Customer Reviews

X-Men - The Last Stand

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Chris Claremont gives this story what the movie could not: depth, details, and a true love for the characters. Small wonder, given that he created and developed many of them to begin with. The novel allows for a view of the insides of many of these characters' heads, most notably that of Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix. The exploration of her psyche throughout the conflict is fascinating. Rogue and Warren are also greatly improved in the book: Rogue regains her spunky, sassy self, and loses the pathetic weakness she's taken on in the movies, while Warren is made more active, more useful, and given more than three lines.

I adored all the little things Claremont included here -- just a few words that he would toss off, referring to a single incident from comics that were published years ago. The inside jokes made it feel more like my beloved fandom again, not a Hollywood travesty.

For all of that, though, the book loses none of the action or tension that were the strong points of the movie. If anything, it clips along at a better pace, in the spirit of a good adventure read.

I recommend this book especially to those fans who were disappointed by the movie's handling of their favourite characters, and to long-time X-Men fans who will appreciate all the small referneces.

Being a total X-Men/Phoenix Saga fan -- and completely addicted to this entire franchise -- I (of course) wasted no time racing-out to get this book and then blasted through it in a single day. And you know what? I think they may actually have pulled it off!

X3 should DEFINITELY exceed both X1 and X2 and will give the fans, both new and old, pretty much everything they've been looking for while solidly capping-off this 1st trilogy and while also still laying the groundwork for more down the road but in a totally non-anvilicous way. It also maintains that trademark self-referential/mocking and pithy derisive humor that made the first two movies so hysterically funny and on target.

I wasn't entirely happy with certain aspects of the ending but I can agree that they were entirely necessary and it gives a satisfactory emotional pay-off.

The film is (partly) a nifty re-working of the Dark Phoenix Saga and it also resolves the Scott/Jean/Logan triangle in a highly-effective and very believable way.

Having Chris Claremont be the novelizer was a stroke of genius because he's able to add in all sorts of thoughts and back-story to the characters they a) they won't possibly have time to feature all of in the film and b) are a good reminder of all that's happened in the X-Men Universe.

I'm sort-of holding my breath until I see the movie, however, because the X-Men franchise has a nasty little habit of adding/changing/removing scenes from the released movies that appeared in the novelizations. These changes frequently differ quite markedly from what took place in the novelization and usually affect the on-screen series of events and the final outcome.

If you don't believe me, read the first two novelizations and then watch the first two movies to see the difference.

And there are rumored to be some huge surprises in the movie that they've gone to great pains to keep secret. So, we'll see.

However, knowing what I can expect -- and that it is going to be good -- has given me great peace of mind.

I was disappointed with the X-Men movies. Especially, with X3. One problem was how drastically different from the comics, the characters were. It also lacked the depth of character that I had so loved in the comics, years ago.

Fortunately, two of the novelizations were written by Chris Claremont. He managed to infuse the characters with as much of their original personality (circa his original X-Men run) and history as he could. It just felt like coming home after a long, long time away. So, even though the characters were drastically different in the movie, they were recognizable in the book.

The war between mutants and man is coming. Some are standing with Magneto including Jean Grey who is back from the dead. While other are with Professor X and the X-men. Caught in the middle of all this are a group men who have created a drug to destory the X-gene. Sides must be choosen. Heros will fall and not all will live the end of the last stand.
Okay I have to confess that I had this book for about a year before I read and I only read it after I had saw the movie, a movie that I really didn't like. While the backgroud story into Jean's childhood was interesting, the book left with the same feelings that the movie did. It could have been so much more.

Another good movie novelization, revealing more and adding scenes which the movie's director either couldn't fit into the movie itself due to keeping its run time reasonable or due to budget limitations. In recent years I have tired of Claremont's over-wordiness and repeated character cliches in his comic books work, but have always thought he would be better off writing novels, where such flaws would be less noticeable. Having written the X-Men comics since the late '70s Claremont definitely knows these characters, despite the fact of the movie director's major missteps in killing two key characters, something that would never have been done by either Bryan Singer (director of X-Men & X2) or in the original comics. This kind of bugged me as unnecessary when seeing the movie itself but at least Claremont expands upon the scenes in the novelization and kind of "rationalizes" them.

Chris Claremont is renowned throughout the comic book world. An expert at the X-men storyline (having written 17 years of Uncanny X-Men in comics), he brings his field of expertise and imagination to words.

Chris helmed the second book as well, X2, back in 2003. He writes in a distinctive fashion that sets him apart from other authors - literature writers and movie-adaptation writers alike.

Chris writes movie-adaptations with his own style... he knows this is his book and he makes it so. The book follows the movie (as it must) but very loosely. A lot of extra stuff that wasn't in the movie is added to the book to thicken its pages and add flavor. It works, adding a lot of depth and color to each individual character.

Chris writes with a lot of detail. He puts in a substantial amount of detail... so much that the reader, while reading it, can feel the exact scene of the event, unfolding within his brain, even if he has not watched the movie. Every detail in Jean Grey's house, for example, is described such that the reader knows exactly where everything is and what is happening.

Unlike some movie-adaptations, Chris is not a slave to the movie. He has taken a near-2-hour film and turned it into a book so marvelous and creative it shames all other movie-adaptations. Chris's X-Men expertise, knowledge, and imagination comes to life here, bringing each character out from the pages, making each character move as it would if it were real, touching the readers' hearts and plucking at strings of emotion... of fear, anger, joy, sadness and other emotions that humanize the book.

Chris is truly an expert of the genre, and that is definitely to his credit. This book is amazing, the movie popular, and Chris is just the perfect persion to translate the acting to words.

The Last Stand novelization far exceeds the movie. Claremont has added so much more depth and characterization, something that only he would be able to bring to the X-Men. Claremont is able to work wonders with the material he's given, adding extra scenes and dialogue, and making it a much more complete story. My advice is: skip the movie, read the novelization.

The story is so vastly different than any x-men story I have ever read. It is a milestone to what happens in the story itself. I will not reveal a lot but,Jean Grey is a threat to the world at large. I enjoyed the book very much and I recommend it to anyone. Chris Claremont is a true writer of the X-men stories. I look forward to seeing it on the big screen.

This is really quite good, and Claremont throws in some things of interest.

An extended danger room sequence, and Lockheed hovering in the shadows in Kitty's room. Green uniform mentions, and other little tidbits like President David Cockrum sketching when stressed.

Lucas Bishop is a cop in District X, where one of the cure clinics is located.

You get to see what many of the characters are thinking.

Bobby melts down at the end of the fight, leaving him a little embarrassed.

Beast is seen taking a class with Kitty in it.

The end is different, as Magneto is working for Aletys Forrester on a fishing boat, until Moira MacTaggart approaches him, while playing chess with himself.

Wolverine, at the end, is taking a danger room session of new students. Remy LeBeau, Danielle Moonstar, Sam Guthrie, and Sage.

Definitely a cut above your average novelisation, and at 330+ pages has the room to be.

I am a big fan of the original X-men comics and Chris Claremont. Action is abundant and the storyline is classic Claremont, well written and entertaining.

After seeing the first two movie adaptations, I was please with how they stuck to the original storyline with minor deviations. This book takes the deviations even farther, almost to the point of annoyance. That is why I am torn. The movie will be awesome, but the finished product compared to the potential possibilities is hard to forget. Not sure if the ending is an evolution into another trilogy or a neat way to tie up several loose ends.

Only time will tell.