32:05 - 33:35 (1:30)
Cut back to Wolverine and get a scene between him Jean Grey with some nice flirting before, wait for it, More Exposition! This time we learn about Wolverine's powers, which is redundant because we've already seen them in action. Note to writers: If you're writing a movie where characters have super powers, having one character explain those powers to another character is bad writing. Show not tell. Come on!
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Part 7: Mystique vs Senator Dickhole
29:54-32:04 (2:10)
We cut back to Senator Dickhole's story and me finally meet Mystique. (Rebecca Rojmin-Stamos) Mystique's transformation is a really cool looking effect. Easily the best mutant effect we've gotten yet. And she looks AMAZING in her blue body paint thing she's got going on. It makes you wish they chose more exotic looking mutants for the rest of the cast instead of people who look mostly like humans, because they nailed the look on this one. Mystique, disguised as some random aide, transforms and beats up Senator Dickhole and flies him back to Magneto's lair, which appears to be an island.
We cut back to Senator Dickhole's story and me finally meet Mystique. (Rebecca Rojmin-Stamos) Mystique's transformation is a really cool looking effect. Easily the best mutant effect we've gotten yet. And she looks AMAZING in her blue body paint thing she's got going on. It makes you wish they chose more exotic looking mutants for the rest of the cast instead of people who look mostly like humans, because they nailed the look on this one. Mystique, disguised as some random aide, transforms and beats up Senator Dickhole and flies him back to Magneto's lair, which appears to be an island.
Part 6: Introducing Xavier's School
22:08 - 29:53 (7:45)
We switch back to Wolverine's POV...Wait! A random POV switch? I'm not a huge fan, as I think Rogue is a more relatable character and I'm not a huge fan of this type of bait and switch. It's natural to want to position Wolverine as the archetypal hero of the narrative while relegating Rogue to the damsel in distress, but a better movie would have committed to Rogue as the protagonist.
Wolverine escapes his medical examination and Xavier leads him to his office via some bad-ass telepathy and the rest of this sequence is given over to exposition. In nice character beats, Wolverine refuses to shake Cyclops hand and calls Xavier Wheels. Xavier lets us know that he runs a school for mutants and also a super hero team. The filmmakers manage to keep this as visually exciting as possible and again I appreciate the details but this is clumsy writing. We do get a bunch of the coolest visual effects shots in the entire movie in this sequence so there's that:
1.)Kitty Pride Runs through a wall.
2.)A kid cheats at sports by teleporting in basketball game.
3.)Cyclops shoots clay pigeons with his lasers
4.)Iceman extinguishes Pyro's fireball which then shatters on the ground.
Iceman's and Rogues flirtation is also set up in this scene so even amongst the clumsiness we do get some actual storytelling. In some more clumsiness Xavier sets up some selfish reasons for Wolverine to stick around in an obvious way to get him to give them up. I like this movie, but it's no masterpiece. This segment is also where we break into Act II for all that's worth. The hero is in his new world.
We switch back to Wolverine's POV...Wait! A random POV switch? I'm not a huge fan, as I think Rogue is a more relatable character and I'm not a huge fan of this type of bait and switch. It's natural to want to position Wolverine as the archetypal hero of the narrative while relegating Rogue to the damsel in distress, but a better movie would have committed to Rogue as the protagonist.
Wolverine escapes his medical examination and Xavier leads him to his office via some bad-ass telepathy and the rest of this sequence is given over to exposition. In nice character beats, Wolverine refuses to shake Cyclops hand and calls Xavier Wheels. Xavier lets us know that he runs a school for mutants and also a super hero team. The filmmakers manage to keep this as visually exciting as possible and again I appreciate the details but this is clumsy writing. We do get a bunch of the coolest visual effects shots in the entire movie in this sequence so there's that:
1.)Kitty Pride Runs through a wall.
2.)A kid cheats at sports by teleporting in basketball game.
3.)Cyclops shoots clay pigeons with his lasers
4.)Iceman extinguishes Pyro's fireball which then shatters on the ground.
Iceman's and Rogues flirtation is also set up in this scene so even amongst the clumsiness we do get some actual storytelling. In some more clumsiness Xavier sets up some selfish reasons for Wolverine to stick around in an obvious way to get him to give them up. I like this movie, but it's no masterpiece. This segment is also where we break into Act II for all that's worth. The hero is in his new world.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Part 5: Magneto's Lair
20:48 - 22:07 (1:19)
Here we get Magneto's lair in an undisclosed and Toad (Ray Park) is here. Not much happens in this scene (Magneto is up to something nefarious!) and honestly probablly could've been cut from the movie but I love it for this one detail:
Magneto's desk has one of those whatchamacallits except his has no strings and when he leaves the room they fall down! Awesome!
Here we get Magneto's lair in an undisclosed and Toad (Ray Park) is here. Not much happens in this scene (Magneto is up to something nefarious!) and honestly probablly could've been cut from the movie but I love it for this one detail:
Part 4: Wolverine's Introduction; Bonding with Rogue; A Fight
9:22 - 20:47 (11:25)
This is the most important segment of the entire movie because this is where we meet Wolverine (Hugh Jackman, in the only role he'll ever need). If you fuck up Wolverine you don't have a movie franchise. Spoiler Alert. They don't fuck it up.The importance of this segment reflected in the length.
We cut to Canada and we're back in Rogue's POV. Her family clearly didn't take her being a scary mutant who sucks the life-force out of people. The movie mercifully skips over that. We don't need that falling out in all its gory detail; we have more mutants to meet. Inside a bar we see Wolverine in a cage fight with some poor schmuck. The metallic sound effects are another nice detail here.
Back at the bar, Rogue is enjoying some water and eyeballing the tip jar. The dick bartender moves it out of reach. You can tell they spent a lot of time getting this scene right as its full of great little moments like that. We get some exposition out of the way via a television news report while the camera focuses on Rogue and Wolverine checking each other out. Good storytelling.
The punk Wolverine beat up in the cage comes by and has a(n admantanium?) bone to pick. You know what its time for? CLAWS!
Wolverine gets to be a bad-ass but leaves the bar with out actually hurting anyone. Wolverine is back on the road and in yet another great detail he uses his superhuman hearing to deduce that there's a stowaway in his trailer. The use of mutant powers in non-combat situations goes a long way towards making this world and the characters feel real. Wolverine then goes on to ditch Rogue on the side of the road because he's an anti-social loner of course, before going back to give her a ride because really he's a big softie. It's a little obvious but its still a nice character beat and Jackman plays it well. That gruff exterior really is all pretense, isn't it?
Rogue and Wolverine have a great little conversation where they bond over being outcast freaks in constant pain. I love this line:
Wolverine crashes the truck and nearly 20 minutes in we get our first hint that this isn't just a weird character drama/racial allegory and its actually a movie where freaks with superpowers fight and stuff. Wolverine vs Sabretooth (Tyler Mane) isn't much of a fight and really more of an excuse to for Cyclops(James Marsden) and Storm(Halle Berry)to make their heroic entrance and save Rouge from the truck, which by the way was about to explode!
Explosion count:1
Cyclops and Storm were in their leathery X-Men uniforms which I'll dive into during a later scene but briefly; they're OK. The weather control and eye laser effects are nicely done but not a particularly mind blowing visual. I would've hoped by this point in the movie we would have had at least one four star shot by now, but alas...
This is the most important segment of the entire movie because this is where we meet Wolverine (Hugh Jackman, in the only role he'll ever need). If you fuck up Wolverine you don't have a movie franchise. Spoiler Alert. They don't fuck it up.The importance of this segment reflected in the length.
We cut to Canada and we're back in Rogue's POV. Her family clearly didn't take her being a scary mutant who sucks the life-force out of people. The movie mercifully skips over that. We don't need that falling out in all its gory detail; we have more mutants to meet. Inside a bar we see Wolverine in a cage fight with some poor schmuck. The metallic sound effects are another nice detail here.
Back at the bar, Rogue is enjoying some water and eyeballing the tip jar. The dick bartender moves it out of reach. You can tell they spent a lot of time getting this scene right as its full of great little moments like that. We get some exposition out of the way via a television news report while the camera focuses on Rogue and Wolverine checking each other out. Good storytelling.
The punk Wolverine beat up in the cage comes by and has a(n admantanium?) bone to pick. You know what its time for? CLAWS!
Rogue and Wolverine have a great little conversation where they bond over being outcast freaks in constant pain. I love this line:
ROGUE: When they come out... does it hurt?So good. What I don't get is why Rouge is actually calling herself that? It's weird that a teenage runaway would giver herself a bonkers nickname like that and the film makes no reference to this being part of mutant culture of which she's not yet part of. It's a little sloppy and Wolverine even draws attention to it by asking her about it. That was her name in the comics; just deal with it, OK? Fine!
LOGAN: Every time.
Wolverine crashes the truck and nearly 20 minutes in we get our first hint that this isn't just a weird character drama/racial allegory and its actually a movie where freaks with superpowers fight and stuff. Wolverine vs Sabretooth (Tyler Mane) isn't much of a fight and really more of an excuse to for Cyclops(James Marsden) and Storm(Halle Berry)to make their heroic entrance and save Rouge from the truck, which by the way was about to explode!
Explosion count:1
Cyclops and Storm were in their leathery X-Men uniforms which I'll dive into during a later scene but briefly; they're OK. The weather control and eye laser effects are nicely done but not a particularly mind blowing visual. I would've hoped by this point in the movie we would have had at least one four star shot by now, but alas...
Part 3: Professor X talks to Magneto
5:57 - 9:21 (3:24)
Cut to Washington, and this time we don't get a helpful subtitle telling us where we are because who needs consistency? Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) is talking to congress about mutants and advocating for against some anti-mutant legislation. Some dickhole senator (Bruce Davison) interrupts to tell us that mutants are to be feared. And here we get our real first evidence that this isn't going to be a GREAT movie. Not only do we get a lame ass introduction to an important character but we get a whole chunk of clumsy non-dramatic world building dialogue. Show not tell, guys. Come on!
After the testimony we watch Professor X (Captin Jean Luc Picard, nailing it!) follow the now fully adult Magneto (Gandalf the Grey, also nailing it!) out into the hallway and we get this nice exchange that sets up the central conflict of the movie:
I also love this production detail on the wheels of Professor X's wheelchair. It's a friggin' X.
Cut to Washington, and this time we don't get a helpful subtitle telling us where we are because who needs consistency? Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) is talking to congress about mutants and advocating for against some anti-mutant legislation. Some dickhole senator (Bruce Davison) interrupts to tell us that mutants are to be feared. And here we get our real first evidence that this isn't going to be a GREAT movie. Not only do we get a lame ass introduction to an important character but we get a whole chunk of clumsy non-dramatic world building dialogue. Show not tell, guys. Come on!
After the testimony we watch Professor X (Captin Jean Luc Picard, nailing it!) follow the now fully adult Magneto (Gandalf the Grey, also nailing it!) out into the hallway and we get this nice exchange that sets up the central conflict of the movie:
XAVIER: Erik. What are you doing here?Patrick Stewart and Ian Mckellen absolutely embody these roles and make all their line readings awesome. I also love that although they are on complete opposite sides philosophically they're always polite and friendly in their personal exchanges. They give off a real history and it comes across in the performances and writing.
ERIK: Why do you ask questions to which you already know the answers?
XAVIER: Don't give up on them, Erik.
ERIK: What would you have me do, Charles? I've heard these arguments before.
XAVIER: That was a long time ago. Mankind has evolved since then.
ERIK: Yes... Into us.
ERIK: Are you sneaking around in there, Charles? Whatever are you looking for?
XAVIER: I'm looking for hope.
ERIK: I will give you hope, old friend. And I ask only one thing in return. Don't get in my way.
ERIK: We are the future, Charles, not them. They no longer matter.
Part 2: The Introduction of Rogue
4:15 - 5:56 (1:41)
The subtitle informs us we're in Mississippi in the not too distant future. The not too distant future? Really? We've already established that this is a fictional universe where mutants are a thing. It is completely unnecessary to also set this in the near future. Any differences between reality and the movie we're already explained away by this being a universe where mutant exists so it should really just be present day. Gee, could I be any more nitpicky? Just you wait.
Rogue (Anna Paquin) is hanging out in her bedroom with some schmuck of a guy talking about all her big travel plans for after high school. Then, when she goes to kiss the boy, she nearly kills the poor schmuck. Naturally she freaks out and this all happens over some nice diegetic piano music. This scene does a good job of demonstrating how fucking terrifying it would be to just wake up with dangerous mutant powers.
A little weird we get Rogue (7th billed!) before the likes of Professor X, Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm or any of the mutants people actually care about, but this makes perfect sense when you think about it. Rogue acts as a nice audience surrogate. She's just a typical teenage girl and then shit gets real and she's thrust into this unfamiliar world of being a mutant. This shit is new to her too. The bit about wanting to go on adventures is a nice touch too, because she's going to get to do that now and that's pretty fucking awesome.
The subtitle informs us we're in Mississippi in the not too distant future. The not too distant future? Really? We've already established that this is a fictional universe where mutants are a thing. It is completely unnecessary to also set this in the near future. Any differences between reality and the movie we're already explained away by this being a universe where mutant exists so it should really just be present day. Gee, could I be any more nitpicky? Just you wait.
Rogue (Anna Paquin) is hanging out in her bedroom with some schmuck of a guy talking about all her big travel plans for after high school. Then, when she goes to kiss the boy, she nearly kills the poor schmuck. Naturally she freaks out and this all happens over some nice diegetic piano music. This scene does a good job of demonstrating how fucking terrifying it would be to just wake up with dangerous mutant powers.
A little weird we get Rogue (7th billed!) before the likes of Professor X, Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm or any of the mutants people actually care about, but this makes perfect sense when you think about it. Rogue acts as a nice audience surrogate. She's just a typical teenage girl and then shit gets real and she's thrust into this unfamiliar world of being a mutant. This shit is new to her too. The bit about wanting to go on adventures is a nice touch too, because she's going to get to do that now and that's pretty fucking awesome.
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