Did anyone else find the “youth-anized” Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan kind of unsettling?
Signing in here. Loved the first two X-movies, as well as the Spider-Man films. I’ve missed most of the other superhero movies in the last decade out of apathy, though I was moderately entertained by The Hulk (though I understand why a lot of folks didn’t like it).
X3, however, was a solid miss for me. The movie had nothing aside from the obligatory splashy special effects and big fight scenes. Characterization was practically nil, subtlety was non-existent, and everything was delivered with the subtlety of a sledegehammer. Which is fine if you want a mindless summer popcorn movie, but after the first two, this one was a disappointment. I was also irritated by how characters were asted (either killed off wily-nilly, or just introduced and then ignored), as well as the predictability of the plot (who didn’t see the Angel’s last-second rescue coming?).
They could have easily made two movies out of this – the mutant cure and the Phoenix resurrection – but throwing them together made the movie too crowded and rushed as a result. X3 is what you’d get if George Lucas were to do an X-movie. I’m sure Fox will do another movie, but after this one, I’m definitely going to wait until after opening weekend and see the level of suckitude before dropping my money.
For comics geeks: I caught the Stan Lee cameo, but apparently Chris Claremont and John Byrne also had cameos in the opener as well. I also totally missed the references to Jubille and Psylocke, which IMO says something about how lame the movie’s direction was.
Well I liked it.
I was surprised to see Psylocke mentioned in the credits, as I didn’t notice her at all.
Who was the girl student doing the magical notetaking during Xavier’s lecture?
Yah, “Phoenix” was poorly done.
They should have somehow found a way to work in the fact that Kitty has a genius-level intellect, and is brilliant with computers. Her official history had her taking college courses when she was 13-1/2 years old. In the comics she has been involved with older men.
I’d swear that was Helen Hunt sitting next to Hank McCoy at Xavier’s funeral.
Actually, I thought “They make such a cute couple.”
Phase, I think some of the students at Xavier’s school do take college level courses. I think there was a mention in one of the movies about a college level Physics course they were taking…
Good lord, I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who thought that! 
Egg-zactly.
Not exactly standard; I’ve only heard it in recent years.
Well egg-scuze me.
Well I’ve run out of time to read all the posts so forgive me if I reiterate something already said.
IMHO this movie gets a 7 out of 10. It is good fun, the FX are worth seeing on the big screen and they get more things right than they do wrong. My major gripe with X3 is that they took two huge storylines and combined them into one film. Which had the end effect of not doing either one particularly well. Both the “Dark Phoenix Saga” and the “Mutant Wars” could have held the fim on their own. Put together the filmakers never fully flesh out either story to my satisfaction.
Wolverine is done well. Magneto, Jugernaut and Kitty Pride are done well. Most every other character left me wanting more.
I hope they do an X4 - the ending (especially the quick scene after the credits) leaves that possibility open. It seems almost certain we’ll get a Wolverine movie - at least Hugh Jackman has said as much. I think it would be awesome to put together a “Secret Wars” movie and have all the Marvel movie creations come together - X-Men, Spiderman, The Hulk, Fan 4…maybe even Daredevil. Aren’t there plans for a “Iron Man” film too?
Oh and when I saw X3 we got a preview for “Ghostrider” that looked freakin’ incredible!!
Probably wouldn’t happen because of the licensing issues involved. At least that was the concensus (sort of) in a thread I started a while back on how much (if any) the different Marvel movie universes overlap.
In the book adaptation (I read it then saw the movie) she is just referred to as “Weezie” and that seems to be her only power.
Get the book, Chris Claremont wrote it off the screenplay and it does more character developement and background. And from reading it and then seeing the movie there have just got to be scenes they filmed then cut for length or some other reason. Hopefully the DVD release will have the cut scenes on it.
Oh, and as far as Magneto maybe getting his powers back, it is a mutation so maybe his is just enough different from what the “cure” was designed for that it just suppressed his temporarily. After all the kid only suppressed mutations while people were in range.
In the book rogue didn’t take the cure. She went to the clinic that Pyro attacked, wasn’t able to get it there then changed her mind. So I think she probably didn’t take it in the movie because that would be a major story line difference from the movie to the book adaptation.
I’m not sure how you’re defining “recent,” but when I was a freshman in college – way back in '89 
– there was a dorm called Xavier Hall and I distinctly remember that the students pronounced it both ways. Also, the founder of our college was Frances Xavier Cabrini (hence the dorm name), and whenever her name was mentioned I also heard “Xavier” pronounced both ways. I hadn’t needed to say that name until I went to that school, and the “official” pronuciation was “zavier,” so that’s how I learned to pronounce it. But many people – students, faculty, and staff alike – said “eggzavier” the whole four years I was there.
Perhaps because of my college years, I’ve always thought of “zavier” as the primary pronunciation and “eggzavier” as an acceptable alternative. One pronunciation I definitely dislike is “ex-zavier.”
Stupid question: How did Professor X get put into the wheelchair originally? I used to know, but I forgot.
An alien named Lucifer dropped a rock on his legs as revenge for foiling his invasion plan.
Really.
Seventy in LA? I think they consider that on the coldish side.
Hey, I just figured out how to solve world hunger!
Can I presume this comatose mutant is Juggernaut’s brother?
There’s no indication the comatose man is a mutant, and there’s nothing textual indicating any relationship between him and Juggernaut.
Well, they could be leveraging several things - wasn’t Cain Marko (Juggernaut) originally Xavier’s brother or half-brother or step-brother or something?
Then again, IIRC, he wasn’t a mutant - he got his powers from…something magical? And the helmet was just to protect against telepathy?
Is that right?
-Joe
Yep, that’s right. Step-brother, Gem of Cyttorak, telepathy-reducing helmet since it’s pretty much the only thing that can stop him.