Beauty vs Beast: Franchise First Class
Tuesday, May 31, 2016 at 2:10PM Jason from MNPP here hoping everyone here in the States had a good holiday weekend and outside the States then just a plain good weekend, period -- I spent a good three hours (including something like half an hour of trailers) of my weekend in the theater watching the new X-Men movie, as did a few of you (not enough to make the studio happy though) and I gotta say I agree with Nat's take on it - mediocre stuff that needed to embrace its silliness more often. I'd love for just one superhero movie to be about something other than superpowers being the worst burden in all the world, ya know?
Anyway I found myself thinking a lot about Jennifer Lawrence during and after the film - god she seemed miserable, didn't she? She delivered her lines with all the passion of a smurf cadaver. That said I wouldn't be surprised if they could coerce her, with dollars, to revisit Mystique in the future... but for the time being at least she has no contractual obligations to her two big franchises. If she chose to from here on out she could make nothing but David O. Russell movies. (Imagine...) So let's look back at what was.
PREVIOUSLY It was Cillian Murphy against Rachel McAdams in a random Red Eye revisit last week, and it was Bay Breezes for everybody - McAdams' flight-bound final girl took just over 60% of the vote. Said Derreck:
"Team Lisa because she was quick and resourceful. They had the oddest chemistry going on to the point where if he wasn't all terroristy, it would have been nice if they went out for a drink at the end of the movie. But you know, murder and all tends to get in the way of that. Always the years, always the love, always the murder."
Reader Comments (14)
I think Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss was brilliant casting. Jennifer as Mystique was such wrong casting, which seems weird because they got it so right with Fassbender and McAvoy. And yeah, she seemed miserable in this new one.
J-Law can't really touch Rebecca Romijn's Mystique, so I went with Katniss. She's especially good in the first installment (the best movie of the four).
I'm with Carmen. Lawrence as Katniss blows her Mystique out of the water, but if I could I'd rather vote for Rebecca Romijn.
Wow, 2 out of 3 commenters already said what I thought: I would have voted for Rebecca Romijn.
Write-in campaign!
I don't want her in these X-Men movies, sure, but "Imagine if she dedicated her entire time to David O. Russell movies?" Nope. Don't buy it.
Count me in the Rebecca Romijn camp.
I also support the Romijn campaign. I didn't believe Jennifer as Mystique for a single second in all three movies. Romijn had much limited screentime and dialogue and still came off more ice-cold than Jennifer ever did. I gave Jennifer some slack because her arc in these movies was building up towards that intensity that Romjin brought to the table but after Apocalypse? I just came to the conclusion that she was just plain miscast.
Which is odd considering she killed it as Katniss.
I still hold the X-Men franchise to be second only to Harry Potter in terms of flawless casting. Patrick Stewart as Professor X and Kelsey Grammer as Beast legitimately made me fanboy when when I heard news of their casting.
If you combine Rebecca and Jennifer then maybe Mystique wins, but as it is, Katniss wins this battle.
Now I kind of want a Rebecca Romijn Vs Elizabeth Banks as Effie contest.
I think her work as Katniss as a whole is maybe her third best performance after American Hustle ( <3 ) and Winter's Bone.
Katniss is just plain Amazing. Peak J-Law.
I would be fine if Jennifer stopped working. I find her wildly overexposed and equally unskilled. It's saying something if people prefer Rebecca Romijn.
I thought she was quite good in first class (and looked great in that mod costuming). But it seems that her heart was always more focused on Katniss than Mystique. She openly expressed that she doesn't really wish to return to the role. She never seemed bored as Katniss, a complaint often lodged at her in regards to her X-Men performance.
It's sad to me that this series (XMEN) has been so plagued by famous actresses that felt they were slumming in it. First Halle Berry and now Jennifer Lawrence. I get liking money but if you are rich and you look down on a part, maybe don't take it? Think of the fans.
I would say if they allow Lawrence's Mystique to be on the dark side like Romjin's, we could perhaps have gotten a great Mystique. Lawrence is a much better actress than Romjin, but yes I prefer the original Mystique. I just don't get why they would make Mystique a hero! Hate that character choice.
But yes Katniss by a landslide