Holding out hope for X-Men 3

Like a blind lemming walking feverishly to its death, or a penguin marching 70 miles for bad sex, I wait, day in and day out, for news that X-Men 3, the third installment in Marvel's mutant conglomerate, is not, in fact, going to suck hard.

For those of you who are less-than-up on your X-Men propaganda, the writer/producer/director/God behind the brilliant first 2 movies, Bryan Singer, abandoned the franchise (or did the franchise abandon him?) in favor of something a little more super (as people of his persuasion may say). At any rate, X-Men 3 has been in a tailspin since his departure, and, thus far, all signs have pointed to the proverbial omen of death for a once tent-pole franchise. I half expect to see Wolverine come face-to-face with a Grim.

In spite of all of the bad news, I still have faith. Every so often, someone involved with the film says something smart, and it fills me with what can only be deemed unbridled jubilation. Recently, Zak Penn, writer of X-Men 3 did an interview with Wizard Magazine. He had this to say:

You can't write what's in the comics. You can't say those kinds of lines on screen. When [Jean Grey] turns into Phoenix, you have to maintain the heightened reality of it without becoming silly."

and

We can't do the Sh'iar Empire and battle cruiser and other galaxies [from the Phoenix saga] in this movie. It's not just that we can't afford to do it, but it would not fit with the tone of the first two movies in any way."

This really makes me happy because he is exactly right. Phoenix's lines in the comics would sound absolutely asinine if actually discharged verbally. Her ejaculations inspire laughter at a rate similar to that if she had actually said "ejaculate" to a room full of 14-year olds.

Also, he is right again about the Shi'ar Empire. The cost to recreate this world would no doubt push the X-Men 3 budget into new stratospheres (the X-Men franchise is also notorious for being surprisingly underfunded). Also, including it would turn the relatively down-to-earth tone of X-Men into a more Star Wars-like space-opera. I don't think anyone really wants to see that. Its good to see someone understanding that movies are not comics, and comics are not movies. Unless it is Sin City, naturally.

Until May 26th, 2006, I guess I will have to just hold out hope. Then we'll know. For the rest of the interview, Click Here.