Sunday, May 28, 2006

X-Men III The Last Stand

Went to see the new X-Men movie yesterday, and I have to say I was quite pleased. Some of the stuff was a little over the top in the way it was done, but I would say that was more due to the different director and his approach to things. I could see that the whole story was what Bryan Singer might have wanted because it captured the tone of the previous two movies. But from the beginning, even the opening credits, the restraint demonstrated by Mr. Singer was missing. But that aside, this movie was definitely very enjoyable.

The basic premise is that someone has come up with a "cure" for the mutant gene. Some would force the mutant population to take this cure; others don't see that being a mutant is anything to be "fixed", as it's a part of their identity. As with most things, there's potentially at least a third side to the debate that's somewhere in the middle. Perhaps those with mutant powers that are a danger to others and themselves might want a chance to live in normalcy.

What is the value of a human life? When does any person become acceptable? Should a child with some kind of defect be excluded from even the chance of life? Yet, this is exactly where we're going as a society. We now routinely prescribe abortion in any case where a child might have Down's Syndrome. Other diseases and syndromes are being targeted. Brave New World and Gattaca are getting closer and closer to reality every day. In our pursuit of perfection, are we losing all sense of our humanity?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought the movie was OK, but it lacked the character development that the earlier ones did. There was too much action for its own good, I think.

That's one reason I always liked X-Men, though, was because it posed those big questions. I could care less if Mary Jane or Lois Lane dies, but if the team has to save the world or the mutants, I'm there.

Unknown said...

And that's really the big difference between the directors. Bryan Singer would not have had that much emphasis on the action (though I expect the story called for more).

OTOH, I'm REALLY looking forward to Superman Returns now, especially after seeing the third trailer, which is the first to really *show* anything. Bryan Singer rocks hard.