Trailer Review : X3 – The Last Stand (Theatrical Trailer 2)

(picture curtesy of ComicbookResources.com)

I last wrote about the upcoming summer release of the new X-Men movie way back in Dec 2005 when they first released the announcement trailer. In that particular entry, I made some educated guesses about the plot of the movie based on the material that was included in the first trailer and my reading of at least 16 years worth of X-Men comics. Some of the points that I listed back then have even been confirmed to be true based on what I was able to find out from the fan sites on the Net.

For almost 3 months, that announcement trailer was the only trailer that they had for the X-Men until they recently release the theatrical trailer for the movie last Monday in the US. Thanks to a high definition QuickTime version of the trailer from the Apple.com website and a fairly bit of free time on my hands today, I was able to review the trailer frame by frame and jot down a few notes that I was able to glean from this new trailer to add to what I already documented in my previous entry on this subject.

Of course I have to stress again that the following speculations are my own and may not reflect what would actually be in the film. Since some of the information below might be a bit spoiler-ish for those who have not been following any of the X-Men comics, you may want to skip them altogether if you don’t want to spoil your movie going experience.

This latest trailer can be viewed here.

Speculations:

- They have confirmed the full title for the movie will be “X3 – The Last Stand”

- The full X-Men team this time around will consist of Storm, Colossus, Rogue, Iceman, Wolverine, Shadowcat and Beast (at least in the climatic battle).

- It is not clear if Cyclops will be fighting along side the team as he is not shown in the final battle. He does however appear in earlier scenes at Alkali Lake where they found Jean resurrected after the events of the last movie. The obvious omission of Cyclops in the final battle is ominous given the rumors that a major character will (again) die in this installment. Whether or not Cyclops does die in this movie is still just speculations but it does make a valid motivation for Jean to turn to the dark side.

- I mistakenly speculated that the scenes involving Alkali Lake will come early in the movie. Based on this new trailer, I think that Alkali Lake will turn up towards the beginning of the 2nd act of this movie.

- There seem to be a love triangle happening between Iceman, Rogue and Shadowcat. Rogue’s powers continue to limit her relationship with Iceman causing me to believe that she grows more despondent in the movie when she finds out how much closer Shadowcat and Iceman was becoming. This could be the motivation that would lead her to consider the cure that the humans were offering to the mutants.

- My speculation about a cure for the mutant condition has been confirmed in this trailer. The cure was said to be able to repress the mutant genes permanently and in effect neutralize a mutant’s abilities.

- Mystique informs Magneto that the cure was derived from another mutant named Leech. In the comics, Leech was a young mutant who had the ability to temporarily dampen any superpower ability within a specific radius around him. Once outside of the range of Leech’s ability, those powers will return immediately. It has been speculated that Leech has the potential to be able to neutralize powers as he grows older but this has not been seen in the comics yet.

- In the comics, Leech has green skin and an amphibian appearance. In the movie, Leech is a bald Caucasian boy which I guess would be easier for the makeup dept.

- Calisto tells Magneto about a mutant more powerful than him. This might be referring to the return on Jean Grey as the Phoenix.

- Phoenix surfaces from beneath Alkali Lake in a burst of what seems to look like water and fire. I do hope to see a full phoenix effect when we first see Jean Gray return from the dead. In the comics, Phoenix burst out from the depths of the Caribbean after the team crash-lands there from a battle in an orbiting space station.

- The floating Cyclops glasses and the rocks behind Wolverine when he finds the newly resurrected Jean Gray suggest that she is more powerful than she was before and does not have full control of her abilities. Dire warnings from Xavier further enforces the idea that the Phoenix was dangerous.

- We get to see the Angel in flight in this trailer. The wings looked believable in action but we still don’t get a close-up of the wings. I can’t tell if they use full CG or a physical prop for the wings from the scenes in the trailer.

- The line “Fury that this world has never witness” delivered by Magneto seemed to be attributed to Jean Grey as she stood beside him. This might foreshadow the power of her Dark Phoenix aspect of her now fractured personality.

- Among the other mutants in Magneto’s group as they moved across the bridge were Jean Grey, Juggernaut, Pyro, Calisto, Quill and Archlight. We get to see a bit of Archlight’s powers when she released her shockwave attack from her hands in the trailer.

- In the comics, Quill is much younger, had darker skin and non-retractable quills on his body. In the movie it seems that Quill is of Asian descent and is able to retract his quills at will.

- The climatic battle between the X-Men and Magneto’s band of mutants seems to be at some type of power plant. It seems that the X-Men will be fighting along side some military types given the numbers that they would be facing.

- Pyro is seen wearing an new harness underneath his civilian clothes that allows him to generate the flames that he need to control. I suspect that he now has mini flame throwers/lighters attached to his wrists to start the fires instead of using his lighter that we last seen in the previous installment. As per the comics and the last movie, Pyro can only control the flames around him but is unable to generate the fires himself.

- We also see Juggernaut’s strength as he dashes through walls chasing after Shadowcat who phase herself through them. I still think that the movie’s Juggernaut is smaller than I would expect the character to be. The costume that the X3 Juggernaut is wearing is reminiscent to his costume in the “Ultimate X-Men” series.

- There is a scene where both Xavier and Magneto is in the same room with Jean Grey. The Phoenix was using her powers to lift Xavier from his wheelchair while Magneto lay crumpled at the far end of the room. I suspect that both came to plead their case with her but it seems that it ended badly.

- Of all of the scene in this new trailer, the one that is stumping me the most is the one towards the end where we see a dark haired, blue eyes and naked women falling to the floor. I have no idea who she is and how she fits into the story.
(update 9/03/2006 - found out this morning that this woman is actually a depowered Mystique)

- At the end of this trailer, Jean pleads with Logan to kill her. It looks like that she is aware of what is happening to her and this request echoes the same request that she made in the comics at the end of the classic “Dark Phoenix Saga” storyline.

“X-Men : The Last Stand” is scheduled to be released worldwide on 26 May 2006.

Update : Latest thoughts on the TV spots released in Apr 2006 can be viewed here.