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"Homo Heroes" article link - review of "X-Men: The Last Stand"

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TOoP/Bruce:
http://www.baywindows.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=008EC9FBCFF24AD18614290016BE1303&nm=Current+Issue&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=4DDDDD7462BA424EAE8ED81038A3884E

Homo heroes
Anthony King

 
“A major pharmaceutical company has developed a way to suppress the mutant X-Gene, permanently. They’re calling it a cure.”

“There’s nothing to cure. Nothing’s wrong with any of us.”

And in two short sentences, X-Men: The Last Stand becomes the biggest super hero homo flick of the summer. The wait is over, and the reward is sweet indeed. Opening world-wide this Friday, the third (and final?) installment of the X-Men franchise starring Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Halle Berry as Storm, and Ian McKellen as Magneto is one hell of a good time. What, you don’t think it’s quite gay enough? Just replace the word “mutant” with “gay” and you’ll see. Suddenly Storm’s statement about “nothing to cure” hits a lot closer to home.

You won’t be disappointed with anything in the movie except one thing: It ends. You’re left shocked and elated. Shocked that so much could happen so amazingly well on screen and elated you got to be a part of it. Director Brett Ratner (Rush Hour franchise) took the helm from X-Men I and II director Bryan Singer in what must be one of the most disputed changes in Hollywood. Singer left the project to film next month’s Superman Returns and die hard X-Men fans are holding their breaths to see if Ratner stays true to the series. Well, they can heave a collective sigh of relief, for Ratner delivers, combining both his trademark big bang style and the X-Men complexity.

That’s all I’m going to say about the story, as I just don’t have the heart to ruin a thing for you. All the regular mutants are back, and the actors handle both the heavy stunts and socially pertinent themes with ease. It’s great to see bigger roles for Famke Janssen as Jean Grey and Sean Ashmore as Iceman. To bring up the stud factor, Ben Foster is Angel and Daniel Cudmore is Colossus. For a newbie, Kelsey Grammer as Beast — who brings the news of a mutant cure — kicks ass. Who knew he had it in him?

(I added pictures of Ben Foster and Daniel Cudmore for purely informational purposes...)

JCinNYC2006:
Thanks for posting that, good article.  I'm a reader of the books from way back, and it always resonated for me as a gay kid growing up.  Being "just like them" and being able to "pass".  There was even a subplot about a virus that was initially only affecting mutants that was interesting.

Juan

delalluvia:
The idea behind this episode of the X-Men was intriguing.

I've brought this up on other threads, but with the scientific community leaning toward homosexuality being mostly genetic, homophobes around the world are starting to get behind this idea.

And why?

Because someday, there may be gene therapy or gene exicision and the homosexuality of a child can be 'fixed' before they become an adult. 

 :o

I told this to a bisexual friend of mine who was aghast.

"What if we don't want to be fixed?"

So I loved the idea of this X-men episode.

I haven't seen the movie, but I am a little put off that it seems from the previews that the lovely and beauteous Storm character is virulently against a 'cure' since it is - in her mind - insulting.

But that is easy for her to say when she doesn't look like Mystique/Kurt/Beast and can have normal physical relationships with her fellow human beings, unlike say Rogue.

I find the attitude of her character extremely annoying.

EDITED TO ADD:  Storm really annoys me.  Maybe the comic books say more, but why is Storm at Xavier's?  It seems she can control the weather at will.  Why should that stop her from living in society?  She has no reason to actually use her power.  By being an X-Man, she has actually put herself in a position where she has to rely on her powers, when otherwise it seems no more an issue than being able to fart or burp really well and knowing one shouldn't use that ability in public.

TOoP/Bruce:

--- Quote from: delalluvia on May 26, 2006, 10:41:38 pm ---Storm really annoys me.  Maybe the comic books say more, but why is Storm at Xavier's?  It seems she can control the weather at will.  Why should that stop her from living in society?  She has no reason to actually use her power.  By being an X-Man, she has actually put herself in a position where she has to rely on her powers, when otherwise it seems no more an issue than being able to fart or burp really well and knowing one shouldn't use that ability in public.

--- End quote ---

I found Storm annoying for another reason:  Storm often seems to be a complete waste of Halle Berry's looks and talent.  She really needs something to do dramatically between conjuring up thunderclouds and cyclones.  Too often she is left just standing around in a fabulous costume and an expensive white wig doing... what? 

Some of this seems to be Halle Berry's fault, since she isn't using her clout to make the most of her screen time.  She's got a best actress award under her belt -- put it use!  Make the writers work harder...

JCinNYC2006:
I've read lots of print saying that Halle Berry only agreed to return for the third one if they expanded her role, including I think letting her fly.  So that did happen in this one finally.  I like her a lot as an actress but I was disappointed that her accent (like a few of the others) was eliminated after the first film.  The character is supposed to have grown up in Kenya, which is integral to her origin story.  Maybe that will be explored in another film but it's pretty interesting.

In a way, I think she was always cultivated by Xavier to be a team leader one day, like Cyclops.  I especially liked the scenes she had with Nightcrawler in X-2.  I'm sooooo glad that some of the rumors I read about Storm and Wolverine hooking up in this one were not true, that would have thrown things off for me too much.

Juan

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