Movie Review

X-Men III: The Last Stand, and Superman Returns

X-Men: The Last Stand (IMDB)(Official)

Superman Returns (IMDB)(Official)

Warning spoilers: I will try to keep Superman under wraps as much as I can, but I am assuming that if you are going to see X-Men you already have.

Overall I would give Superman Returns about one-and-a-half primary feathers up. X-Men III however, (and remember this is coming from a great fan of X-Men comics, cartoons and movies) gets a decisive two primary feathers down.

According to Andrew Coffin (who's World Magazine review of the two movies got me started down this path of thought) the director for the first two X-Men movies was tapped to direct Superman. The original director for Superman was traded over to man the helm for X-Men III. DC comics won that round.

It would be easy to denigrate X-Men III for leaving the well developed plots of the first two movies for a loose collection of summer blockbuster style, special effects fight scenes. It certainly did that; but my antipathy for the movie comes from a more personal and technical level. Specifically the treatment of the value of life and the development of an all powerful character.

The later first. If you are any fan or reader of fantasy or science fiction, you should know of the dangers of creating an all powerful character. Someone making major motion pictures should defiantly know this. Raymond E Fiest's novels are gripping at their inception because Pug is just a skinny novice facing insurmountable odds. Many books later, when he can basically do anything he wishes, the books become dreadfully boring. I'm told the same happens if you read far into the Star Wars novels, when Luke becomes powerful enough to land a capitol ship on a planet or move a planet out of orbit. An all powerful character can work in a story, but only if the point is to show that all powerful characters are not supposed to be here. Terry Pratchett did this with “Sorcerer” and it worked beautifully. (Besides, Pratchett is a much better writer than whoever did X-Men III)

In The Last Stand the folks behind the X-Men trilogy take Jean Grey and make her into the Phoenix. Never mind that they did this in a completely different manner than it was done in the comics, what was accomplished was a character that could literally do anything she wished. Mostly she just stands around, but in a few places she just destroys everything in sight. It was boring. The special effects probably took a lot of time and ten years ago would have been awe inspiring in-and-of themselves, but not this time. Besides, special effects are supposed to support the story, not the other way around.

My primary disappointment with X-Men III was the attitude the makers seemed to take with life itself. In the comic books and the cartoons hardly anyone ever died. The main characters surely never did. In The Last Stand they kill everybody. Literally. After two movies (and countless hours of after-class cartoon watching) one gets rather attached to the characters. So when one beloved character, Jean Grey, evaporates another beloved character, professor Xavier, it kinda hits you in the stomach. And I do mean evaporate. You are not even given the solace of watching Wolverine cry over Prof. X's body. He's just gone. Later we find out that Jean Grey (in all-powerful-character-mode of the Phoenix) did the same with her husband cyclops.

But the producers were just getting warmed up. Wolverine dispatched a few bad guys in the second movie, but it was implied. We see him step through a doorway, claws out and later a flashlight roll out. In The Last Stand he charges into the evil mutant camp and displays his animal side to the extreme loss of about a dozen characters, as we watch. But then when the last stand actually happens, Jean Gray is back. In some extremely bad directing, the battle plays out like a video game, one wave after another of evil mutants attacks – each with more powerful mutants until finally Jean Grey comes into the fray herself. And she kills everybody. Literally. An entire regiment of U.S. Marines (a couple of hundred men) is evaporated (with a special effect that is getting really old by now). Another regiment of what looked like S.W.A.T. but might have been more Marines was also evaporated.

The grand finale was Jean allowing Wolverine to kill her because she cannot control herself. It is touching because of Wolverine's love for Jean. It is disgusting because they have degenerated a set of complicated, complex characters into a bunch of super-powered killing machines – exactly what the mutants of Xavier's school were supposed to be fighting against the whole time.

Contrast all this to Superman Returns. The super-power charged hero here spends his time saving lives. Yeah, its cheesy. It was the first time too, and you liked it then. But it makes a point: life has value.

Superman Returns explores several themes that make it interesting. They focus heavily on the idea that Superman was sent by a loving father to be a force of good and a savior for this world. Sound familiar? I doubt anybody was trying to make an overt Christian movie, they were simply looking for something that would add deeper meaning to the movie and would resonate with the audience. But I for one am glad to see something based on Christianity instead of Eastern Mysticism for a change.

Humanity's need for a savior is fleshed out by Lois Lane. While Superman has been gone she has tried to cope by writing a Pulitzer prize winning article on “Why the World Does Not Need Superman”. When her old beau returns, the defenses she has built around her heart falter. Of course, she is shown with a live-in finance, but that just serves to show how broken she was without her true love/savior around. And shows her need for that savior.

Another theme explored is the legacy fathers pass on to their sons and the importance of a father in a child's life. This was shown in the other films, but it is taken to a new level in this one. I'll leave that for you to see.

The film does leave you hanging on two accounts. Superman and Lois do not get together. Before this was always left as if it was a future possibility, but in this one it seems as if Superman resigns himself to a loss to the other guy, and it just feels weird. The second is right at the end. Lois is sitting in front of her computer trying to write a new article titled “Why the World Needs Superman”. She cannot come up with anything and eventually goes outside to smoke. I do not know if the directors wanted to show her in turmoil or if they wanted the viewer to fill in the blank but I wish they would have given the answer, the only answer to why a world needs a savior: because there is evil in it.

Technical

I'm gonna stuff some technical stuff down here outta the way.

We went to see Superman Returns on the IMAX where they are showing some of the scenes in the new, spiffy and much heralded, 3D technology. It ain't worth it. A feature film on the IMAX's big ol' screen was sweet, but the 3D stuff didn't look any better than what Disney's been putting out for 10 years now. Despite Popular Science's glowing review, there was bleed over from the two images. Also, most of the scenes still look like a bunch of flat cut outs stacked behind each other like a kindergarten play. If they are going to make whole movies out of this technology, the action/adventure crowd is going to have to rethink the way they make movies. Anything with fast movement was completely indiscernible. And if you wear eyeglasses – nothing's changed, they still treat us like the ugly stepchild.

A few things I noticed:

• If Superman was flying above the speed of sound a few feet above the water (when he returns to Metropolis from Lex's new landmass) there should have been a wake and a rooster-tail. I notice those kind of things.

• In comic-land “Metropolis” was always just some mythical city somewhere in the U.S. I found it interesting that (despite avoiding ever showing the skyline) A) Metropolis's circle was shown on a radar screen right on top of Manhattan island and B) that Metropolis has a big rectangular park right in the middle of it.

• Does his charge he gets form the sun relieve Superman of the need for sleep? Because, he never did.

• Superman's suit and cape looked a lot more like something built by alien technology this time. Looked pretty sweet to be honest.

• With a multi-hundred-million dollar budget, could they not get some red hair dye that looked natural for Famke Janssen to play Jean Grey?

• Gene Hackman leaves big shoes to fill. He might even leave threatening notes for anybody that tries and does so poorly. Kevin Spacey has no fear, he pulled of Lex Luthor to a tee. Kudos.