A Note On Mutants

Saw X-Men 3 on Saturday. This was actually a pretty good film, although it doesn't compare to X-Men 2, which was really really, really well-done. The film feels rushed, which is too bad because it has some very good moments in it.

My pal Joe tells me that Fox rushed production to beat Superman Returns out of the gate this summer, and if true it shows in the film's scripts. It's not that any particular action sequence feels like they've skimped or anything, but there's just not enough movie. X-Men and X-Men 2 were both long. In fact, comic book movies as a rule are long (the original Spiderman was way too long, in fact). And I felt the shortness of the film, like they clipped scenes from the script.

But the film certainly has its relevance today, and like blockbuster V for Vendetta, it makes a big budget argument about gay rights although in this film it's through the guise of mutants. That analogy is not the only one in the film, as it attacks the question of normality, who defines it, and who wants it. Like V for Vendetta, like the original 2 X-Men films, this one has ideas it really wants to talk about. But it's a shame it has to rush through them.