Vinnie Jones is a great actor for certain roles, but the Juggernaut wasn’t one of them. From his ridiculous helmet to his outfit to the fact that he didn’t look like he could take on Colossus, let alone the Hulk or Thor as he used to in the comics, this just wasn’t the character that a lot of people were hoping for. He was a bad joke to be realistic, and one that could have been a whole lot more if X-Men: The Last Stand had been done in an entirely different way. Vinnie Jones admitting that this was a disappointment that tends to swing both ways since he shouldn’t have even been signed on to play this character, but since the CGI at that time wasn’t the best, obviously, he was the character brought on for the role, and he’s the one that gets blamed for butchering it. Now to be fair, Jones isn’t the right kind of actor for some roles, and he might have needed a little more time to get into the Juggernaut’s head and really figure the character out. But as far as the look and the dialogue goes he had nothing to do with the fact that the irresistible force looked like something that belonged on a B movie in the science fiction genre. There weren’t a lot of convincing characters in X-Men 3, and even Hugh Jackman couldn’t bring this one back in line since the main focus became Jean Grey/the Dark Phoenix and Logan, who was finally taking leadership of the team.
A big slip and trip for the X-Men franchise is that it feels like Sony didn’t really understand the heroes that well and went off of a cursory examination of them rather than a full-blown and well-researched idea of how to integrate so many mutants into the movies in so little time. The Juggernaut was basically a name to toss out among the rest, with his greatest value being that he was big, mean, and could run through pretty much anything once he started moving. But this is a character that in the comics could tangle with some of the biggest and toughest characters in the Marvel universe, and he was relegated to an English tough guy that was essentially beaten by a young woman that can walk through walls and a kid whose power is to cancel out the powers of others. That’s not a bad way to neutralize someone like the Juggernaut really, but it kind of misses the point in that his origin is a little muddled since at one time he wasn’t a mutant and received his powers from a mystical ruby, while at other times his powers were dormant and were brought out by the ruby. Then there’s the idea that he’s either a stepbrother or a half-brother to Charles Xavier, which brings up another interesting dynamic that could have been used. But again, as it was seen, the third X-Men movie just rushed into everything headlong, and it sent Juggernaut crashing through walls in an effort to make him mean something.
Jones is best in movies such as Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, and even EuroTrip where he plays a soccer hooligan. He’s better off when he can play a believable villain that is essential to the story or someone that’s just fun to have around and is a bit dangerous. This really wasn’t the role for him and it showed since he needed more time to get into character and the Juggernaut really needed to be highlighted a lot more. It would be interesting to see if anyone would ever consider making a movie of the Juggernaut since he could likely carry a movie with a bit of help. But it wouldn’t be Vinnie this time around, that’s for certain, as he’s had his chance and it was time to move on. It’s sad though, there are definitely X-Men villains he could have played. Stryfe, Sebastian Shaw, or even the Shadow King would have been great roles for Vinnie, and they would have been roles where he could have played a truly diabolical character as well, not a lackey that was basically told what to do and when. Even in the comics, it was tough for other villains to get Juggernaut to do anything since he was so insanely tough that trying to intimidate him wasn’t the easiest of tasks. But in the movie, he really came off as more of a barroom brawler than a super-powered villain. The CGI Juggernaut that was used in Deadpool 2 was a great example of the villain even if he was made using motion capture and Ryan Reynolds did the voice. It was still better than Vinnie was allowed to do. No offense to the guy, he’s a fun actor to watch, but this wasn’t the part for him.
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