X-Men-The Last Stand: J.A.J

[Zarius]

I've been meaning to do an X-Men 3 edit for the longest time but struggled to find a means of making it unique. The result was a blissfully short piece I've labelled J.A.J

"Just About Jeanless"

Yes, an X-3 cut with ALMOST no Jean Grey, except for a brief "blink and you'll miss" cameo with Scott, who survives the film but remains very withdrawn. Everything else more or less fits the same. I changed up the opening scene and removed the danger room training.

Running time is now approx. 46 minutes plus credits.

 

[Jrzag42]

Exciting!

 

[Zarius]

Think of this as my own little "reality cut", where the dead don't come back to life, but life's just as much a struggle as always.

 

[Canon Editor]

That’s a very interesting idea actually, Zarius!  I had never thought of that.  

I don’t know if you want to incorporate footage from other movies to add up to the runtime a bit, but I always thought something could be made of the first two Wolverine movies’  footage.  

Starting some three-years after the events of X2, I thought you could incorporate some of these ideas, if you wished, into your Jean-less X3: you kick-off with Logan’s dream about Jean from “The Wolverine”.  He wakes up screaming (from “Origins”) and he is in bed with his new love: Kayla.  We learn he has retired from the X-Men and is living in retirement in Canada.  If you find a way to explain who Victor is and why he kills Kayla, you could transition from there on into Logan living as a loner in the mountains of Canada.  Once he kills the hunters who killed the bear, he starts travelling again and meets Xavier at the airport (avoiding Magneto) who tells him they need his help.  
From that point on you carry on with your narrative as you meant it.  
Actually, you could even have Kayla’s death be what triggers him to leave Canada and find Xavier at the airport, without the bear sequence from “The Wolverine”… 

I don’t know if you are going to like these ideas or not, but they may interest you.  Yet again, these are only my two cents I threw out there.  I know this is hard to pull off for many reasons but who knows what you have in your sleeve!  

Finally, I just mean to wish you good luck on the edit!

 

[addiesin]

That’s a very interesting idea actually, Zarius!  I had never thought of that.  

I don’t know if you want to incorporate footage from other movies to add up to the runtime a bit, but I always thought something could be made of the first two Wolverine movies’  footage.  

Starting some three-years after the events of X2, I thought you could incorporate some of these ideas, if you wished, into your Jean-less X3: you kick-off with Logan’s dream about Jean from “The Wolverine”.  He wakes up screaming (from “Origins”) and he is in bed with his new love: Kayla.  We learn he has retired from the X-Men and is living in retirement in Canada.  If you find a way to explain who Victor is and why he kills Kayla, you could transition from there on into Logan living as a loner in the mountains of Canada.  Once he kills the hunters who killed the bear, he starts travelling again and meets Xavier at the airport (avoiding Magneto) who tells him they need his help.  
From that point on you carry on with your narrative as you meant it.  
Actually, you could even have Kayla’s death be what triggers him to leave Canada and find Xavier at the airport, without the bear sequence from “The Wolverine”… 

I don’t know if you are going to like these ideas or not, but they may interest you.  Yet again, these are only my two cents I threw out there.  I know this is hard to pull off for many reasons but who knows what you have in your sleeve!  

Finally, I just mean to wish you good luck on the edit!

Cool ideas!

 

[Zarius]

That’s a very interesting idea actually, Zarius!  I had never thought of that.  

I don’t know if you want to incorporate footage from other movies to add up to the runtime a bit, but I always thought something could be made of the first two Wolverine movies’  footage.  

Starting some three-years after the events of X2, I thought you could incorporate some of these ideas, if you wished, into your Jean-less X3: you kick-off with Logan’s dream about Jean from “The Wolverine”.  He wakes up screaming (from “Origins”) and he is in bed with his new love: Kayla.  We learn he has retired from the X-Men and is living in retirement in Canada.  If you find a way to explain who Victor is and why he kills Kayla, you could transition from there on into Logan living as a loner in the mountains of Canada.  Once he kills the hunters who killed the bear, he starts travelling again and meets Xavier at the airport (avoiding Magneto) who tells him they need his help.  
From that point on you carry on with your narrative as you meant it.  
Actually, you could even have Kayla’s death be what triggers him to leave Canada and find Xavier at the airport, without the bear sequence from “The Wolverine”… 

I don’t know if you are going to like these ideas or not, but they may interest you.  Yet again, these are only my two cents I threw out there.  I know this is hard to pull off for many reasons but who knows what you have in your sleeve!  

Finally, I just mean to wish you good luck on the edit!

Those are brilliant ideas Canon, I never would have thought of mixing those films up for these purposes (I've only really seen The Wolverine once in my lifetime despite owning it on DVD, so my recollections are a little sketchy, and I've never seen Origins). It's a little late now because I already wrote up the IFDB entry, but that doesn't mean I can't re approach this edit to make it a little longer in the future.

If you're curious, I'll PM you what I have so far. I had to briefly jigger with it last night before uploading because I accidentally left in one big fat close-up of Jean. 

Even without that brief mistake, there are still some scenes where she's glimpsed in the background, but she's so out of focus you either mistake her for another mutant or a piece of prison wreckage. 

Thanks for the suggestions

 

[Canon Editor]

That’s cool!!  I will download the edit later on during the day and let you know!  
Thank you Zarius!  

Thank you @"addiesin"!!!  It means so much. 


Well, I’m starting to work on my X1 edit, but after that I could incorporate these ideas into V2 of my X3 edit… :blush:

 

[Zarius]

Well, I’m starting to work on my X1 edit, but after that I could incorporate these ideas into V2 of my X3 edit… ?

Sounds great, definitely do it to make your edit of X3 stand out more

 

[henzINNIT]

Another potential source of extra material is "X-Men: Apocalypse's" Magneto scenes. They are lost in the shuffle in that film but quite nice in isolation. Magneto is the main villain of the piece even moreso here than before, so it could work to weave in flashbacks that detail more of his backstory. You'd roughly have this set of sequences to work with: Magneto in hiding in Poland working in a mill, the reveal that he has settled down with a wife and daughter, the incident at the mill that blows Magneto's cover, the tragic loss of his family in the woods, and finally Eric returning to the mill for revenge. I reckon you can cleverly edit in a final appeal from Charles in Cerebo too.

 

[Canon Editor]

Yes!  I had this idea too, but have been waiting to propose it because I was unsure it would fit in with the narrative... maybe it could help establish he sees Jean as some sort of daughter?  Yet again, his flashback in the first X-Men doesn't really help in his narrative arc, either...

What is your opinion, Zarius?

 

[Masirimso17]

Yes!  I had this idea too, but have been waiting to propose it because I was unsure it would fit in with the narrative... maybe it could help establish he sees Jean as some sort of daughter?

I know I was very critical of using Kayla in your X3 edit, I think this new idea with Magneto’s scenes are great. I agree with @"henzINNIT" that they are fantastic scenes lost in a mediocre movie.

The daughter angle sounds quite good. Thinking on it, using these scenes in X3 works best because it shows why he is how he is, as in the leader of a Brotherhood of Mutants to take over mankind. In X1 it would take away from the introduction/mystery feel (kinda) and in X2 it would be unfocused. X3 with these flashbacks would make everything come full circle.

Now I’m really excited for my own X3 edit I’m thinking about. A Batman Begins style movie with Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix footage.

 

[Zarius]

Hey, those are good ideas, I'd like it if X-3 could sort of retain a flashback of some sorts.

 

[Canon Editor]

Yeah, I agree. 
Also, it would really add up to Magneto's arc.  You know: he tried to be "normal", but just couldn't help it and this is what plays into his revindication of his and other mutants' rights.
I also find them to be the best scenes from Apocalypse - a drop of the intense, intimate emotion provided in First Class and Days of Future Past, lost in the loud conundrum that is Apocalypse.
In fact, one could even find a place for Xavier and Erik's goodbye at the end of the film, which is itself a lovely reference to X2. 

Well, back on topic: Zarius, once I see your edit, I will leave a review!

 

[Zarius]

Thanks @"Canon Editor",

 

[henzINNIT]

Yes!  I had this idea too, but have been waiting to propose it because I was unsure it would fit in with the narrative... maybe it could help establish he sees Jean as some sort of daughter?  Yet again, his flashback in the first X-Men doesn't really help in his narrative arc, either...

What is your opinion, Zarius?

Daughter angle could work. It could certainly be used to imply a little more heft to Magneto and Jean's pairing (which is largely unexplored in the film). There are a few scenes in TLS that show Magneto in a fatherly position, not just with Jean but in his brutal dismissal of Mystique as well. You could potentially reincorporate the X3 flashback as the final beat in a string of Magneto flashbacks.

Dark Phoenix is around the corner (we'll see when Fox finally settles on a release date), I think there's a bunch of us waiting to see what material will soon be available to plunder. My long gestating X3 is on hold until then.

 

[Silver Screen Samurai]

I like the idea of using some form of flashbacks, as the other editors have said. But I'm wondering if due to the unique way Zarius has chosen to edit it if that actually won't be a problem.

In his edit, it sounds as if more emphasis is put on the mutant cure and its impact on the mutant community as a whole, rather than any one given member. So I almost think it would hurt the brilliance of his concept if one mutant's outlook or motivation overpowered anyone else's. 

But neither is inherently wrong. Just depends on what an editor is trying to achieve. For Zarius' purposes, I think it could work fine without trying to pad out the runtime. After all, the cure feels more like an interesting side story for these characters, rather than the large scale world shattering threats they're used to. The short runtime could reflect that.

I'm interested to see how this edit really plays with balancing characters in such a short runtime.