comment #1

Daniel Zelter says ...

Da Vinci's too boring for people to sit through it twice.

comment #2

Sad X-Fan says ...

Fox better hope this X flick makes hand over fist style money this weekend, because it will not last the summer. Fans hate this thing. I watched it last night with four other friends, all X2 admirers, and we were all pissed. Extremely pissed. What started off as seemingly passable entertainment just kept getting worse and worse and worse. By the time it's horrendous spectacle of a conclusion came to a merciful end , we were all obviously begging for the credits to roll. The Joe Average crowd probably won't have that much of a beef against it. It's loud and busy and never stops for a second to breathe. But anyone who actually respected what's come before this is going to be ticked off in a big way. After this weekend, word of mouth will get around, the audience will evaporate and Fox will be left with a franchise no one will care to return to.

comment #3

Daniel Zelter says ...

I don't really see how it's any different from Singer's style, other than the token black character having more lines.

comment #4

Sad X-Fan says ...

I guess the completely arbitrary nature of every plot thread and character escaped you? A silly comic book franchise or not, Singer gave his characters traits and personalities. He obviously cared about how the movie played and how the characters related to one another. "X3" looks like the same style on the surface, but all of its characters have become hollow crapshoots. The story plays out for no reason other than the sake of a resolution, no matter how poorly developed said resolution may be. It's a sloppy mop up job that tosses away characters both new and old. It touches upon storylines with potential but fails to deliver their potential because it's too busy trying to cram in other poorly developed storylines. All in all it's big budgeted and half assed. But I guess if you didn't think much of Singer's second film anyway, then maybe these differences don't matter to you. I'm not a comic book nerd, but I can tell a film with craft from a crap film any day of the week. X2 was a film with craft. X3 is crap.

comment #5

Daniel Zelter says ...

" A silly comic book franchise or not, Singer gave his characters traits and personalities."

Not exactly. A person who saw the first film called it, "The Wolverine Show", and I agree. Most of the players in the first two installments get cameos at best. Here, they actually have meatier parts.

"The story plays out for no reason other than the sake of a resolution,"

Singer speculated that this would only be a trilogy, so I'm assuming that was his goal as well.

"no matter how poorly developed said resolution may be."

Please. The previous films were open-ended, too.

"It's a sloppy mop up job that tosses away characters both new and old."

I guess you haven't read the comics of the series published during the 90's.

"It touches upon storylines with potential but fails to deliver their potential because it's too busy trying to cram in other poorly developed storylines."

The side-stories are interrelated to the main story. They help you understand how the individual characters are affected by the changes since the last film.

comment #6

Sad X-Fan says ...

Tell you what, I withdraw from the debate. You win. We should all go forth and praise "X-Men: The Last Stand." From here on out I will rank it amongst the best of films that come third in a series of movies. That list includes such classics like "Lethal Weapon 3", "Terminator 3" "Jaws 3-D", "Jurassic Park III", "Batman Forever", "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III", "Star Trek III", "Highlander III", "D3: The Mighty Ducks",, "Mimic 3", "The Bad News Bears Go To Japan", "Beverly Hills Cop III", "Blade: Trinity", "Naked Gun 33 1/3", "Candyman 3", "Poltergeist 3", "Problem Child 3", "Crocidile Dundee in Los Angeles", "Scream 3", "Free Willy 3", "Porky's Revenge", "Final Destination 3", "Robo Cop 3", "Species 3", "From Dusk Till Dawn 3", "Spy Kids 3-D", "Major League: Back to the Minors", and the greatest third film ever, "Superman III: The Quest for Richard Pryor." Part three's truly kick ass!

comment #7

Daniel Zelter says ...

I've actually heard T3's pretty good. And Star Trek doesn't count, because the odd-numbered films suck anyway. Also, Naked Gun 33 1/3 was fine. It was Spy Hard which sucked. Anyway, my favorite three-quel is a toss-up between Back to the Future 3 and Army of Darkness.

comment #8

Daniel Zelter says ...

Oh and Indy 3.

comment #9

Steve C. says ...

Apparently, Variety is dead wrong - looks like it will hit near $86M by Saturday alone. But I loved all the last minute repositioning pundits made just before the film opened.

Not that the film is good. Not bad either. It just never builds any momentum.