Today's News: introducing a new breed of X-Men

Here's a bit of news I posted on MovieScene earlier this week. Related news soon to follow, but not yet posted on that site.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155100/openingsscene_x-men_days_of_future_past_online_geplaatst

This is a common occurrence for big budget blockbuster movies, to post finished clips of the actual movie in the few months leading up to its theatrical release. They usually stick to material from the film's opening to intrigue the audience as to the exact cause of events (which is left in the dark well enough for them to be enticed) and to prohibit giving too much away from the actual plot, which the studio prefer to keep to itself until the movie hits theaters. I recently posted a clip of Captain America: The Winter Soldier on MS that adhered to the same marketing strategy. Of course, some movies go even further and post way more than just a few scenes from the movie's first half: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 currently has so many clips up online you might puzzle together the whole movie from those. That's no fun for the nerds that actually attempt to do just that and end up spoiling the final viewing experience for themselves completely. Fortunately I'm not that determined.

This one minute scene begins and ends in medias res; you might accuse it of missing context, but then, the context is provided by the rest of the film this early released clip wants you to go and see soon. There's a lot of characters in this dynamic scene, half of whom fans will recognize from previous X-movies (Colossus, Shadowcat, Iceman). The other half consists of new characters, who appropriately get to show off their powers which define them. Even though we don't get much on their character background here as yet, we learn what they can do and how well they act as a team in a dire situation like this. We're also introduced to the nightmarish future world wherein these mutants have become the hunted, as well as their enemy, the ominous and ruthless future Sentinels. We learn little about those genocidal robots from this clip, which also pushes us to want to see the movie to learn just how dangerous they are to our heroes and what role they played in bringing about this Apocalypse. Deducing from this scene, Bryan Singer once again revels in his craftsmanship when it comes to making the audience acquainted with lots of characters, while not sacrificing the pace of the movie. It helps that the spectator is already familiar with many of the personas present in this movie, but there are many characters left to explore and all need ample screentime. If needs be, established characters are pushed to the background, as happened to Anna Paquin's Rogue, who was almost cut from the movie entirely, though word has now reached us that she will at least make a cameo appearance. Singer knows that in a movie with so many characters as this one, there is a serious risk of the story getting padded to the detriment of the film as a whole, so sacrifices have to be made. I expect these mutants to serve as canon fodder in their attempt to escort Wolverine to the past where most of the story takes place though. No problem, as long as Singer makes us care about their demise. If there's one person who excels at bringing together large ensembles without confusing the audience needlessly and making them empathic about all of them, it's Singer.

Tomorrow: final trailer for this same movie. X-celsior!

Today's News: Cap gets clipped

Just a minor tidbit of news today, but on schedule for a change:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/154265/nieuwe_clip_captain_america_the_winter_soldier

When a movie's promotional campaign starts handing out free clips, you know the actual release is only weeks, if not days, away. I knew that already of course, but the general audience isn't supposed to be in the know as much as I (or simply just not as much of a know-it-all as myself). Of course, such a clip still serves purely as advertisement and therefore refrains from giving away vital plot information. We get to witness an all-in-a-day's-work type of skirmish in the adventurous life and times of the Star Spangled Avenger, as he infiltrates a secret ocean base that has been commandeered by a second rate villain (Batroc the Leaper) few non Marvelites will have heard about, with only minor tie-ins to the overarching plot of the film proper. The scene shown in this fragment of the final film also serves as its opening, re-introducing Cap and Black Widow for an audience that needs its memory jogged to remember who these characters were again and how well they played together, both in terms of action and snappy dialogue. If you hadn't seen the first movie yet you largely get the handle on Cap, though you might fail to understand those few comments relating to him being a character out of time. He seems to be blending in fine though, running black ops missions for S.H.I.E.L.D. As the new footage that concludes the clip reveals, he won't keep doing fine though, as he's in for a serious reality check as to how much America has changed from the simpler times he was born and raised in. Luckily Widow will continue to have his back. And since both of them are slated to re-appear in Avengers: Age of Ultron, I wouldn't expect any dramatic casualties on their part. I hear Samuel L. Jackson's Marvel contract is rapidly expiring though. Who knows, maybe S.H.I.E.L.D.'s one eyed top dog will finally go down with his helicarrier?