Review Detail

This editor has done a commendable job of focussing the different narrative arcs. They feel genuinely less disjointed, as each one is given more screentime before cutting to another one in this edit, rather than spending like a minute at a time on one storyline then cutting to another like a chaotic mess in the theatrical cut.

There is much more character development in this edit, not by really changing anything but just by removing screentime. By removing practically all of the footage not related to Magento or Rogue's arcs, seeing as they're the only characters who have one, the viewer is able to overlook the other characters because they're relegated to background characters. No-body gets invested in a background character, so we just get to focus on the characters who have an arc...

Which makes it all the more a shame that only significant problem is that, while the edit succeeds in making me care about where the story goes, it ultimately doesn't go anywhere. Mainly because any significant changes in these characters lives are ultimately undone by the final shot of the film. The only way to solve this is to remove it, but then you lose the ongoing thematic idea of Magneto having lost the chess match to Xavier. The only two editing choices are bad ones, which is by no means the fault of the editor but is just the only options Brett Ratner has given. But in the end, seeing as the choices were to sacrifice narrative consequence or sacrifice deeper idealogical subtext, I think Zarius definitely made the right choice.

If nothing else, Zarius has made the only edit of this film I have seen that makes me genuinely invested in the development of the narrative as it's transpiring. And for that baffling achievement alone, I wholeheartedly recommend this edit.

Bravo, Zarius (=