neurological dryer lint

let me start out by saying this. you want to make an action movie that's worth watching more than once, you include more than cool fight scenes and explosions and effects. the story has to be memorable, the characters interesting and worth caring about...

i enjoyed the first two x-men flicks because the balance was solid between story and action, and when bryan singer leaned on one side he went for the story, the characters, the real meat of the film. so when i heard brett ratner was doing the new one instead, i got visions of rush hour with patrick stewart and sir ian mckellan.

ratner stayed true to form in the last stand, and he went with action over story. not to say the story wasn't compelling - i've always found the issues brought up by the x-men series to be fascinating - you don't often get your brain churning about the ethics of segregation during action movies. but it was overshadowed fairly often by a cheap laugh or a terribly acted (and written) scene that just made you feel awkward.

there's plenty good about the movie, though - it takes risks with beloved characters and body counts, keeps you in suspense, interested, worried, etc... i tried hard to avoid being distracted by the glimmer of knowledge about the comic book storylines, and for once it worked. it was definitely one of the best casted films i've seen in some time - kelsey grammar was right on the edge of convincing as beast, although he needed much better lines... six feet under's ben foster as angel didn't quite work - he's a little too sniveling... vinnie jones as juggernaut was wonderful... mckellan and stewart's performances were flawless as usual...

but i missed bryan singer, no doubt. singer brings something to the table that ratner needs to pick up - subtlety. things were a little too flashy - singer doesn't need to smack you in the face with the movie. he doesn't need rebecca romijn naked or iceman taking kitty pryde ice-skating or an awful American president saying stupid melodramatic president lines... he uses the mood, the personality of the characters, the settings, etc. to communicate things.

so see it if you're a fan of the series. it doesn't really have the re-watchability of the first two, but it's a tolerable conclusion to the 'trilogy'.

i tell you what - i'm far more excited for singer's superman returns now.