Corte Madera Chronicles

A group blog; a place to share photos, thoughts, stupid shit we find on the internet, whatever. Hopefully we'll get at least one post per day from someone, and not so many posts that it's too overwhelming. Have fun!

Friday, May 26, 2006

X-Men 3

Spoilers in the comments.

1 Comments:

At 11:15 PM, Blogger Lorrimer said...

OK, it's not that I loved the first two. They were fine -- better than I expected, not as good as I secretly hoped. But this one makes those two look like works of genius.

I'm appalled.

It's not just the atrocious dialogue; every line a cliché. It's not just the poor plotting (Why didn't bald kid just go up to Jean Grey at the end so Wolverine wouldn't have to kill her? What was the reason for the big fight at the end anyway? Why did Magneto need to move the Golden Gate Bridge at all?). It's not just that Wolverine has become a total pussy. It's not the shitty acting, poor directing, or any of that.

I'm actually offended by the message of this movie. The goodguys took Magneto's powers away against his will. The entire underlying theme of the X-Men narrative has been completely betrayed. The whole point of science fiction and fantasy storytelling is to use fantastical elements to explore issues that relate back to the real world in some way -- the fantastical elements allow a new and different perspective on real issues. The X-Men story, especially as told in the first two movies, is about people being treated as outsiders, and uses superpowers to raise the stakes in a way that brings out the underlying political issues. The first two movies set up an interesting balance between the need for security and the need for freedom. Magneto represented one side, the human governments represented the opposite side, and Xavier and the X-Men were caught in the middle, trying to find a better answer. By taking Magneto's powers against his will, the X-Men willfully join the human government's side, choosing security over freedom -- with no qualms, no regrets, and no acknowledged significance.

That's what takes it beyond being merely a shitty movie. It's a fucking travesty.

 

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