"X4" By Daz
To call Daz’s latest film “a superhero film with a twist” is a fallacy in a few senses; mainly that this is not, in the strictest sense, a superhero film, and also that it needs no gimmicky twist to pull itself out of the mush of forgetfulness, but instead depends on its own, inner ingenuity to excel forward. In doing so, we maintain a much more firm script which doesn’t need super powers to be a thriller with class and a drama with enough action for the masses. A diverse and hardly dense cast of characters share the screen with a grace of suspense, always leaving at just the right moment for the next scene to come up, only to, yet again, leave us hanging on an off note. In this manner, it is appropriate, even beneficial, to view each scene as a segment, and to reap the takings from each part as they come. Throughout, as is so common in a Daz film, emotions are mixed, moods glazed over, allowing a full variety of each, and a fantastical sequence of events still manages to be capable of happening in a gritty, dirty and corrupt world that seems, somehow, so familiar.
To put it rather bluntly for bluntness’ sake, this film has many big scenes. By that, I mean there are moments in which you will not be able to stop reading, ranging from an odd noise in a deserted city to a nice battle scene; though it is not necessarily the action itself that takes center stage but, like all good thrillers, the set-up. Alfred Hitchcock once said that a bomb hidden under a table was much more “scary” if it didn’t go off, leaving us hanging, then if it did. Well, here, not only does it not go off, it throws on twists and thrills until you don’t even know which detonator does the trick. On top of all these moment though, the ones which held me in something more then a trance is no filler, but a more refined definition of filler, which, through a mixture of relationships in characters, mutant “species-ism”, and other such elements never fails to keep the plot moving at always more then a breezy speed.
Something that I was, at the start, both curious and uneasy about was how the characters would be handled; knowing that with such a large cast, there is little room for development. I was not only genuinely surprised in that regard, but also in how fresh and different each character seemed, and how real their “romances” felt. One specific connection concerns two major characters, Rouge and Gambit, a minor subplot that both begins and ends with a fine note, but such is only one example of the little delicacies this film hands out like sweets, being careful not to overindulge, but still treating that temptation for more we all share.
Both Gambit and Daz have a way with words, and coming from, of course, Daz’s other “superhero” film “Gambit”, we can see that he has long since mastered the use of making a character his own, but not a dictatorship. Each character has their own room to roam and experiment, free from the director’s bonds and let loose in the viewer’s imagination. It is the way they are written which allows me to talk so casually of them, so recognizable; as scarce before has realism been so equally matched by the charming wit that only a fantasy can bring, and the lines that sound good no matter how they are said, which leads me to admitting a amount of shock entered me when I saw myself, at such simple lines as “Run” and “Identify this” (one of my personal fav. quotes of the film), quotes usually, on their own, would allude to an action film, very much so thrilled, near, at some points, the verge of high anxiety. It is that perfect construction that I have, criminally, failed to mention as of yet why this works so well. The pacing is ever so tuned to make the viewer feel not cheated by the cutting that occurs, but alluding us we are taking something of a coffee break from one “plot”, moving on to a next, and then back again. And how well it works too!
To name flaws would feel forced, as if I were justifying myself that this is a fair review. This is a fair review, and still, I cannot bring myself to name much flaws. There were, I suppose, some elements to it which the casual film goer would not take to as well as others. Fort example, there is much preliminary scenes, and not as much action as the term “X-Men” would lead you to believe. Also, the ending of the film is one which, as good as it is, doesn’t end with the action climax everyone expected, or at least, I did. However, to me, it sounds like I am naming pro’s, not flaws, and here is where the ambiguity enters, depending on what you enjoy. Is it a slow moving superhero film with little to say for it in terms of explosions? Or is it a well paced, high wire suspense thriller? You decide.
I do not mean, with the paragraph above, to scare viewers away though. I am not hinting towards an unmatched pretension, nor a dramatic scale of daunting measures. I only mean to insinuate some mere political thrills, as well as the nicely played looks at the characters, not using them to fulfill violent needs, but actually seeing them as entities. When, for example, a character is in danger, or our favorite villain makes the X-Jet go haywire, we do not see this as bland showy enjoyment, but identifiable fear and anticipation, knowing, before they occur, the reactions of the character based solely on who they are.
Overall, I was quite pleased to see that this came off so well, as I can say it is easily a movie I had high hopes for, and, after it all, would casually place second behind “Brunch” as Daz’s finest film. Scarce were the flaws, and so subjective to each viewer, that they cannot be pinpointed, nor should they be. This is a treasure of a movie, a treasure of a thriller, and while some bent the edges, the first film to really leave its superhero bindings behind so nonchalantly, so effortlessly as if it were not even trying. This is definitely entertainment at some of its most realistic (albeit still fantastical) best, a superhuman film!
My Conclusion- See it, you must, that is, if you enjoy your entertainment with a bit of meat on it. If you can grip the, for its genre, complex storyline, you are in for a treat, if not, then you are missing on a film more suspenseful then just about any random film you can pick from the achieves.
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