Amph X-Men: Days of Future Past (First Class sequel)

Wocky's reaction will be: Blah blah emo Spidey, blah blah bad haircut.

In spite of the fellow's appearance in the excellent film "Never Let Me Go" I admit to not being incredibly taken with his role in New Spiderman. I'm on record saying I don't appreciate the new changes to his appearance and mannerisms, and those objections honestly haven't changed. Ultimately, though, that's not a huge deal. I did appreciate what the film did with Uncle Ben and Aunt May. As much as I love Raimi's incarnation, seeing them engaged in the dirty work of parenting was a refreshing contrast to their Olympian remove in this franchise's last iteration. The new fighting style also worked somewhat better than I had initially envisioned.

The film's real problems are elsewhere. First, the Lizard. When seeking out his superior, why does the guy go on a violent rampage? We can default to the Jekyll/Hyde logic that every transformation to a non-human creature is violent in American story-telling unless stated otherwise, but they might have at least given some nod to explaining it. Further, where did the bizarre Darwinist skewed philosophy come from, and how does it square with an apparently altruistic impulse to share his "gifts" with others? Other times, the situation just felt contrived. The attack on Peter's school stands out. Even if Spiderman is the only person that could stop him, Parker didn't exactly look to be hot on his trail. Wouldn't he have been better served to just finish his work and then trying to launch his attack before Spiderman could find out and launch interference? Most all issues around the villain were under-explained, but just as importantly they did not resonate. What about Connors theories challenged or paralleled Peter's own journey? It was consequently a much less interesting struggle for him than Goblin's challenge to his understanding about the meaning of power, or Dr. Octopus's relentless pursuit of personal goals as Peter considered whether he had pitched too far in the other direction and given up on happiness.

I thought the other problem was in Peter's own journey towards heroics. It never seemed quite clear to me. The moment with the child was very good, and a definite high point that could proudly count itself beside several from the Raimi originals. But how did it work with the broader narrative? Initially, what he is doing is explicitly not heroic, but a matter of personal vengeance. With the Lizard, too, he still has significant personal incentives for putting so much effort into the situation. Where, then, did he embrace the larger meaning of being a hero? I never saw where he seemed to accept his father's credo about responsibility as quite being his own. He was equally flippant in his private life. He starts flirting with Gwen again after only a weekend. The dirt atop her father's grave had literally not even settled yet before he disregarded his wishes. More troubling, he never seemed to make any consideration about the Commissioner's point: your loved ones are endangered by your choice of work. We even saw Tony Stark make some nod to this in Iron Man before deciding it was not important, but in this case it never seemed to register at all.

Ultimately, I think this was something of an unfair fight. This movie would inevitably be compared to two of the best superhero movies produced in the modern era. It almost had to suffer as a result. Even were that not the case, it was troubled by a number of significant flaws. It was a passable movie, but can't really be numbered among the best superhero films.

I thought this was the X-Men thread, not the Spidey one.

Agreed. Also I've come to realize that Dunst is TERRIBLE as Mary Jane Watson (though maybe she's doing a good job playing the completely alien character the script called for?). Molina is great, but the way they portray Doc Ock does bug me.

AHHHH XMEN

It's great that they got Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan back. I kind of hope they actually have some meaty roles in the movie, rather than being more akin to Hugh Jackman's cameo in First Class (which was great might I add).

Dunst was awful. At no point did I buy that she was a) charming b) attractive c) an actress (lol). And I still take issue with MJ being a a Gwen/MJ hybrid girl-next-door type rather than a Supermodel-to-be. An even poorer decision since they would later introduce Gwen anyways...as a model...wha?!

It sounds like they are close with Jackman. I was hoping that they would go with the original comic storyline and it would be Kitty Pryde who would make a return from the future, but it doesn't appear so (yet).

Oh god I hope not. Unless you include the whole son of Summers angle or father of Hope (neither of whom I presume will be in the film), I find Cable to be incredibly dull...nothing but a remnant from the BIG GUNS/BIG PECKS era of comics I loathe so much.

He'd be interesting if he were played by Gary Busey.

I enjoy him in-so-far as he is involved with Hope's story...but only because I like Hope's story.

Cable and Deadpool was awesome. I'm really hoping next month's return to X-force doesn't suck.

How do you bridge the gap between the two casts? Wolverine and Kitty were not in First Class except for the Wolverine cameo.

Fixed.

Man I love that they're getting Stewart and McKellen back. Hopefully they're not lame cameos like that bloated CGI monstrosity in Origins.

Last time I checked, didn't his involvement in Hope's story make him, erm. . . impossible to enjoy any longer?

You need to check again.

What, already?

. . .

Then what was the point?

Perhaps its not what you think it was...

Okay, okay. Enough teasing. Tell me now, is it worth it? Your next breath may trigger a stampede.