Grey Stoked

One thing that made viewing X-Men 3 a little difficult a few hours ago was the occasional out-of-focus screen image. John and I noticed that at certain parts, the blacks of the images aren’t totally dark like they’re supposed to be; maybe it’s only about 85 % black, I’m guessing, and details like letters and small faces looked blurred. I texted the publicist about it and she replied that she’d tell the guy handling the projector. I hope the other theaters don’t encounter this problem. Maybe it's exclusive to that screening, but I dunno for sure. (Update: Yup, it's exclusive to that screening.)

The movie was quite good, except perhaps for the part where some of the X-Men react to a person’s death. The drama could’ve been more affecting, but the power of that scene was diminished when Storm and Wolverine appeared way too restrained when responding to that specific tragedy. There were clunky parts during other slow, quiet moments, when the camera would just stay still overlong. But the story is jampacked with memorable goodies for the fans, and it took brave steps by implementing changes that have yet to be done in the comics. I spoke with the movie’s co-screenwriter, Simon Kinberg, last year, and he promised that this third X-film would be epic in scope.

Well, it’s big, indeedy. Let’s just say that while the sprawling plot is a mash-up of Joss Whedon’s “Cure” arc, Claremont and Byrne’s “Dark Phoenix Saga”, and a bit of Grant Morrison’s “Planet X”, the resultant story is streamlined and easily comprehensible. I wish the fight scenes were longer, though, because several new mutant characters were barely shown doing anything.

It’s good that Storm and Jean Grey finally became major players in the movie. I really liked Jean’s transformation, her expected betrayal, her all-red look, and how she toyed, albeit briefly, with her would-be manipulator Magneto. The Rogue-Iceman-Kitty triangle, inspired by an Ultimate X-Men subplot, showed promise but was too short. There were fun action scenes and lines with Beast (“Oh my stars and garters!”), Colossus, Madrox and an amped-up Callisto (she’s hyperfast, and has Caliban’s mutant-detecting power).

There are things, though, that should’ve been written in, like a quick mention of Nightcrawler's absence, or an elaboration on Storm’s history. At least Kitty got a little backstory in even with just a few sentences. We also should’ve seen Madrox fight the X-Men, Colossus slugging it out with Juggernaut, and Rogue and Angel contributing actively in the big battle. The mutant revolt scenes should’ve been extended. Oh, and ugh, Stan Lee’s cameo appearance was distracting. Chris Claremont’s was okay, though, because he’s not as recognizable as The Man.

Will watch another invitational preview of this again with Benedict, because it’s free and I’m a cheapskate. I think I watched the first movie about thrice in the moviehouse, and X2 twice, back when movie tickets were considerably cheaper. By the way, wait for the end credits to finish because there’s a quick, important scene after that. A lot of people stayed to wait for it, and some even clapped after seeing it because, well, it was kinda X-citing.