The Ex X-Men(3)

I watched the movie last night (actually, the last full show) and, quite frankly I was both surprised and disappointed. Let me give you a list of my thoughts about the movie (and spoilers ahead for those who haven't seen the movie):

• A major X-Men character suddenly dies (or suddenly was wiped out from the rest of the film with no absolute explanation on how he perished). Wolverine questioned Jean about what happened to Cyclops (or where his corpse his) and that questioned was never explicably answered. You just find him supposedly dead under an area of green grass and a tombstone.(except


• Not only has Cyclops (a major and defining character of the X-Men) perished, but also Prof. Xavier under the hands (or mind) of Jean Grey. I appreciate the darker mood of which the film's plot has suddenly went to, but I feel killing of two major X-Men does not make a good plot twist to introduce and develop other characters into the story.


• Speaking of other characters, the film has falsely advertisements to begin with. If you would look closely in banners and posters, Angel (or better known to many as Archangel), is shown along with Storm, Wolverine, Magneto, Jean Grey, Beast and Prof Xavier. Eventually you've expect his character (along with blue furball Beast) to be centered at by the film or at least given much emphasis since he is a new character just like the way Nightcrawler was introduced in X-Men 2. But this did not happened. His character was used more like very thin icing on a sponge cake full of air. You only see Angel in the beginning of the film as a child frightened about his mutant transformation (into a birdman). You next see his character almost in the middle of the film as a grown man accepting his mutation and abruptly flew away into freedom, literally. Three fourths into the film, you next see him poking his head into the Xavier mansion seeking refuge. And lastly, you see him again for about two to three minutes rescuing his dad from death and flying away (again!). And ok, you see the last of his character at the end of the film as a free flying creature. Frankly, Angel's character was left very undeveloped, uninteresting and totally flat. You let other non-following X-Men moviegoers in the dark about who and what Angel can really do as a mutant. He even barely talked enough in the film. But no, Angel or Warren is just a flying bird man with stereotypical blond hair to depict what else but an angel. At least Beast had more screen and talk time (though his mutant battle skills near the end of the film was not as dramtically and strongly protrayed as Nightcrawler in the previous film).


• It's a good thing that other X-Men characters are introduced into the lineup, and yet many of them suffered the same fate as Angel's flat characterization. Piotr or Collosus, that metal mutant guy, was only known appreciated in the film through battles. Rouge's character was also underutilized, if not, shown too briefly at the beginning, middle, and end of the film with no defining moments in a real-time mutant battle. Such a waste of talent here. At least Kitty Pride was given more screen time and battle scenes (and she isn't even one of the major characters displayed in banners and posters!).


• Many well-known mutant characters were changed drastically in the film, of which I either chuckled at or groaned to utter disbelief. Take for example Jaime Madrox, aka Multiple Man. He's one of the good guys (X-Factor, offshoot of the X-Men) but in this film he's recruited to the side of Magneto. His character was also underutilized.


• The Dark Phoenix storyline could have been the defining plot of the film but instead ended up as a mishmash of killings reminiscent of the bloody rampage done by Carrie.

Hope this is not the last film of the X-Men series of movies. This last film is far too weak against the previous movies.