X3 Forum Debate #5: "Storm: What Was Missing"

[flavio_lebeau]

Storm is, undoubtedly, one of the most loved characters in the mutant universe. She's also one of the most hated by some. In the movies universe, no matter in which "team" you were, it is certain that "Something" was missing. During the entire course of the franchise, it is consensus that we never saw Storm at her full extent.

-So, What was missing?
Is it Halle Berry's fault? Is it the script, which never approached the "real" character? Lack of care from the entire production/direction/writers team?

-What was the best Storm, the one that most approached her comic counterpart?

-What scenes/stories/characters/lines should have been in the movies to make us see and know more about Storm?


Basically, these are guiding points, but the discussion should feature anything relating Storm in the movies.

 

[04nbod]

i think it was the direction singer went with after X1. In X1 the character felt like storm mainly due to her accent it distanced her from halle berry. In X2 and X3 it was gone and it just seemed like halle in a wig. Also Storm wasn't as commanding and forceful as i wanted her to be. Growing up on the animated series i have a view of storm of being high ranking- a sort of dignity and decorum about her character. Very classy. She doesn't have presence in the movie or the tone of voice i associate with the character. She became just another mutant with very little to distance her character from others- plus i think she needs backstory. Her claustrophobia needs to be exploited and the reason she is claustophobic. Give her some trauma

 

[flavio_lebeau]

Yeah, I agree with you. X1 Storm is the best too, imo. Not only because of the accent, but when I see that movie, I see a more comanding, calm and regal Storm in a way. With the exception of the wig, I think that's the best Storm. In X2 and 3, she didn't only lose the accent. She lost herself. It seemed like no one cared about how she was portrayed.

I don't think Halle Berry was the best option to play Storm. But, since I hate recastings, I do think that if we had a director who truly cared about the character, and had lots of care towards how Berry represents Storm, I do think Halle could pull off a great Storm. Still not the comic Storm, but at least an upgraded version of the X1 Storm we saw. And that would be just fine to me.

I don't think Storm needs to have a full story so that she gets developed. Even in the comics, Storm has been mostly the shining supporting character. Shining, but still supporting. On the main mutants stories, she's ususally nothing more than the friend/warrior. So i never expected her to have a full arc in any of the movies. All I wanted, was like Halle said, "to see who is that woman". To know more about her, to understand her. And this was never achieved.

I do think a flash back adressing her childhood and claustrophobia would help to at least link Storm to the audience. Seeing her having a dificult childhood would be good. To see she was not just a comic book character who jumped on us.

So, imo, what was missing, was mostly a careful direction to help Berry find Storm, and a script that explored her personality a bit more. Not a full arc, just some lines in which Storm could show she's also human.

Anyhow, at least one thing I can be happy with: I always dreamed to see Storm's powers come true, and on that part, wow. I just love her power displays. Sorry, but I just couldn't help my huge smile when i saw those tornadoes, those lightnings...it's my childhood calling me back. It's the days in which I wished I could make rain. It's just too enchanting to neglect. Some popcorn is good at times. And eye-candy doesn't hurt. So I love Storm as the power-switch too.

 

[BMM]

X-Men – Visually, she’s probably the most consistent with her comicbook counterpart. She doesn’t have enough screentime. She is criticized for having no backstory and for being uncharacteristically timid. She provides one of her most memorable power sequences of the trilogy but it’s coupled with one of the worst lines as well. Her accent also draws criticism.

X2 – Storm’s more motherly but now uncharacteristically angry. She has more screentime, particularly with Jean Grey and newcomer Nightcrawler. She flies the X-Jet, creates tornadoes, and even saves all humankind. She’s still criticized for having no backstory or a meaningful role. Although nice looking in the promo pics, her looks don’t carry over into the film as she is rather drab… and for better or worse, her accent is dropped.

X:TLS – She’s practically crammed into every scene concerning the X-Men… except for the important ones. She’s more outspoken but snippy and rather unlikable at times. Her goddess-like hair has been chopped off with questionable black streaks added but she generally looks better. She flies more, but doesn’t offer anything new power-wise. She is yet again criticized for having no backstory or a meaningful role. The character is also criticized for sounding less like Storm and more like Halle Berry in a white wig. She’s now the headmistress of the school, but not really because Xavier is still alive.

I don’t know… Like others have said, I guess I prefer Storm in X-Men because it somehow feels like more of an attempt to portray her character despite the uncharacteristic perspective.



For whatever reason, I don’t think anyone really “got” Storm. There are bits and pieces here and there but they never fully come together.

 

[BMM]

...Even in the comics, Storm has been mostly the shining supporting character. Shining, but still supporting. On the main mutants stories, she's ususally nothing more than the friend/warrior. So i never expected her to have a full arc in any of the movies. All I wanted, was like Halle said, "to see who is that woman". To know more about her, to understand her. And this was never achieved.

Agreed . Storm has her moments but I mostly find her to be a shining support character, as you put it... and a number of her character arcs tend to be personal struggles rather than those that require the involvement of her teammates. I feel like the X-Men almost need Storm more than Storm needs the X-Men.

 

[flavio_lebeau]

Agreed . Storm has her moments but I mostly find her to be a shinning support character, as you put it... and a number of her character arcs tend to be personal struggles rather than those that require the involvement of her teammates. I feel like the X-Men almost need Storm more than Storm needs the X-Men.

Love this line. To me it desbribes her pretty well.

 

[gap5ewl]

wait..storm is also the most hated? since when?

 

[Hotaru]

Well, take a look at the Storm thread in Comics section and that'll give some idea...

 

[flavio_lebeau]

wait..storm is also the most hated? since when?

I said by some. The most hated character by some people.

 

[La_She-Beast]

Love this line. To me it desbribes her pretty well.

Agreed.

IMO, her powers were not majestic enough through the whole trilogy. The best part: tornados scene. But that's about it.

And I really missed her maternal attitude towards the X-Men Even so, her hairstyle made her quite a mature person.

 

[xii22_loop]

For me it was her wigs lacking, lacking realism, which many other wigs in movies have marveled in. They were lacking a hairline, roots, with scalp showing. It would have added a real aspect to Storm that she was missing, especially before the X3 wig (which was good and looked real enough).

Like on her sideburn area and temples there was that skin flap thing that made it look like the white hair was actually growing from her hair, but not where the part in her hair was. i've seen maybe movie wigs which have this.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

It's certainly not Ms. Berry's fault.

I firstly blame Singer. He knew not what to do with the character, and it just transfered over to Ratner.

If one was to piece movieverse Storm together through out all three movies. One would step back and say:

''Damn, she's a schizto *****."

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

-So, What was missing? Is it Halle Berry's fault? Is it the script, which never approached the "real" character? Lack of care from the entire production/direction/writers team?

A little bit of it all.

I think Halle Berry was miscast from the beginning. I don't think she was right for the part, and the fact that she couldn't even carry a consistant accept really hurt.

However, in terms of character, she had no control over the script. She could only work with what she was given, and it was the scriptwriters in all 3 films that took away her compassionate, motherly, sisterly side, and turned her into a timid (X-Men) and afraid (X-Men, X2) character, or a stereotypical black chick with an attitude (X-Men: The Last Stand).

Where I feel Halle is to blame is the fact that I don't believe she got the character either. She wanted Storm to have more of a purpose, and more of a voice, but in X-Men: The Last Stand all she did was fly more, do more combat powers, and talk like a *****, and she was satisfied with that.

In the movies, we never saw the Storm that I have come to love. What happened to the woman who stood in Gambit's corner, and supported him, when everyone else deserted him? That was completely absent, except in one deleted scene of Storm talking with Rogue from X-Men.

And that is the fault of the filmakers, from Bryan Singer, to Brett Ratner, and everyone in between.

Everyone involved gets the blame on Storm in my book.

-What was the best Storm, the one that most approached her comic counterpart?

There is no consistant "best" Storm.

In X-Men, despite a very out of character conversation with Senator Kelly about being scared of humans, I feel that she was portrayed decently as a senior member of the team. It was made clear to me that she was pretty much 2nd in command behind Cyclops. She stood her ground when she needed to (telling Wolverine to choose a side).

In X2, we saw her leadership qualities very well, taking over once Cyclops was out of the picture. We also see a bit of her motherly side, reacting when the children are in danger, and her taking initiative to get them out of said danger.

And in X-Men: The Last Stand, we see a bit of that ferocity that she can unleash. We see her as a truly viable advesary in combat.

Unfortunatley throughout, these qualities were inconsistant. I don't think any movie has a consistantly "best" portrayal of Storm. I think they all have some elements, but for the most part, the accuracies are inconsistant and make for an overall poor adaptation of the character.

-What scenes/stories/characters/lines should have been in the movies to make us see and know more about Storm?

Despite much demand on these forums, I don't think a flashback or origin scene was needed. Granted, she was a core character, the flashbacks were only for characters who were central to the stories. We got Magneto in X-Men, and although it wasn't a flashback, an origin scene of Rogue in the same movie. Both of those flashbacks were vital in telling the central story of that film. In X-Men: The Last Stand, we got the Jean and Angel flashbacks, both of which were also vital in the stories of the central stories of that film. X2 didn't have one, because the entire central story dealt with revealing Wolverine's origins, so a flashback would kill the suspense.

What I would have liked to have seen from Storm is what I mentioned in an above response; her loyalty and compassion, being there to support someone when nobody else would. Instead, we got the opposite. "Do you hate humans?" "Sometimes." The Storm that I know wouldn't have said that. She would have tried to comfort Senator Kelly in his final moments, and show, not through words, but through actions, that mutants were not evil people.

The Storm I know wouldn't have lashed out at Rogue over taking the cure. In fact, while Storm wouldn't -agree- with the cure, I don't know that Storm would really be so adamantly against it.

The Storm I know wouldn't have told Nightcrawler that anger helps her survive.

While Storm has quite a fury when she needs to, I've never known Storm to be very angry...

 

[X-Maniac]

I agree with many points raised in here.

I would add that I think the Storm origin dialogue that was cut from X3 ("In the village where i grew up, my powers were seen as a gift") WOULD given a reason for Storm's feelings over the cure (she would indeed be angry that mutants were not revered but seen as a disease) and would have given reason for Storm's turmoil over them still being in hiding (because she had been used to being open with her powers and seeing them called on to do good and to help others).

I also think cutting her flash-flood scene on Alcatraz was a terrible decision.
X2 showed us a woman who could create a swarm of tornadoes - we needed to see her do more on Alcatraz. We also needed a reason she didn't do more after that, especially against Phoenix. A line about Magneto's electromagnetic fields affecting the atmosphere and stopping her pulling down more weather at the end would have helped (it's in the novelisation, where Claremont tried to account for her lack of activity). We DEFINITELY needed the flash-flood scene and later on POSSIBLY needed a line about Magneto's powers affecting the atmosphere above the island.

 

[Angamb]

I don't dislike Halle Berry, but certainly, she doesn't look like that tall african woman (big woman), that comic/animated Storm is.

But apart from that, the problem definetly was the screenwriters and director.

 

[Storm22]

I also think cutting her flash-flood scene on Alcatraz was a terrible decision.
X2 showed us a woman who could create a swarm of tornadoes - we needed to see her do more on Alcatraz. We also needed a reason she didn't do more after that, especially against Phoenix. A line about Magneto's electromagnetic fields affecting the atmosphere and stopping her pulling down more weather at the end would have helped (it's in the novelisation, where Claremont tried to account for her lack of activity). We DEFINITELY needed the flash-flood scene and later on POSSIBLY needed a line about Magneto's powers affecting the atmosphere above the island.

Agreed! The flash flood would have been a nice display of an extension of Storm's powers instead of lightning bolt after lightning bolt, which was all she did in X3. An aerial fight with Dark Phoenix or Magneto should also have happened at some point. My main gripes with Storm from the movies are her power displays - they were cool to look at but they lacked large scale, "Weather Goddess" displays - the tornado gauntlet in X2 was the closest we got to such a display. I would have loved to have seen The Day After Tomorrow type powers from Storm.

 

[flavio_lebeau]

Agreed! The flash flood would have been a nice display of an extension of Storm's powers instead of lightning bolt after lightning bolt, which was all she did in X3. An aerial fight with Dark Phoenix or Magneto should also have happened at some point. My main gripes with Storm from the movies are her power displays - they were cool to look at but they lacked large scale, "Weather Goddess" displays - the tornado gauntlet in X2 was the closest we got to such a display. I would have loved to have seen The Day Afyer Tomorrow type powers from Storm.

There would need to be a really good reason for Storm to freeze an entire city. I don't think that's possible,, unless she goes Dark Phoenixy, which I wouldn't like.

As for Storm vs Jean, to me it's very bittersweet. While it might make wonders for eye-candy, I'm pretty sure that if we got it, everyone would be whining "OMG Storm can't fight Pheonix (sic)!!!!! They'r like TOTALLY sisters!!!!!"
Everyone, including me, is already angry that Storm didn't seem to care a bit about Jean, just imagine her fighting Jean without any conversation of the both, just because. I'm not sure I'd want it.
The only case I could see it happening is Storm trying to stop Jean, but not an actual brawl. (and Storm would lose pretty quickly, let's admit)
Also, we would have to have a scene in which Storm should have tried to stop Jean before (maybe on the lab), to point that the fight was the only action possible at that point. Otherwise, it would be entirely out of character.

 

[britrogue]

Storm is, undoubtedly, one of the most loved characters in the mutant universe. She's also one of the most hated by some. In the movies universe, no matter in which "team" you were, it is certain that "Something" was missing. During the entire course of the franchise, it is consensus that we never saw Storm at her full extent.

-So, What was missing?
Is it Halle Berry's fault? Is it the script, which never approached the "real" character? Lack of care from the entire production/direction/writers team?

-What was the best Storm, the one that most approached her comic counterpart?

-What scenes/stories/characters/lines should have been in the movies to make us see and know more about Storm?


Basically, these are guiding points, but the discussion should feature anything relating Storm in the movies.

I am a Storm fan. I also do have a certain respect for Halle Berry as an actress. I loved her in Gothika.
I do not believe that she was the right casting choice for Storm. Sure, she looked the part. She's beautiful, graceful and carries an air of natural power. But, I believe she lacks the capacity to carry off the necessary compassion for Storm's character.
The biggest things missing for me where Movie Storm was concerned was the compassion, and the belief that she wasn descended from a line of African witch priestesses. She had a bad accent in X1 and no accent at all in 2 and 3.

 

[xstormfan]

I think the biggest aspect missing from th filming was a feeling of confidence ane strength, the Storm of the comics was a born leader and more commanding and sure of herself

 

[Nadino]

Storm is one of my favorite characters in the Marvel universe, though in the movies she was my least favorite.

I think if I had to choose which Storm I like better from the X-Movies, I would have to agree with some of you and say X1. Even though she did appear very timid and had not enough screen-time I think the accent and her flight scene sold it for me.

I guess my main problem with Storm in the movies is her lack of power. Storm is a very powerful character in the comics and the original cartoon - but her translation onto film made her seem weak and uninteresting. Also how she forgot she could fly in X2 then remembered she could in X3. Storm's flight is a big deal to me - it's like Cyclops and his optic beam OR Wolvie and his claws, you can't have one without the other - otherwise it's not the character - IMO!.

I think exploring her background a little more would have explained her emotional state instead of leaving questions as to her actions. Keeping the accent throughout the trilogy might have helped convince us that its STORM and not Halle Berry.

I don't think it's all Halle's fault. I think the directors were too worried about Wolverine and just let the actors decide how to play their characters. I think if they would have paid more attention to this character instead of money - Halle could have pulled it off. We would've had the same problem even if it had been a different actress........maybe lol.

As for the wigs: I have to disagree with most of you, X3 wig was awful. Watching the hair testing for Storm in X1 they should have done without the bangs cuz that look was perfect! But I feel that X1 wig along with the X2 wig are 200times better than the dirty mop they put on Halle in X3. Storm is known for her long flowing white hair mostly - not for looking like she battled a weed-whacker!

Hopefully when they decide to do a reboot - or an X4 - they can do her justice! t:

 

[04nbod]

you see i love that picture and that moment because it looks so much like storm. Calm and dignified yet look at whats going on around her at the time!

 

[Angamb]

this manip is really great. Looks better, definetly, Just adding the black streaks and a bit more volume, it would be perfect.

 

[Nadino]

you see i love that picture and that moment because it looks so much like storm. Calm and dignified yet look at whats going on around her at the time!

Totally agree with that!

this manip is really great. Looks better, definetly, Just adding the black streaks and a bit more volume, it would be perfect.

Black streaks?!? Jeebus! she's not a skunk!

 

[xii22_loop]

damn straight shes not a skunk, Rogue is the skunk hehe

 

[the a1ant]

X1 Storm was my favorite. I was one of few who loved the accent, and I thought they got the clothing right for that film. That's the only film where I thought it was 'Storm' and not 'Halle Berry in a white wig'. The only problem was Storm didn't always come off strong like the comic character. Her scene between her and Logan and her scene with Toad were the best character scenes for me.

While I also love X2/X3 Storm, she wasn't much like the comics. Her speech with Nightcrawler was a great character moment, but it wasn't faithful to comic-Storm's beliefs. Singer got the 'motherly' part down with the character in both films. Unfortunately, he thought that was the only thing Storm was good for (he said that once in an interview).

X3 Storm was fun, and had great moments - and had an opinion , but with each film, she seems to get farther away from the comics.

I think it was everyone's fault for not keeping Storm, Storm. I think they worried too much about fixing her 'look' that they forgot to fix her character in the darn story. With Halle, I don't know if she really researched a lot about the character. She said most of her requests came from fans telling her how Storm is in the comics. She knew the basics of the character, but not the small details, imo. It was said that Singer didn't want the cast members researching the comics, and to just follow the script, so again, that's his own fault