X-Men 3: New Yorker says “Ooh la la!”

I’ve never been a big Brett Ratner fan, and, well truth be told, I’ve never even seen either of the Rush Hour movies, (they always seemed a trifle silly and never held much interest for me.) I thought Red Dragon had some intriguing moments, but overall was kind of bland and without a daring sense of creativity.

So when I heard Ratner was directing the third X-Men in place of douchey but incredibly talented Bryan Singer, I was disappointed. The X Men movies have been really strong comic book adaptations, with great casting, good story, and exciting action sequences. I really liked both the first and the second films. But I did think the first film was slightly better than the second, and when I heard about the regime change for the third film, I wasn’t holding my breath.

But I just saw the trailer for X-Men 3, and it completely knocked my socks off.

It looks, in a word, awesome. It’s great to see all the actors reprising their former roles. Patrick Stewart’s voice over adds a great gravitas to the whole thing, and the special FX are tremendous. The wings spreading from the “angel” in the clinic, the bridge being blown to bits, Wolverine chomping on the cigar, Dr. Gray returning as Phoenix, the student making the paper airplanes hover in the air without touching them… It’s just a really well done trailer with solid editing, great audio, and it makes the film look incredibly compelling.

Now this is what I call a teaser.