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Magneto (Merged) (1 Viewer)

Matt Stone

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Matt Stone


Haha :laugh: :laugh:

I would have liked to be there for that pitch meeting :D

"Here's what I'm thinking...all the action and humor of the X-Men with all of the happy-fun Nazi's of The Pianist. It's a can't miss!"
 

Mikah Cerucco

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Or Michael Rosenbaum as a young Professor X.

Let me suggest Jaoquin Phoenix as a young Magneto. That boy is just unbalanced.
 

Ocean Phoenix

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I can never see that guy as a nice character. To me, he's always just too creepy looking, no matter what movie he's in. I think it's the eyes.
 

Shawn_McD

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I'd go for this, Magneto was always a well drawn out Villian/Anti-Hero in the comics.


He's almost a misudnerstood hero depending on how you look at it, and you almost can't blame him for doing what he does.
 

Seth Paxton

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He didn't say you couldn't Ernest, come on, too serious I think.

To me the point he and others are making is that this is a great complex character who's actions are both horrible and yet understandable in terms of motivation. He questions why we don't cross those lines and how we resolve not seeking retribution in kind.

The pitch joke is good, but of course the real pitch was probably more like "what if Szpilman found out he had Magneto's powers midway through The Pianist". That's about as high concept as you get, that's an easy sell to money people and audiences.
 

Jerome Grate

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OOOPSIE, didn't know a thread existed. I'll refer any further comments to the existing thread, thanks for the link.
 

Jordan_E

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So, are these announcements due to Singer leaving the franchise? Or is it a cost saving decision?
 

Chris Farmer

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More of an X-men universe question then specific to this movie, but if Professor X was a soldier in WW II, then he obviously could walk. How did his legs become paralyzed?
 

Andy Sheets

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IIRC, he was helping a group of Tibetan monks battle an alien from outer space, and his legs were crippled when the alien (named Lucifer) threw a boulder at him.

I'm not keen on the idea of spin-off movies. Not that Magneto isn't a great character, but seeing all the talk about doing a Wolverine movie and now this reminds me too much of how the comics were watered down by zillions of spin-offs.
 

Rocky F

Second Unit
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Jun 13, 2002
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Like Andy said, Xavier was paralyzed in a battle with aliens, but that doesn't really jive with the movie universe. The Ultimate X-Men comics changed it to Magneto actually crippling him. I personally like this better, the fight between the two was always very personal, and that would add to that.

I hadn't really thought much about casting, but my first thought was also of Tom Hardy as Prof. X.:laugh:
 

Moe Maishlish

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Shawn_McD Wrote:

Ironically, this was THE EXACT problem I had with the first & second films, and was part of the reason that I didn't consider X2 to be the masterpiece that critics & fans appeared to praise it as.

Note - The following contains spoilers. If you haven't watched X-Men & X-Men 2 and you don't want to ruin the experience, then stop here and forget I said anything...

I had many an argument with family & friends about using the terms "villain", "evil", and "bad guy" to describe Magneto in the first movie. When the movie begins, it opens to a scene in Poland, depicting the attrocities inflicted upon the Jews by the Nazi's of the time. We then move years into the future to a scene in Congress where high-level burocrats & other politicians are heavily endorsing & supporting the idea of "cataloging", "monitoring", and "restricting" the rights of another group of people - because of fear, intolerance, and lack of understanding of them. Present in the crowd of onlookers is Erik Lensher - Magneto. Once again he sees history repeat itself, bearing witness to the first steps of a process that might again lead to the calamity & tragedy that transpired in his youth. He decides then and there that can not allow such intolerance to happen again, and embarks upon a plan to stop the hatred in its tracks - to prevent history from repeating itself in his lifetime, whether the world likes it or not.

If you've seen the movie, you know that his plan involves transforming all the world leaders into mutants - a simple yet misguided plan that proves fatal, although not to the knowledge of Magneto himself. It is his hope that if all world leaders were themselves mutants, the unknown would become known, fear & intolerance would be abated, and then persecution of the mutants in their populations would stop. Keep in mind that he's not looking to KILL the world leaders or anyone else for that matter (although Rogue is considered a small sacrifice in the service of a greater good), nor is he assuming to take control of world governments - he simply wants to open the eyes of humanity to their own ignorance. In his actions, he shows an inherent respect for human & mutant life, but knows that prices need to be paid to preserve the greater good.

(Personal choice & the violations of individual freedoms aside, his actions could be considered commendable, if the ends could justify the means... but that's a different story, and not a topic I'd like to explore on the HTF).

Of course, as we know he fails, gets thrown in jail, and so ends the first movie. As the curtain falls, Magneto, in my eyes, is seen as a tragic, misguided, yet sympathetic figure... one that could be pittyed equally as much as he should be revered.

Flash forward 3 years later, and X2 is released into theaters. Magneto escapes from prison in what I consider to be a fantastic yet gruesome prison break, and joins the fold for the fight for mutantkind. Everything seems to be going well, up until the final 15 minutes, in which Magneto issues his "edict" to a brainwashed Charles Xavier to terminate all human life on earth.

WHAT?!?

What happened to the sympathic figure from the first movie? The one who wanted to foster understanding between peoples & preserve life? How could such a person become so cold blooded so quickly? How did his character pull such a 180, without so much as blinking an eye?

Whomever wrote those lines, in my mind, made a serious and grievous error, and truly betrayed the underlying characteristics of Magneto that were established in the first movie. Transforming him from an individual who's last option was to kill (remember the train-station scene in the first movie? Although all the police officers had their guns turned on them, not a single one was shot), to one that could commit genocide, given his history, was a true betrayal to his character and everything established in the first movie.

In X2, Magneto went from being the "bad guy with good intentions" to the "evil malevolent bad guy who kills for fun".

A true shame in my book, and one of the reasons I might consider sitting out any future X-Men franchise films.

Moe.
 

Shawn_McD

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I'd disagree with you on that one Moe.

He spent 3 years in prison, no doubt getting the crap beat out of him, and besides Striker was &(^^(ing with him the whole time...again I think he was just blowing his top at the end of Xmen 2, more of like "F*ck these damn humans"

Again, Magneto cares for all humans, but at teh same time he's been betrayed, and probably think they are animals and Mutants are the next logical step in evolution.


So I'd say the "Kill em all" fits fine for the moment.
 

Moe Maishlish

Supporting Actor
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Mar 30, 1999
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That's the common argument that's presented whenever I discuss the topic, but I don't buy it. Although he spends some time confined in his plastic prison (we don't know for sure how long, but I don't think it's 3 years) and is abused by the guards & Striker, I don't think that he'd develop a deep-seated hatred for Humanity like that he displays by the end of the second film. Remember... Lensher is not some imbicillic mutant thug that knows nothing about life and the lessons that are so painful to learn - he's lived through the holocaust, been witness to unspeakable acts, and lived to tell about it. I'm not a big fan of the comic book, but from drawing upon what I know, he later develops a friendship with Xavier, and the two embark upon their efforts to further the mutant cause.

Given the events that have transpired throughout Magneto's life, I hardly think that it would take as little as his imprisonment & his treatment at the hands of Stryker to push him to the limits that you've suggested. If so, his character should have been written differently after he had escaped. We saw a jovial, resourceful, and intelligent character in the film, instead of someone that carried a genocidal grudge.

The whole POINT of Magneto's character in the first movie is to show that he's NOT the kind of person that you've described - that he's not someone who would just generalize his hatred toward the entire human race, based on the closedmindedness of a few powerful players. That is my problem with what I consider to be the corruption of the core principles & values of the character by the end of the second movie.

Moe.
 

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