Friday, May 26, 2006

"X-Men: The Last Stand": The Triumph of the Femme Fatale?

I'm taking my 10-year old son to see the new "X-Men' flick tonight. I was never a comic buff as a kid, so the franchise was basically new to me when the first "X-Men" came out a few years back. Apparenty, according to this Los Angeles Time movie review, the most intriguing aspect of the new film is the dynamic theme surrounding the "terrifying trio of angry, undomesticated women who all but run away with the movie":

Rogue is as moody and tortured as ever, still trying to figure out a way to have a relationship with nonthreatening Bobby/Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) without killing him (her dewy skin has the unfortunate power to leech the life force from anybody it touches), helplessly watching as Bobby gets closer to the fetching young Kitty. Jean has gone flat-out bonkers, a premenstrual demon with an ax to grind. And the mesmerizing, slithery Mystique (Rebecca Romijn), Magneto's shape-shifting sidekick, learns a hard lesson in shifting political allegiances. With this trio, "X3" enters new-ish territory, diving headfirst into the mythos of the femme fatale. Together, they're the Furies for the Hollywood age.
Interesting as this is, and as attractive as the franchise's women are (especially Famke Janssen, whose character is resurrected in "X-3"), my favorite character is Hugh Jackman's "Wolverine." He's gruff, tough, sarcastic -- what a guy!

2 comments:

New York City's Watchdog said...

I had numerous problems with X-3. First... Scott Summers gets killed within the first 10 minutes of the movie. His death was barely touched upon. Second... Jean Grey never truly evolved into the Phoenix... she was actually Dark phoenix in the movie and that was accompanied with a burning aura. Beast was good... Angel was good but his screen time was so minimal it's almost as if he didn't matter... and he was one of the originals. Also the fact that they have this "cure" child... and then in the end there is NO resolution to what happens to him... and the final bit at the end after the credits was a nice tease... so they need to come through with another one.

I'm a fan of the comic... and while I can understand budget constraints and so on... why couldn't they just say Nightcrawler was in the circus again or something rather than leaving the ? mark there. This definately was not Bryan Singer... and it showed.

AmPowerBlog said...

Hey NYC Watchdog:

I concur with your assessment. If I was James Marsden, I'd be mad. Maybe he'll be resurrected in the X-4. I liked Beast (and as a political scientist got a kick out the idea of a "Secretary of Mutant Affairs"); and Angel, and especially that wingspan, was awewome. Basically, though, my thinking after seeing the movie was that I didn't actually agree with Carina Chocano's review I posted. Actually, Hugh Jackman has a very strong, and continuing, presence in the film, which is my main disagreement. Rogue doesn't seem to belong, true, other than to provide some opening for Iceman to move on. For the most part I just love watching all the various mutant powers these character have. In any case, thanks for the comments.