Friday, April 07, 2006

Trailer Review : X3 – The Last Stand (TV Spots)

(picture curtesy of ComicbookResources.com)

Thanks to the folks at SuperHeroHype.Com, I was alerted to the latest X3 – The Last Stand TV spots that was shown in the Fox TV network in the US last Tuesday night. The three 30-second clips were shown individually during the network broadcast of American Idols, House and ESPN shows. I only got to see the non-high definition versions of these clips here but I hope that they would put a higher resolution clip soon on either the Apple QuickTime trailers site or the X3 official website. There were some new scenes/info that was shown in these 3 TV spots that were not shown in the teaser or the trailer released back in Dec 2005 and March 2006 respectively.

Just to be consistent with the X3 – The Last Stand teaser and trailer reviews that I’ve done before, I’m documenting here some of my thoughts upon viewing the trailers. I’ve also been noticing a lot of incoming traffic to this site coming from people doing web searches about the movie so hopefully this would be something that is of interest for them. As usual, the speculations listed below are my own guesses on how the storyline will unfold based on what I know from reading the X-Men comics for the last 20 odd years.

TV Spot #1

- Had the most in terms of new scenes/info previously unavailable from the teaser or the trailer.

- There is a new close-up shots of Shadowcat in the Danger Room and a sequence of Angel launching himself through a glass window to fly down the building where he was previously held.

- More shots of Wolverine fighting in the woods near where I think the mutants who followed Magneto was camped.

- Shots of the X-Jet flying over some mountains that seemed to be near where Alkali Lake was suppose to be.

- We get to see a new shot of Shadowcat’s phasing powers in which she phases herself out of the floor where she trapped Juggernaut by phasing him through the floors. In the comics, Shadowcat is very carefully not to phase anyone through solid objects as they would die if she left them there. If Shadowcat leaves Juggernaut phased in the floor without killing him then her powers might work differently in the movie compared to the comics.

- Another point for fanboys to look out for is how Shadowcat got Juggernaut to phase through the floor. In the comics, Shadowcat’s powers work by touch so she would have to touch Juggernaut to get him to phase to the ground. Seeing that she was shown phasing through walls running from Juggernaut in the previous scene, it would be interesting to see how she did it.

- An extended sequence of Storm letting loose while fighting the Brotherhood mutants in a suburban setting which might be Jean parent’s house. She is shown flying in a wind twister and hurling lightning at Archlight and an unidentified mutant.

- There is a new scene with Jean Grey kissing Cyclops at what I think is the edge of Alkali Lake just after her resurrection. Cyclops does not have his visors on which suggest that Jean/Phoenix was blocking his powers. This is in line with the comics as Jean has always been able to block Cyclops powers telepathically in several occasions.

- During the kiss with Cyclops, Jean’s eyes open ominously towards the end of the kiss suggesting that something is amiss with her. Since Cyclops doesn’t seem to be around when Storm and Wolverine finds her in Alkali Lake, something must have happened to him just after Jean’s resurrection.

- There is a new close-up shot of Wolverine in flight thanks to a fastball special maneuver with Colossus in what I think is a Danger Room sequence.

- New shot of Pyro standing next to Magneto at Alcatraz for the final battle shooting up a ball of fire up in the sky as a flare to alert the other Brotherhood members most probably.

TV Spot #2

- Most of the scenes here have been shown before in the teaser, trailer and TV spots. This spot has the least new info out of the 3 TV spots shown last Tuesday.

- This spot seem to focus more on the individual characters in action. We get to see extended sequence of Storm, Beast, Shadowcat and Angel in action.

TV Spot #3

- We are shown a clearer picture of the X-Men lineup at Alcatraz for the climatic battle which seem to be Beast, Storm, Wolverine, Shadowcat, Iceman and Colossus. The omission of Cyclops and Rogue from the lineup is particularly intriguing as to what their final fate might be.

- Cyclops is seen being knocked down by shockwaves coming from the middle of Alkali Lake when Jean is resurrected. In the comics, Jean/Phoenix rose out of the Caribbean sea in a burst of flames shaped in the shape of a gigantic bird of fire. Given the force of the shockwave and the distance where Jean was when she went under at the end of the last move, I hoping that the Phoenix effect would be one of the spectacular scenes in the movie.

A lot of the speculation out there in the Net is saying that at least one major character from the X-Men will die in the final installment of the X-Men trilogy. We don’t have any indication of who that would be based on the teaser, trailer and TV spots that we have seen to day. What is almost for sure is that Jean/Phoenix will be in the middle of it all and the X-Men would have to deal with her before the movie can end.

Will the movie follow closely to the resolution of the “Dark Phoenix Saga” from The Uncanny X-Men #129-138? Only time will tell.

X3 – The Last Stand arrives in cinemas beginning 26th May 2006.

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