There should’ve been NO difficulty in making a third X-Men movie – X2 saw to that, laying the foundations in advance for an adaptation of one of “X-Men’s” most reputable story arcs: “The Dark Phoenix Saga.” It’s now safe to say that the main character killed at X2’s end was Dr. Jean Grey (Famke Janssen). One presumes, even during X2’s end credits (if armed with the proper knowledge of comic history) that Jean is thus fated to return, alive and newly imagined as the Phoenix – the most powerful entity in the cosmos, seeking godhood.
Early on, when director Bryan Singer was still connected to this project, indeed this was the planned direction, up to debating new characters integral to the “Phoenix Saga,” such as Emma Frost – who would’ve been played by Sigourney Weaver, had things gone through. But then Singer opted to go do Superman Returns instead, which is a story for another time.
The Fox that we all know and dread then started to flex its own unholy might, most Phoenix-like, demanding production of an X3 come hell, high water, or 2006. Multitudes of directors to rival the X-Men themselves were considered: Darren Aronofsky, Rob Bowman, Joss Whedon, Alex Proyas, Zack Snyder, Matthew Vaughn. Switching directors is no simple feat in the best of times, especially with a series as personally felt as this one evidently was for Singer. For one reason or another, none of the proposed helmers was capable. Vaughn went the furthest in the process, until he butted heads with Fox – not a good sign. (There is more to the Vaughn story later in the franchise.) The studio wasn’t even remotely concerned with shepherding this project, or ensuring its quality – unless you consider the then-priciest budget in history to indicate “quality.”
And who eventually inherited that limitless checkbook, along with the outsized expectations of a trilogy capper built on the exemplary X2? Why Brett Ratner, a director with the uncanny ability to cause movies to exist. That’s it…there’s nothing else to distinguish him, except perhaps an ability to shallowly imitate better directors (Red Dragon), or create films I’m convinced I must’ve actually seen at some point, but maybe I didn’t (the Rush Hour series). Ratner is the rat you turn to when you simply need a movie made, no questions asked. Hoo boy! (Though consider it a partial bullet dodged; Ratner was in some dark age considered for the first X-Men as well, which might’ve snuffed out superhero cinema as a whole in its cradle.)
But wait, the problems don’t stop there! “The Dark Phoenix Saga” wouldn’t suffice, presumably because some myopic producer got too big for his britches, and didn’t like it. (Recall archaic tales told of Cannon Films trying to make Spider-Man a horror movie villain, and weep.) Therefore, while the slightest kernel of “Phoenix” remains (less, indeed, than exists even in X2), new adaptations come into play. With 50 years of comic back issues to carefully choose from, the recent Whedon-penned “Gifted” arc was chosen, because the notion of a “mutant cure” opens up that same thematic arena of civil liberties Singer dabbled in quite well – now selected cynically by makers not actually concerned with Singer’s thematics.
On its own, a “mutant cure” is a potent idea, allowing individual X-Men to debate abandoning their powers for good, and provoking a far more militant response from hardliner Magneto (Ian McKellen). It somewhat keeps the series’ wheels spinning, recycling ideas already in place circa Part One, while “Phoenix” might’ve evolved (or mutated) the series to the next level. But there are more problems to come, nascent issues inherent in a filmed “X-Men” universe, bubbling to the surface now for the first time – I am struggling to avoid further similes to Phoenix.
In the comics run, there are innumerable X-Men (and other mutants), dozens upon dozens. Yet the comics do not struggle with an overloaded cast, partly because of the serialized medium, and partly by picking and choosing. The central X-Men roster alternates with time, much like the Avengers, keeping the focus forever manageable. Film franchises, alas, do not work that way, as escalation is the perverse norm (amongst producers only thinking of making the next one the biggest, with no long-term schemes). Casts accumulate, without anyone willing to make some difficult culling decisions. X-Men: The Last Stand (a loopy “title: subtitle” name sans number, a false indicator of finality retroactively making X2 an anomaly) tips onto the wrong side of the casting scale, cramming in an unfathomable pile of new mutants, lest they never make another entry.
Therefore we have our mutants, new – Beast (Kelsey Grammer), Kitty Pride (Ellen Page), Colossus (Daniel Cudmore), Angel (Ben Foster), Juggernaut (Vinnie Jones), Multiple Man (Eric Dane), Callisto (Dania Ramirez), Psylocke (Meiling Melançon), Arclight (Omahyra Mota), Quill (Ken Leung), Leech (Cameron Bright) – and old – Jean Grey, Magneto, Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Storm (Halle Berry), Rogue (Anna Paquin), Cyclops (James Marsden), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), Mystique (Rebecca Romijn), Pyro (Aaron Stanford). Strangely absent – Nightcrawler.
(That some of those actors are distractingly famous doesn’t help one’s attention span none.)
It’s a struggle to find something worthwhile for each of those players to do…and sometimes myopic producer insistence plays a hand. Cyclops is mostly out, killed off twenty minutes in, as part of some misguided grudge vengeance against Marsden deciding to play a minor role in Superman Returns. So…you’re willing to sabotage the entire emotional fabric of your movie, and murder a lead character, over that? Surely waiting, like, half a year would’ve made Marsden available again (plus, that would’ve been time well spent fixing the story). Or there’s always recasting – Iron Man 2 wasn’t scuttled by the departure of Terrence Howard. (You’re a $210 million movie! Surely there are other options?) But noooo, for zero reason that’s justifiable in-film, Cyclops is blinked from existence. Ta!
(A counterargument says it is a brave move to assassinate a presumably “safe” character. It’s taking a risk, the challenge being that risks often fail. If audiences do not go along with your wholesale slaughter of recurring icons, you’ve got the majority of a movie they’ll be against from this point on.)
Recounting the ways returning characters are marginalized would be an exercise in futility. Professor X is himself killed dead before midway, probably just because Ratner’s crew has no clue how to use him. Before even that, Mystique is…well, not “killed,” but “demutated,” which has the same basic effect upon her relevance to this story. A shame that Ratner and Magneto both abandon her, newly made human, as one might swat a fly. There is the potential for drama in Mystique’s new plight, but either Ratner doesn’t see it, or he just doesn’t care, as he’s too busy getting to the next special effects moment.
About those special effects: In X2, effects technology passed to the point of being obtrusive, and effects are no worse – technically – in The Last Stand. What does distract, though, is that X2 carefully used those necessary CGI moments to tell a story. Here, they are the story, as moments of grandeur occur sans context, and sans emotional payoff.
Take for instance new mutant Angel. He is, against his will, placed first in line to receive the cure, to thus shear away his chintzy angel wings. Rather, he lets said wings spread open, then flies off to effectively never appear again, except for maybe in portions of another two scenes. That’s a lot of work to no end, except to create an image for all the trailers, and also blog screen caps...
Similarly, I didn’t even realize Kitty Pride was in this movie until an hour in, when she finally gets a pertinent character scene – I find myself asking “Wait a minute, since when is Juno an “X-(Wo)Man’?!” Kitty then gets a major portion of the climax, something that surely couldn’t have gone to, say, Rogue.
Oh, Rogue! (I swear, I’m not simply trying to discover random nitpicks.) Since she is unable to touch anybody, she is another character anxious for the cure. Certain questions are brought up, like if this is true to her innate mutant self, or if it’s right for a mutant like her less capable of existing in society. Once again, all potential is squandered immediately after it’s broached, leaving just another loose end that could’ve been done away with altogether (except we’re interested in Rogue, as opposed to New Mutant #509). Actually, Ratner’s myriad efforts to do Singer proud instead highlight his deficiencies far more than mere foolish schlock ever could.
There are, however, certain mutants – obvious ones – who get sufficient attention, for various reasons. Magneto is among those fortunate figures, partly because his new villainous quest to amass as many eeeevil mutants as possible, which allows The Last Stand a window to new characters, potentially new toys, potentially spin-offs involving earth-shakers like, oh, Arclight. Plus, a conflicted villain is valuable asset – called Jean Grey!!! Honestly, Famke Janssen isn’t going anywhere! Use her!
Wolverine also escapes unscathed – at least, whatever wounds he receives heal quickly enough. It’s as it’s always been, ever since the character’s introduction in 1974; Wolverine’s uncouth, working class, cigar-chomping antics appeal to fans, even when wholly divorced from the greater “X-Men” whole. To that end, in The Last Stand Wolverine gets to race around a forest slashing people with impunity, much like Jason Voorhees. This moment feels almost contractual, for how little energy it possesses. Even with a beefy role, Wolverine is lost in the shuffle…compared to what he could do.
Making it out with the king’s ransom of focus, however, is Storm – I couldn’t name a less deserving character. Honestly, Cyclops is more interesting than her! But Halle Berry’s narcissistic megalomania had, if anything, grown since 2003, to the point she was convinced it was she, and she alone who made X-Men important. Even with Catwoman already having earned her a coveted Razzie (to go right alongside her Oscar, no doubt)! But don’t tell Berry I question her endless value, or she’ll say I’m racist. And she’ll point to her People’s Choice Award for “Female Action Star” (as if 2006 offered that much variety), then orchestrate a letter-writing campaign demanding X4, “for all the black women out there.”
The emotional stories, the characters – all are lost in the sheer complexity of it all…At least The Last Stand is easy to understand. The plot line may not be crackerjack, but it is itself never lost in side-motivations or anything.
Ultimately, X-Men: The Last Stand succumbs to the same issues which plague many trilogy cappers – oddly, since X2 didn’t openly aim to be a middle chapter, and avoided all those potential pitfalls. Mostly, The Last Stand gets caught up in its own hype and ambition, convinced of the essential grandiosity of its tale. And whenever a multi-entry Hollywood property gets that in its noggin, that means extended epic battle scenes are sure to follow. So it is for Ratner, though it’s a danged strange thing to stage an X-Men action sequence as the superhero version of a Lord of the Rings siege – Magneto’s Brotherhood misuses the Golden Gate Bridge to gain access to Alcatraz, incongruous site of the cure (this landmark decision lacks the portent of Part One’s Statue of Liberty, but all its surface gloss). The X-Men, alongside several humans, oppose the Brotherhood. An all-superhero battle is a viable idea, as the comics have shown for decades – particularly in their all-continuity crossover “crises.” That remains a fantastical idea that’d be far harder to capture on film, with budget and technical limitations which never plague an ink artist.
And at last, adding insult to whatever injury preceded it, the final shot of The Last Stand undermines all the de-mutating finality before it – with a hint that an ex-X’s powers are, for no reason, back. It’s probably meant as cheeky (and no doubt sequel baiting), but it just seems contemptuous – as if the people who couldn’t take the changes of Rogue or Mystique seriously cannot take any of their premise seriously. This is dangerous ground, for all of The Last Stand’s pseudo-seriousness, a sort of dismissal more akin to the poisonous pre-X-Men adaptation output, exemplified by Batman & Robin.
Well, The Last Stand can sequel bait as much as it wants, for all it wants to be an ending. The fact remains that the X-Men model as it stands here is unsustainable. It’s just too expensive! And the cast is too big! There’s nothing in here which increases The Last Stand’s worth, certainly nothing which puts in on a level with the much more controlled X2. Obviously, moneymen still see value in this franchise, especially when The Last Stand was able to mint a pretty penny, but not at the increased risks they’ve now incurred. Paring down is the next option. Just remember, guys: There are decades of material available, plus the comics’ example of how it works best. Follow that lead.
No comments:
Post a Comment