Is The Ship Sinking? Cuz I Smell A Rat...

Hey guys, it's Donnie...and I think I might weep.

Yesterday I told you about Matthew Vaughn's departure from X3. People were hoping that Joss Whedon would step in, but I figured that was pretty much a pipe dream. I had a sinking feeling in my gut that a subpar director was gonna get thrown on instead, but I was willing to give Avi Arad the benefit of the doubt.

Now the word is out that it's down to two names, and the one that will probably emerge victorious is none other than....

....Brett Ratner. Didn't see that one coming did you?

Like I said, I might weep.

The other guy, John Moore, directed Behind Enemy Lines and Flight of the Pheonix. Enemy Lines was pretty good and I haven't seen Pheonix (irony much?) but I wouldn't mind seeing a young guy with some solid experience make his bones on the next X film, especially since everything seems to already be in place and all he's gotta do is show up, point and shoot.

On the other front, well, I'll say it: Ratner is a hack. He's one step up from Paul "What's Symbolism?" Anderson or McG. In case you're unfamiliar with his body of work, the many opuses of Brett Ratner include Rush Hour, Rush Hour 2, Red Dragon and Before The Sunset (no, not that one. the other one. The one with Peirce Brosnan the jewel theif) In fact, the only reason he's available to take over X-Men is because Chris Tucker rejected the script for Rush Hour 3. This is the guy that almost directed that God awful JJ Abrams Superman script with CIA Agent Lex Luthor from the planet Krypton that doesn't explode. Superman was in horrible shape before Bryan Singer left X-Men to revive the franchise, and now they want to bring in the guy that Singer had to replace? That's the most bass-ackwards thing I've ever heard. What the hell is Marvel thinking?

Moreover, some story details are starting to leak out concerning that infamous 6 day script, details like the deaths of multiple characters, someone losing her powers, and a pretty intense sex scene (my money is on Storm and Nightcrawler or, more probably, Wolverine and Pheonix). Apparantly Avi wasn't kidding when he said this was a controversial script, and if they're really gonna take these kind of major, franchise-endangering risks, they're going to need a great director to guide this through and make it work, and I have a very hard time believing that Brett Ratner is that director.

I'm willing to keep an open mind about these drastic plot points before proclaiming the downfall of X-Men. However, if they're really gonna start killing off characters and taking away powers, I think it begs the question: Could they be trying to end the franchise with this film?

Either way, I think that this burgeoniong X-Men debacle is just another step in Marvel's continuing fall from grace.
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