X-Men trilogy: standout acting

[javon]

Definitely agree, Rebecca Romjin and Hugh Jackman give an outstanding sense of reality and depth to their characters. Of course, Anna's and the others' supporting roles are superly done.

The only real let down is Halle Berry's performance. But given what the directors tore out from the character's background, I don't think Storm was ever going to be one of the most dramatic and emotional character.

Exactly. This isn't me trying to "protect Halle or Storm", but she wasn't given anything much to do to go more in-depth with her character. All I know is Famke tore it up! She had THE BEST acting in the enitre series (mostly X3). She did an INCREDIBLE job and deserves her props. Hugh was right along with her. Bobby did a fantsatic job as well....the majority of the cast did because they were actually given a reason to....

 

[tonytr1687]

Basically, the whole main cast was very good.
Ian and Patrick were especially great in X1 and 2, but as Cyclops already said, Ian seemed bored throughout X3, and lacked his charm.

Jackman, Janssen and Paquin all had interesting characters to play, and for me, they ran with it. Berry and Marsden were not so lucky. They're not bad actors at all, they just didn't have much to do. I especially would've loved to see more of Marsden.

Of the new castmembers in X3 Grammar was fantastic, maybe the best performance of the entire movie for me. Page was good too, but for her goes the same as for Foster: It wouldn't have hurt if we had got to see more of them.

Oh, and why does everyone think Kirsten Dunst is so bad in the Spiderman movies? I think she's a good actress, I look forward in seeing her Marie Antoinette.
I also thought Katie Holmes in Batman Begins didn't look as bad as she could have next to Bale, Cain and Freeman.

For some reason fans dont like their comic-book love interests to ever be angry with the hero. They want them to be perfectly content with their man, no matter how many selfish or idiotic acts they commit, and not ever criticize them. Thats why ppl hate Kirsten in the Spidey flicks. Same goes for Kate Bosworth in SR and Kristen Kreuk on Smallville. They criticize the heroes a lot and b/c the fans worship these heroes so much, this causes them to despise the love interest. Just go read the SR and Smallville forums, its practically a fact.

 

[javon]

Well you can't really blame them if thats isn't the way it is in the comics or whatever. Is that in the comics?

 

[tonytr1687]

Well you can't really blame them if thats isn't the way it is in the comics or whatever. Is that in the comics?

Well I mean its hard to say since the comics cover such a larger span of time, but I will say there have been numerous moments in both the Supes and Spidey comics where the respective heroes are called out on their flaws by the women they love. Spidey especially.

 

[FireandIce213]

One of the lines I thought Hugh Jackman delivered really well was the one in x2 where he had stryker pinned against the helicopter...stabs stryker in the arm and snarls the words "How does it feel bub?" that was vintage wolverine right there...But moments later he says "You took my life!!" that expressed the kind of pain and rage that wolverine feels, liked it a lot.

 

[javon]

^I agree FireandIce.

Well I mean its hard to say since the comics cover such a larger span of time, but I will say there have been numerous moments in both the Supes and Spidey comics where the respective heroes are called out on their flaws by the women they love. Spidey especially.

Oh, well I seemed to like Mary Jane in the Spidey movies. I guess it's because I'm not a die-hard fan or anything.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

^I agree FireandIce.

Oh, well I seemed to like Mary Jane in the Spidey movies. I guess it's because I'm not a die-hard fan or anything.

It's pretty simple really.

Mary-Jane is very badly written in these movies. All she does is jump from guy to guy, to set up the, "Will she end up with Peter?" drama in every movie. Unbelievably, it happens again in Spidey 3.

The only way an actress could make the role work would be by using amazing screen presence that lights up the screen. This would work even better because it's how MJ is in the classic comics.

You have a feisty, enthusiastic actress in the MJ role, who the camera loves, and it would work much better. Kirsten Dunst is absolutely not that actress.

 

[tonytr1687]

^I agree FireandIce.

Oh, well I seemed to like Mary Jane in the Spidey movies. I guess it's because I'm not a die-hard fan or anything.

Me too. My earlier post was designed to bash those who hate her as well as Lois in SR and Lana in Smallville.

 

[tonytr1687]

It's pretty simple really.

Mary-Jane is very badly written in these movies. All she does is jump from guy to guy, to set up the, "Will she end up with Peter?" drama in every movie. Unbelievably, it happens again in Spidey 3.

The only way an actress could make the role work would be by using amazing screen presence that lights up the screen. This would work even better because it's how MJ is in the classic comics.

You have a feisty, enthusiastic actress in the MJ role, who the camera loves, and it would work much better. Kirsten Dunst is absolutely not that actress.

So 4 guys in three years is jumping from guy to guy huh?

 

[AznBABYBANDIT]

jumping from guy to guy 0_o ?

 

[javon]

It's pretty simple really.

Mary-Jane is very badly written in these movies. All she does is jump from guy to guy, to set up the, "Will she end up with Peter?" drama in every movie. Unbelievably, it happens again in Spidey 3.

The only way an actress could make the role work would be by using amazing screen presence that lights up the screen. This would work even better because it's how MJ is in the classic comics.

You have a feisty, enthusiastic actress in the MJ role, who the camera loves, and it would work much better. Kirsten Dunst is absolutely not that actress.

Wow, sounds like the spidey version of Halle,lol. Although I don't agree with that, I just know others do.

 

[BMM]

Wow, sounds like the spidey version of Halle,lol. Although I don't agree with that, I just know others do.

Almost all comic book films have that actress that always seems to receive criticism . . . Berry in X-Men, Dunst in Spider-Man, Alba in Fantastic Four, Holmes in Begins, Bosworth in Returns, etc.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

So 4 guys in three years is jumping from guy to guy huh?

No, four guys in two films is though.

In Spider-Man she starts with Flash, then goes to Harry, then Peter.

In Spider-Man 2, she's gone from Peter to John, and back to Peter.

In Spider-Man 3, she gets intimate with Harry again before inevitably pronouncing her love for Peter in her embarassing speech at the end of the movie.

 

[javon]

??Alba? Who criticized her?! She was perfect to me...again...not a huge fan of FF.

 

[ThePhoenixRises]

Famke is the best actress sooo far protraying a superhero in my opinion
she's tremendously awesome with her facial expressions, she loves playing the psychos in films and apparently she's really convince, and well she's not really well known to comparing to "popular" actresses : Halle,Jessica,Kristen,etc.

 

[DarknessOfDeath]

I agree... if ya like, I wrote a blog about how I admire Jean as a true hero...

www.myspace.com/Anakin20

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

Famke, Patrick, Hugh, Rebecca and Ian were the most consistent actors in this franchise. From the very first film the storylines revolved completely around them, and the writers and directors gave them enough "meat" to really sink their teeth into. Famke in particular is incredible and is, by far, the most compelling actress in the series.

Ironically enough, the franchise's only Oscar-winning beauties--Halle Berry and Anna Paquin--were given the least amount to do--the latter actress being completely wasted in X3, and the former being so in the first two films. To this day I really don't understand what Dan Harris (and the other X1/X2) writers and even Zak and Simon were trying to NOT accomplish with Storm. I don't believe any of them, Halle--and definitely neither of the directors, who clearly didn't have a clue--truly understood either. They only used Storm/Halle for the African American/minority and Hollywood draw, hence all of the promotional placement. But at the end of the day it was all rather empty. I would rather FOX have not touched Storm at all than to bring her out and royally screw the character up. But she's not the only one that got the shaft.

Storm, Cyclops, Rogue, Bobby, etc., were the "ensemble" part of this trilogy's cast. They tried to make Storm (well, Halle Berry anyway) a headliner in X3, but it just didn't work considering it was the Dark Phoenix Saga...a saga where the greatest crime was committed: The eviction of Scott Summers.

At any rate, I've actually grown tired of talking about it now...I'm pretty much disillusioned with all it. And I'm glad it's over.

 

[gambitfire]

^I agree

those stand out actors you picked where excellent and had a fair enough of things to do.

But there is one little thing i disagree in, although Famke was incredible, and the story was technically about her character, Her character was wasted in X3. The whole Zombie act really killed what could of been an incredible Phoenix Persona.

 

[WorthyStevens]

X3 added some really terrific actors (Ben Foster, Ellen Page, Michael Murphy, Kelsey Grammar, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Olivia Williams, Bill Duke), but unfortunately they were all underused.

 

[Cyclops]

Funny, since he's one of the cast members that spoke out about this film being the best in the series, wasn't he?

If I was being paid millions of dollars and was getting a sequel all to myself, I'd lie too.

 

[gap5ewl]

It's ashame with Halle really. She is an incredibally talented actress yet you get the feeling the directors really don't know what to do with her. I think She was awesome in X1 (with the exception of the line). The reason being is she had that accent on and just had storms personality down to a tee. Once you take the accent away though, the standards are lowered since halle has a very girlie voice while storm has a mature voice (you'll notice in x1, halle tried to lower her voice pitch a little). She did MUCH better in x3 though it wasnt halle berry in a wig this time like x2. I think overall Halle had an very good performance should have been better since she is talented. I think the reason people are so critical though is because Storm comes off as a mature, strong willed, African woman (Like an Angela Besset type). Halle is very feminime from her voice to her presentation and Storm really doesnt have those "very girlie" traits.

 

[gap5ewl]

sorry for the second post but I wanted to say something about Famke. Famke really needed to act her ass of because when you think about it, She really doesnt fit the Jean description. Jean has that wholesome look, is a little shorter and very feminime while famke is tall, and has that exotic almost cold hearted look. It's a good thing she is such a good actress because she could've ruined it very easlily. Same with Halle she did a decent job so she was passible. I think if Famke was black she'd make an awesome Storm and if Halle was white she'd make and awesome Jean lol.

 

[Halcohol]

Nah, I don't particularly blame Halle. How easy can it be to find motivation for your character when even the director has no clue?

They just tried to do too much with too few of the characters in this franchise, notably Wolverine. He was forced to carry the main narrative while most of the other characters were relegated to ensemble status. That being said, Hugh Jackman is now a Hollywood A-lister because of these films, and Halle Berry's credit hasn't been hurt much either.

 

[gap5ewl]

i dont blame her either ive come to love her as storm.

 

[Halcohol]

i dont blame her either ive come to love her as storm.

I wouldn't go THAT far.