![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
salineaI thought it was bad.
The first half was actually okay. Enough to raise up my hope so I could be disappointed by the second half, basically.
On the plus side:
Mystique, her importance to the plot and her journey was awesome.
I'm not sure why Tommy Shepherd was in the 70s nor why they called him Peter Maximoff but the was pretty okay (if overpowered)
Kitty Pryde's little presence are mostly used to good effect despite the fact they stole her story to give it to Logan and that tying it to her powers is hilarious nonsense instead of just going with "she made up some science for it". The future cast in general, especially Blink and Bishop had some cool bits of action despite basically no characterizations.
Wolverine does not actually steal too much screen and story time for himself. (Although what little there is - fan service excepted - is not particularly good).
The future sentinels were pretty cool and scary (the past ones less so but we barely saw them anyway).
On the minus side:
the big problem is Charles. Did I mention how much XMFC!Charles is one of my favorite version of the characters? He's so flawed and arrogant yet well meaning and enthusiastic and an actual good teacher. This was supposed to be Xavier's origin story, to be his movie and it completely fails at that. It doesn't start too badly off - Xavier is in a bad place emotionally which is reasonable and interesting. They do the stupid thing with power - walking trade off and it is extremely stupid and ableist BUT it's not why it's there. Xavier's using a kind of drug/medication in order to stop his power because he's not able to handle it anymore - which is interesting - and it happens to have a secondary effect to allow him to walk again (because THAT's likely) so keep the storyline without somehow having it make him walk again and you could have an actual interesting storyline in term of Xavier's journey and how he relates to his power. Then they mostly resolve this journey with a very awkward and stupid scene between Xavier and Wolverina and then Xavier and Xavier!prime and with the flattest, most empty thematics that have been in all X-Men franchise movies so far. YES ALL OF THEM. Somehow that sets Xavierr right for the rest of the movie and doing the right thing with Mystique and it sort of hangs up there with "hope is good!" and "killing people is bad (i know because i'm here with Logan who's a X-Men)" and doesn't even try in the least.
There's also Magneto's sudden yet inevitable betrayal which I was okay with up until after the chat with Raven mostly because 1/ it's remarkably stupid 2/ at this point it is trite 3/ when you're betraying people more often than Loki does and it's not supposed to be a big part of your characterizations it's a little bit of a problem and it really makes the good guys look like idiot. It's mostly in line with Magneto characterizations in all of Singer's movies and even more with X3 of course, but it is a disappointment after XMFC (flawed as that was).
By the final scene of course pretty much everyone is holding the idiot ball. Nobody really seems to have a set of priorities that make any sort of sense.
The way they got rid of most the XMFC cast (which means all of the surviving PoCs of XMFC of course) is pretty unsavory as well (although it still propels Mystique's story in a neat way). (Also apparently Storm doesn't have the right to a first name).
And the least likely X-character to find themselves in a movie by popular fan demand prize is handed to Ink. You know, that guy from Young X-Men? Yeah, after Azazel and him I think there's someone at Fox doing it on purpose because they get sick of everyone demanding for their favourite characters to be shown on screen.
The first half was actually okay. Enough to raise up my hope so I could be disappointed by the second half, basically.
On the plus side:
Mystique, her importance to the plot and her journey was awesome.
I'm not sure why Tommy Shepherd was in the 70s nor why they called him Peter Maximoff but the was pretty okay (if overpowered)
Kitty Pryde's little presence are mostly used to good effect despite the fact they stole her story to give it to Logan and that tying it to her powers is hilarious nonsense instead of just going with "she made up some science for it". The future cast in general, especially Blink and Bishop had some cool bits of action despite basically no characterizations.
Wolverine does not actually steal too much screen and story time for himself. (Although what little there is - fan service excepted - is not particularly good).
The future sentinels were pretty cool and scary (the past ones less so but we barely saw them anyway).
On the minus side:
the big problem is Charles. Did I mention how much XMFC!Charles is one of my favorite version of the characters? He's so flawed and arrogant yet well meaning and enthusiastic and an actual good teacher. This was supposed to be Xavier's origin story, to be his movie and it completely fails at that. It doesn't start too badly off - Xavier is in a bad place emotionally which is reasonable and interesting. They do the stupid thing with power - walking trade off and it is extremely stupid and ableist BUT it's not why it's there. Xavier's using a kind of drug/medication in order to stop his power because he's not able to handle it anymore - which is interesting - and it happens to have a secondary effect to allow him to walk again (because THAT's likely) so keep the storyline without somehow having it make him walk again and you could have an actual interesting storyline in term of Xavier's journey and how he relates to his power. Then they mostly resolve this journey with a very awkward and stupid scene between Xavier and Wolverina and then Xavier and Xavier!prime and with the flattest, most empty thematics that have been in all X-Men franchise movies so far. YES ALL OF THEM. Somehow that sets Xavierr right for the rest of the movie and doing the right thing with Mystique and it sort of hangs up there with "hope is good!" and "killing people is bad (i know because i'm here with Logan who's a X-Men)" and doesn't even try in the least.
There's also Magneto's sudden yet inevitable betrayal which I was okay with up until after the chat with Raven mostly because 1/ it's remarkably stupid 2/ at this point it is trite 3/ when you're betraying people more often than Loki does and it's not supposed to be a big part of your characterizations it's a little bit of a problem and it really makes the good guys look like idiot. It's mostly in line with Magneto characterizations in all of Singer's movies and even more with X3 of course, but it is a disappointment after XMFC (flawed as that was).
By the final scene of course pretty much everyone is holding the idiot ball. Nobody really seems to have a set of priorities that make any sort of sense.
The way they got rid of most the XMFC cast (which means all of the surviving PoCs of XMFC of course) is pretty unsavory as well (although it still propels Mystique's story in a neat way). (Also apparently Storm doesn't have the right to a first name).
And the least likely X-character to find themselves in a movie by popular fan demand prize is handed to Ink. You know, that guy from Young X-Men? Yeah, after Azazel and him I think there's someone at Fox doing it on purpose because they get sick of everyone demanding for their favourite characters to be shown on screen.
no subject
Date: 27 May 2014 03:14 am (UTC)I did like that Charles learned enough to let Raven make her own choice rather than controlling her as was his instinct (and what Hank told him to do). Unlike the first scene, he did actually explain to her WHY it would be bad, rather than just running in and getting her tasered.
I also have a fanwank for the telepathy/walking issue (though I am very aware it is a fanwank not what was on screen)! Charles had incomplete paraplegia, hence the pain due to nerve damage, but Hank's formula based on Raven's genes gave him the ability to temporarily remold the spinal column, just as Hank's appearance and hair changed while he used the serum. But because Raven is not a telepath, the remodelling includes cells need to do that, so he can't use his telepathy while the serum is active.
no subject
Date: 27 May 2014 03:26 am (UTC)I like most stuff related to Raven. I didn't like... how Charles got to this point I guess? I didn't really believe in his journey as a character.
Ooooh that's a pretty good fanwank.
no subject
Date: 19 June 2014 12:58 am (UTC)... omg. omg. i hate u for bringing my attention to this. i sort of stopped paying attn to charles' journey the moment erik shot raven, idk why, i just shifted focus.
damn, i'm going to hate it on rewatch.
eta: awn, man. the more i think about it, the more i think this could have been so easily avoided. like, they could have resolved the journey issue talking things through and working more closely with erik. for all the logan plays matchmaker jokes, charles and erik didn't really spend much time together. if they had, maybe charles' big breakthrough could come from realizing that he was needed to offer balance.