Mark Beall's Geek Beat: Brett Ratner, A Geeks' Referendum

The movie opens Wednesday here in Manila, Phils. It's about six hours away and, guess what, it's 2am here and I CAN'T FREAKIN' SLEEP waiting for it!

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This is a good idea, I'm in. I'm at work, so I can't sit around and think up geek credentials, but go to my site http://johnnytriangles.blogspot.com and check for the comic reviews. I'm a hardcore Marvel zombie.

You should consider recruiting from the blog http://goodcomics.blogspot.com, they have an army of knowledgeable smart Marvel zombies at their disposal too.

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I qualify because I am the first to comment and am a huge fan of the X-men world. My two biggest casting complaints without watching the movie yet are Halle Berry as Storm, should have begged Angela Bassett, and Michael Clark Duncan should have played Beast, he has the perfect voice and size. Lastly Juggernaut should have been played by HHH of WWE fame, he was in Blade and wasn't too bad, plus it's not like playing Juggernaut is going to require major acting skills for running through walls.

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Are you kidding?
This has got to be the most blatant con Cinematical has put forth yet to get people to go see a film not worth seeing.
How much did Ratner and the rest of the assholes responsible for this crap film pay Cinematical to con their readers?

And for conversation sake:
The catch with your idea is that you want people to actually pay to see this shit film. Considering how severely they fucked up the story on this one I will definitely not be seeing it.
I love Xmen and the first two were entertaining and were close enough to the source material to be worth watching more than once.
Considering what I know about this one with the death of Cyclops and Prof. X, Magneto losing his powers, Juggernaut and the Beast, as well as Prof. X supposedly being alive at the end of the credits, Ratner and the other asshats responsible were looking for nothing more than shock value in an attempt to appeal to ignorant masses unfamiliar with the source material.

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Lighten up, it's not like the first two are all that loyal to the source material either.

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Rest assured, Finished.Law.School, that no matter what you think of our personal tastes, they're quite assuredly just that -- we never accept any favors (or offers of homes abroad, fancy schwag, airfare to junkets, etc.) or payment for our posts, reviews and opinions. I'm afraid we're just telling you what we think.

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I feel I qualify for this task for the following reasons.

1. I am open to seeing the film and giving it an honest opinion. I am intelligent enough to give it a chance without letting feelings about canon story get in the way. All that mattered about the first two is that it felt like X-Men, same goes for the Spider-Man series.
2. I hated the Ultimate Universes, until I broke down and actually read them, like all true fans.
3. I download scans of rare/back issues of comics I own.
4. I waited all through my childhood for my mutant powers.
5. Singer sucks because he betrayed us for that looser with the lame costume.
6. I know that Wolverine didn’t start out an X-man, he started in the Hulk series.
7. I once had a 3 hour conversation over X-Men costume changes.
8. My four year old daughter can identify more X-Men characters than Sesame Street characters.

I am a life long Marvel / X-men fan and feel that I would be able to give the objective view of the movie that you seek, from a true believer.

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Well, I'm in. I've been reading comics for 17 years, and have yet to feel completely satisfied by any of the x-films. So far, the comic film genre has been all over the map, with major properties(i.e. spider-man, batman) struggling to include esoteric references to the mythology while still making the film accessible to the "public at large." The movie that's made me the happiest so far has been the first 2 acts of Batman Begins. I hate Chris Nolan, but he managed to maintain a level of respect for the material unseen in the Batman films(i'm not a fan of the Burton or Schuemacher movies), and get into the psychology of the character(something Ang Lee failed at miserably with The Hulk), all while spinning his own interpretaion of the mythos. The problem with so many comic movies is that their directors, who've usually made cult classics, or at least decent films, have their personal styles leeched out of their comic films, possibly at the behest of the studio, which defeats the whole purpose of having a wacky mind like Sam Raimi's interpret the source material in the first place. Sin City is a joke to me for that very reason.
Why did I need to see that in a theater? It wasn't Rodriguez's interpretation of the material, it was the equivalent of those old marvel cartoons in the 60s where Stan Lee narrated over a still panel.
Now, the lowest common denominator of accessible directors has gotten his hands around a franchise that was OK, but needed someone with some vision. I've always seen Ratner as the newest equivalent of John Badham. No personal style whatsoever that makes films the studios can consider safe when planning their fiscal year. When you don't take chances, you can't truly succeed. I want x-3 to not suck, and I'm keeping an open mind, but I'll be on here this weekend one way or the other.
As a follow up to note my geeky credentials: I can explain HYPERTIME!!! Ok, well...maybe I can't, but who can?

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Also, I can explain the irony of Green Arrow's ward being named Speedy. (cuz he's a junkie and all the kids know Heroin's a downer!)

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I feel that I qualify. I've been reading and collecting comics for over 20 years. I have been an X-men fan for most of that time, and the classic Byrne/Claremont comics were many of the first I eveer read. I am co-host for Around Comics - The Comic Book Podcast and webmaster for www.aroundcomics.com. I plan on seeing this film on Friday evening.

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I'm from Mexico and we had the premiere here before Cannes. I'm a fan of the first two films so I gave this the benefit of doubt. Boy, I was wrong. Even when Brett Ratner is an ok director and the original cast is back the movie fails in several aspects.

1.-Characters not fully developed
2.-Way too many storylines
3.-Therefore, weak script
4.-Stupid actress asking for stupid privileges. Yes, I'm talking about Halle Berry. It's really noticeable her influence on the studio, director and story.
5.-Really dumb sense of humor. (Some "jokes" are just not right for the film)
6.-One origin story leads nowhere, since the character has no real relevance in the movie.

Now, if you want specifics, here come the spoilers. You've been warned. Close your eyes now. Seriously. Or scroll really, really fast.


Ready?


*********************SPOILER ALERT*******************

1.-A centinel's head appears briefly at the begining
2.-Cyclops gets murdered by The Phoenix
3.-Despite being the new "nanny", Wolverine gets a rather hostile attitude from Xavier
4.-At her very rescue, Mystique loses her powers protecting Magneto, who turns his back on her.
5.-As I predicted based on the trailer, Xavier dies too. Phoenix turns him into a billión little pieces.
6.-Phoenix "joins forces" with Magneto, but she never really uses her power to help him or The Brotherhood in any way. In fact, from the moment she joins them she fades in the back...
7.-Rogue opts for the cure so she can touch Iceman without turning him into a turnip.
8.-The "war" is fought between 6 X-Men vs a hundred mutants plus Magneto, Phoenix and friends.
9.-Magneto loses his powers, so he turns "human"
10.-Phoenix displays her power to kill everyone
11.-Wolverine kills Phoenix, in a good fx scene
12.-Rogue take the "cure" and finally touches Bobby without killing him
13-Remember that chess scene Ian McKellen talked about about? It is in the film, the last scene in fact. Eric is playing chess alone in the park and, suddenly, one of the pieces moves by itself, meaning that the "cure" is not permanent.

*******************END OF SPOILERS********************





You can open your eyes now.
So, is it worthy of paying your ticket? Only if you are not a huge fan of the Marvel Universe. No, really, is too bad that Bryan Singer left the franchise. Brett Ratner should have stayed at Superman and Singer at X-Men. I think Superman will suck too.

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Ratner > Mark Steven Johnson ?

Discuss!

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I'd be interested in the gut reaction. I've been curious as to the Ratner/Singer change and while looking forward to the movie there is that lingering cloud of skepticism toward the adjustments of characters like Kitty Pride, The Morloks (or whatever they'll call them), and definitely Phoenix (How many comic books did the saga fill? And they want to wrap it in 2 hours) But what about at the end of the movie? Where does that leave the Universe? Is apocalypse going to enter the picture? Will that intersect with the introduction of Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four 2?? Any way... I'd be in

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I'm prepared to step up to bat, though I'm sure my opinion will vary from most others. The closets full of comic book boxes ought to testify to my geekdom and while I have been off most of the X books for the past year (i.e. before Wanda got PMS), I am back reading New X-Men and really enjoyed the run of X-23. However, I must confess a predisposition to shudder at the thought of the franchise kowtowing to Halle Berry.

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Credits: I could say I stuck with X-men comics through Claremont and beyond, until Wolvie's claws were shown to be bone, which all good readers of Weapon X already knew. Am back now, but only for Whedon. And Ultimate line, of course.
Or I could simply say, "Because, gaijin, you are not worthy."

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As long as they don't add Tom Selleck and Garfield the Cat, the way John Byrne did to that 1982 or 1983 X-Men Annual (in connection with Kitty Pryde and some kind of pointy-headed green alien shapeshifter I'm sure a more serious geek than me could ID by name.) Reading that parituclar ish was the first time I really felt: god, what am I doing, in my mid-20s, reading this kiddie comic book crapolarama. I still picked up an issue or two after that, but that was it for me and X-Men comics. (I'd even survived the Dazzler story arc--disco superheroes, top that for bad!) Fortunately, The Dark Knight Returns and The Watchmen made sure I didn't end my love affair with superhero comics on that particularly sour note.
Ratner may be lacking in humility, but his version of Red Dragon is every bit as good as the one by the weirdly overpraised Michael Mann. I'm looking forward to it...McKellen saved DaVinci, so surely he can save X3.

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My expectations for this film have been lowered so much since reading this column and seeing the spoilers that - well, I'm still going to see the film and write about it.

I have always loved Marvel's super teams, so I thought I'd present my top ten list as proof of my credentials:

1) Avengers
2) Defenders
3) Champions
4) Invaders
5) Squadron Supreme (classic)
6) Xmen
7) Xfactor
8) Xforce
9) Ultimates
10) Squadron Supreme (new)

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Proof of my geek status - Leech is green. Kitty and Colossus are a couple. Juggernaut is not a mutant.

My thoughts -

I loved it. This X-installment is the cloest to feeling like a comic book on screen. I loved all the winks to geeks like me - Drake bcomes a true Iceman, "oh my stars and garters," the fastball special, the danger room, etc.

I also enjoyed how Ratner made his version of the X-world his own. Characters die. Lives change. (Though, in true comicbook fashion, the door is open for resurrections).

I understand some of the gripes, such as lack of character development and short-shirft of the Phoenix storyline. With regard to the latter, remember that it was Bryan Singer who ended his X-tenure with an over-the-top tease of the Phoenix. Ratner couldn’t ignore the itch, but obviously had no interest in scratching it. It devoured some screen time, but was never the focus of the film.

Sir Ian McKellen is, as he should have been. He could not get enough screen time, as far as I'm concerned. As much as Wolverine got the love, the entire trilogy was about Magneto. He opened the series and, post-credits footage aside, he ended it.

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I have written X-Men fan fiction. Case Closed. See members.aol.com/supersoul/xmen.html. I liked X-Men 3. It should have been longer to flesh out the character interaction, but overall it was fine.

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