a leader and getting him in line, but when she's just calling Beast a coward for the sake that she believes that the cure is wrong it doesn't work and isn't something Storm would do.

A more healthy alternative of the scene would have been this...

STORM: Why is this cure needed? I see no point. I see no wrong in being a mutant.
BEAST: -same line from theaterical cut-

The line to Rogue should have just been cut out completely.

 

[flavio_lebeau]

I agree with simply 95% of what you say: Phoenix vs Xavier is the best scene of the trilogy IMO, the movie should have more moments like that. Storm's balcony scene makes me want to cry, since we know it was longer and is not even in the deleted scenes section. The only part i disagree is the eulogy: to me, it perfectly sets up the emotion, and Halle gave a wonderful speech...
But, really, aside the eulogy, you seem to take the words out of my mouth. Great job.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Also, while it's still fresh on my mind. Am I the only one taken back during the talk of shutting down the school that Beast/Hank is the first one to suggest shutting it down?

That was his only out of character moment in the entire film, but it's a HUGE freaking one.

 

[flavio_lebeau]

Also, while it's still fresh on my mind. Am I the only one taken back during the talk of shutting down the school that Beast/Hank is the first one to suggest shutting it down?

That was his only out of character moment in the entire film, but it's a HUGE freaking one.

it's a terrible scene. The best thing I've seen about it was in that "5 minute X-men". I'll try and find the dialogue. It perfectly translates that scene.

 

[Boba_Fett_123]

ADDENDUM: Moira MacTaggert came all the way from Scotland for this funeral. How much time is meant to have passed between Jean killing Xavier and the funeral? For all those people to come on a day’s notice makes little sense, so one would think a few days at least have past. But then it doesn’t make sense that the X-Men did nothing about Jean, Magneto, or the cure in those few days. I still prefer to think of the former, because at least it’s more forgivable in screenplay terms.

27. Skating on the Pond – Oh man, this scene. It starts out pretty well. There’s that clunky “you can walk through walls” line, but it’s forgivable. It’s a nice character moment for Kitty, and Ellen Page turns in a decent performance. Once they get outside, however, there’s a HUGE problem. They don’t kiss, and I agree, it’d make Bobby seem like a *****e if they did. But as it stands, Rogue massively misunderstands what’s going on, then goes and gets the cure because she wuvs Bobby so much. Not good. Taken on its own merits, however, this scene really works. Of course, this is the end of the subplot, and it loses points for that because, really, what was the point?

28. Rogue Moves Out – And in case you forgot, Anna Paquin’s in this movie. She plays Rogue just as well as ever, and it’s nice to see the interaction between Logan and Rogue, since they’ve been very close throughout the franchise. Logan is in character again, and that’s always nice. I don’t have a problem with this scene, as it does highlight Rogue’s indecisiveness. Unfortunately, the resolution to this subplot is less than satisfying.

29. Magneto Talks to Jean – Magneto calls Jean the next stage in evolution. Except that’s not the explanation you went with, writer guys. Consistency. Please. Anyway, this scene works really well. It shows how Phoenix really doesn’t care what’s going on. Famke shines in one of the last scenes that showcases her, and indeed, the last time she really gets to talk in the whole movie. This is another scene where the tone is right. Afterward, Pyro and Callisto are afraid of Jean, which makes sense, except she hasn’t proven that she’s unstable to them. Erik regrets Xavier’s death, which is really a nice touch. Unfortunately, he loses all humanity from this point on, save for what Ian manages to salvage through his acting. One of the better scenes in the film, overall.

30. Close the School? – I hate this scene. I’ll just get that out of the way right now. After Ororo gave the whole damn eulogy about keeping up Xavier’s dream, Ororo and Hank want to just close up shop? Oh, and Angel shows up, continuing his arc. Ororo gets to take a stand as a leader, in what I think is the only character moment that has really worked for her so far. We needed to see more of Angel in this scene, but what we get works. Oh, and Colossus gets to speak. He says nothing of consequence and is reduced to a visual gag, but hey, at least it’s a line. Anyway, Rogue’s gone and Bobby’s worried. The whole scene moves too quickly, but it gets the job done. But if the contemplation of closing the school was going to be dealt with in such an offhand manner, it shouldn’t have been brought up at all. That time could’ve been used to develop Storm and Angel a little more.

31. Logan at the Grave – Jean haunts Logan at Xavier’s grave. This works very well, though it should be Scott. I think this is where Logan stops being Logan for the rest of the film. It’s a nice, unsettling scene. Up in Logan’s room, Storm confronts Logan. She takes a very militant stance toward Jean, believing that the Jean they know is gone. This would work, if Jean and Storm had any interaction in this film at all. Instead, Storm comes off like a ***** again. This scene works very well in isolation, but there’s no setup, and no payoff.

32. The Cure Clinic – Nice character moment between Bobby and John. I like it a lot. Maybe we should’ve seen Rogue here, though. Magneto delivers a threat that is really cool, because it sells him as a threat. It kind of screams “exposition” in the delivery, but Ian makes it work. The President decides to weaponize the cure pretty casually, but I guess he’s justified at this point. R. Lee Ermey’s cameo makes me smile, even if it is blatant exposition, delivered in a voiceover, no less. We finally get a shot of Rogue, and it’s actually pretty effective. When Ratner gets something right, he gets it right.

33. Fight in the Woods – Well, it’s Logan. He’s the best there is at what he does, but what he does isn’t very nice. We know. It works very well as an action scene, and it comes at the right time in the film, but it doesn’t mean that he’s not taking over Scott’s role. Magneto’s speech is really excellent, and Ian gives an impassioned delivery. You can really tell he cares very much about the message of this film, and it shows in his performance. The shot of Jean sensing Logan is beautiful, but the cue from Powell’s score is different (and worse) than the one on the soundtrack. It ends in a transition to a minor key, as opposed to a triumphant statement of Jean’s theme. Magneto talks to Logan, who says “I came for Jean” very much like I imagine Scott would have. I like the Logan Jean relationship. I’m in favor of it. But Logan needs to ACT LIKE LOGAN for that to work. Instead, he’s acting like Scott. Oh, and Jean could’ve had some lines here? Maybe? Whatever.

34. Mystique Betrays Magneto – Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Man, Brett, that’s deep. The president did not need to say this. And again, Mystique’s screentime is minimized to a surveillance TV. Perhaps we could have actually SEEN her betray Magneto, instead of getting a corny line about it. The gag with Multiple Man works pretty well, but again, they should be much angrier at Mystique than they are, as it pretty much seems like she tricked them on purpose. This could’ve been a great character moment for her, but Kinberg and Penn are too busy moving on to the climax. Already. The scene with Magneto at the end is unnecessary, but Juggernaut gets a cute line, which I expect is why it was included.

35. Back at the Mansion – Logan reiterates what we already know. Then they suit up, and Jackman goes into full Cyclops mode. We know there is an alternate version of this scene, one that works better. But this one focuses on “Wolverine” more. Except that he’s not acting like Wolverine anymore, he’s acting like Cyclops. Seriously, give this guy a haircut and slap a visor on him. And Storm makes *****y comments to Logan. There needed to be a contrast to this side of her character, or else she’s just plain unlikable. I like the shots of the kids on the jet. It’s like something Singer would’ve done.

36. The Golden Gate Bridge – Okay, this makes no sense. The jet flies over mountains that I’m pretty sure are located closer to San Francisco than Salem Center. But Magneto was at the Golden Gate Bridge when the X-Men LEFT Salem Center. And he’s just now getting to moving it? Brett moved the climax to Alcatraz, but evidently forgot the logic of getting these characters ACROSS THE COUNTRY in between scenes that are evidently meant to be taking place concurrently. The timeline of this sequence is all kinds of screwed. Anyway, this is obviously a set piece, and it’s a very good one at that. This is the kind of visual grandeur that Singer always seemed to hold back, and it’s scenes like this that make me think Ratner did an okay job, all things considered. This is definitely one that works, if you throw logic out the window. Don’t think about though, because it doesn’t make any sense.

37. Storming the Island – Please keep in mind that the Brotherhood arrived in late afternoon, at best. It’s nighttime now, because Brett thought that’d look cooler. Doesn’t work. We know at least one scene was cut, but I think there were more. I like Pyro’s little war cry at the beginning. Magneto’s plan doesn’t make too much sense, although in fairness he had no way of knowing that the cure had been weaponized on a large scale, and so I guess sending in a bunch of pawns is as good a way as any of learning that. Sucks to be them, though. The big problem here is that Jean doesn’t work as a henchman. Her power is limitless, or so we’re meant to believe, but she just stands around and lets everyone else do their work. Phoenix CANNOT be reduced to a member of the Brotherhood, because she’s just too powerful for that.

38. The Grand Entrance – The X-Men arrive on the island. This scene is really neat. I like the way they each make their entrance, and it works to show the X-Men as a team, something the first two films kind of lacked (though X1 had it with the arrival at the Statue of Liberty). This scene has the epic feel that the rest of this sequence is lacking.

 

[fiery_fury]

Great analysis of each scene Boba_Fett. It's very insightful. I agree with you 98% on most scenes esp the ones involving Jean, Logan, Scott and Storm. Let me just say that I became a fan after X2 and after watching XTLS, I left the movie feeling so betrayed coz I've waited 3 years and that was what I got. I think the best scene was the entire scene at Jean Grey's house. Runner up was the scene where the Xmen arrived at Alcatraz. It was the closest thing we got to the Xmen fighting as a team.

It's too bad they made Storm so uncaring. She's one of my fave xmen. I just recently bought the 90's Uncanny Xmen cartoon and the movie Storm doesn't even come close to the Storm in the 90's Uncanny Xmen cartoon in which she was like the big sister to the xmen. IMO, the Phoenix Saga was handled better in the cartoon than in the movie. It's a little bit cheesy but at least it had heart and showed how the xmen are like family who look out after each other. I think that is what is missing in XTLS. They just don't seem to care too much that some of their teamates are dead (Scott), going crazy(Jean) or missing in action (Rogue).

 

[Goddessreicho]

Hey, I'm right there with you. But in the film, Storm is just an incredibly rude person. There's no argument to back up her statements, which are kind of insensitive. Some more material was DEFINITELY needed, and I do think that it is out there somewhere, but was cut in the interests of time. Of course, I do tend to prefer Storm as "earth mother" over "militant", so our opinions are likely to differ anyway, but I know exactly where you're coming from.

I think people are over looking the fact that Rogue in all of her riduculous innocence burst into the room and is so excitied that she's going to finally get to have sex and totally throws out the values that the Institiute has been trying to teach her.

Now for those of you who blindly worship Singer, Ororo's reaction shouldn't be out of character. Who was it that went out of her way to welcome Marie to the mansion? Who else besides Bobby and Wolverine did she have a scene with that dealt with her powers? RO was trying to get her to accpet her gift and to use it benificially. Then dumba$$ comes in skipping to my lou happy that she's finally going to get a hug and a boink, completely forgetting why she's there in the first place.

She never even thought about it like Real Rogue, there was no dilemma. There was just the joy of sex. Ororo was upset because she is A.) a naturally angry person, why we still don't know B.) Rogue isn't thinking all the way through, seeing as how there may be side effects, or duh! IT MAY NOT EVEN WORK C.) every lesson the school tried to teach Rogue went in one ear and out the other, as did the personal time put in D.) For Worthington to call it a cure is assuming that there is something wrong with being BORN a mutant, pretty or not.

It was a slap in the face. Marie's giddiness at the cure is a slap on every idea at the Institute. For some reason Ororo was the only one to see that. For some reason the only continuation of Storm's character is her first and foremost thoughts go out to the school and the well-being of the children. This overprotective side is what saved the children in X2 (I will admit Singer did get that right) it saved the school, and she tried to protect Marie from her own stupidity.

I don't know why other people refuse to see this.

 

[Boba_Fett_123]

I thought I made it clear that Rogue is also way out of character as far as her arc goes. If not, then I'll say it now: Rogue should not react like that. But Storm isn't totally innocent in this: she's still really rude and nasty to Rogue, who does have at least a legitimate reason to CONSIDER the cure.

 

[Vasilios]

Love this thread. Totally true on all points- continue!!

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

I thought I made it clear that Rogue is also way out of character as far as her arc goes. If not, then I'll say it now: Rogue should not react like that. But Storm isn't totally innocent in this: she's still really rude and nasty to Rogue, who does have at least a legitimate reason to CONSIDER the cure.

Rude? No.

Blunt and tunnel-visioned? Yes.

Storm was rallying her 'family' together to be proud of who and what they were. True, Marie had a reason to consider the cure, but the way she came hippity-skippiting into the room no doubt offended Storm, who embraced her powers.

The scene should have been written a different way. Storm should have asked Rogue why she would consider taking the cure, instead of commanding her that she "won't." By reasoning with her, both could've received a clearer understanding of where the other was coming from.

I think it's interesting how Storm was put in check by Hank just seconds before (which she humbly accepted), yet she seemingly lost his point again as soon as Rogue arrived. Amnesia? Dementia?

 

[Goddessreicho]

I thought I made it clear that Rogue is also way out of character as far as her arc goes. If not, then I'll say it now: Rogue should not react like that. But Storm isn't totally innocent in this: she's still really rude and nasty to Rogue, who does have at least a legitimate reason to CONSIDER the cure.

I never said that Ororo was innocent. I'm saying that she wasn't the bi*** that people like to think she was, or blindly jump on that badwagon. Again, I think that Halle's abnormally attractive looks actually deplete from the chracter in this scene. Of course the super actrive one who can control her powers, and actually likes them doesn't want to change.

But on another point, we see more of the cure dilemma from Hank than Marie. He is the one the really stuggled with it, far more than R.I.N.O did.

Ororo went into MOM MODE with Marie. That shouldn't be a suprise, because Storm has been in MOM MODE since day one. I don't know why people aren't more upset at Marie being totally ungrateful for Xavier's help or Bobby's patience.

Edit: For farther proof of MOM MODE look at the way she treated Logan, like an unruly two year old in the danger room, or like a wayward teenager afterwards.

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

Ororo went into MOM MODE with Marie. That shouldn't be a suprise, because Storm has been in MOM MODE since day one. I don't know why people aren't more upset at Marie being totally ungrateful for Xavier's help or Bobby's patience.

Edit: For farther proof of MOM MODE look at the way she treated Logan, like an unruly two year old in the danger room, or like a wayward teenager afterwards.

Agreed.

It is a natural inclination for mothers to teach their children to be proud of who and what God made them to be--to be vigilant in protecting them from thinking that suggests otherwise.

 

[Boba_Fett_123]

Agreed.

It is a natural inclination for mothers to teach their children to be proud of who and what God made them to be--to be vigilant in protecting them from thinking that suggests otherwise.

But that's not what Storm did. She completely ignored anything that anyone else had to say. I completely agree that the idea is correct: the execution, for both characters, is really bad.

The way Halle acts the scene out, it's not like Storm is reassuring Rogue; it's like she's yelling at her. She's not telling Rogue there's nothing wrong with her, she's telling Rogue that she's WRONG to think there's something wrong with her. At no point does Storm sympathize with Rogue, she just yells at her a lot. The acting is off.