X-men. I like it. But as of late, I’m wanting to tell Hollywood GTFO of it.
For the past three weeks (probably more, to be honest) I’ve been hearing “so and so has been casted as character xyz in the new X-men prequel (X-men: First Class)!” Like we’re all supposed to drop our jaws and applaud every time the casting managers do their job.
I don’t have anything against the casting managers or the actors. I’m sure they’re nice people just trying to make a living. But really, I feel like I need to be there telling them what’s what, and I don’t even know everything there is to know about everything. What I do know: a fair amount about the comic’s origin.
The movies X-men and X2 were, for probably a couple years, my absolute favorites. Bryan Singer quickly became my favorite director. I saw these films for the first time late 2005, mere months before…the atrocity….came out. My mother repeatedly told me the films would be right up my alley, but when I was a wee teenager, it was cool to not listen to your mother’s suggestions (as I did with this series and Lord of the Rings, both of which became favorites of mine).
…and here’s where this story turns to tragedy.
Looking back on it, I don’t know why I loved Cyclops and Jean Grey as much as I did, except that maybe I sympathized with him for being, in a way, blind, because I’ve had glasses since I was a kid. Maybe because he was built up as the good-guy boy scout who could never do wrong. Maybe I just liked them because they’re likeable folk. Whatever the reason, once X2 ended, I was dying for more. I read the Phoenix Saga and poured over X-men comics, reading every last detail and knowing in my head that the next X-men film would be the absolute BEST thing because it was going to cover the life and trials of Cyclops and Jean Grey.
The Last Stand sure as shit proved me wrong. Since it’s release, I’ve learned that getting excited for a seemingly good movie is often a bad idea.
I can’t even talk about X3 without getting angry and falling into a literal hour-long rant. I will spare you the pain and save that discussion for another day. I blame the change of director, and I really believe that Bryan Singer is the only person capable of tackling the universe. I wrote my college entrance essay on Singer and how I aspired to be a director like him.
So going back, it’s like the media is trying to force me to be excited about First Class. “WE GOT SO AND SO AND ITS GONNA BE GREAAAAT!” No. Please. Besides, there’s no guarantee that even if all of my favorite actors were signed on for the new X-men that it would turn out to be a good movie. Half the time Marvel doesn’t even have their shit together and their fantastic leading men fail horribly. Over and/or pre-hyping this thing to me says that the studio’s reaching.
I’m just so leery of this movie since Singer was forced out because of scheduling conflicts. The fact he’s producing is a good sign, but it just broke my heart when I heard the news of the director shift. At least if Singer was still helming the whole thing and it turned out to be crap I could blame myself for being too excited. Now I can point fingers at the new directors and the new writers who threw out Singer’s script…ahhh…. And I didn’t even like Kick-Ass and that’s the director they pick? That movie was completely devoid of the comic book spirit. Can’t they just let me direct the thing? They don’t even have to pay me. I just want it done right.
I guess we’ll just have to wait until 2011. But until it hits theaters, I'm taking the advice of the poster overhead and still wishing for Singer's return.
Hi, thanks so much for the comment and for following my blog. I am really glad that you liked my post and could relate to it. I have been really blown away by the responses I have been getting and how many other 20 something year olds have said, "Yes, this is exactly what I'm going through!"
ReplyDeleteIt's such a wonderful stage of life but also sad, frustrating, confusing, and weird. I feel like we've heard so much about how horrible the teenage years were but no one warned us about THESE years.
Good luck with college and your new apartment. :-)
Wow, you kind of remind me of when I rant about something. Only my rants can pass an hour or two, depending on the topic, heehee.
ReplyDeleteI believe I can do better at some things, more so than the person who was picked to do it, too.
All in all, I enjoyed this read and will be reading more of your posts. Good job.