Movie Info

X-Men The Last Stand - "Take a Stand"

Perhaps that last installment of the X-men movies, X-Men The Last Stand tries to tie up several storylines that have been layed down during the last two movies. The cast is all back for the third movie (I think they had contracts to appear in three movies). The only missing component was the director. Bryan Singer helmed the first two movies and decided not to direct the third X-Men movie and instead direct Superman Returns. It took a little while before Brett Ratner was tapped to direct the third movie, hence the long delay between the films. So did Ratner follow in the footsteps of Singer? Read on to find out!

It's been a little while after the events in X-Men II. There's a mutant-friendly president in office but the attitudes towards mutants have not shifted much. The X-Men are in a state of disarry with Cyclops (James Marsden) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) both distraught over the death of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen). The most recent additions to the group are Colossus (Daniel Cudmore) and Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page).

When it is revealed that a company has produced a cure for being a mutant, mutants nationwide are torn. Half would like to be normal again while the other half are strongly opposed to it. It is revealed that the cure is actually a mutant named Leech. A boy whose mutant power is to negate the mutant gene.

Knowing how significant the ramifications would be if the boy was used as a weapon, Magneto gathers his forces and intends to attack the facility housing the child and kill him. Magneto's forces include a few new additions included Callisto, Juggernaut, Psylocke, Maddrox and Arclite.

As Magneto gathers strength, the X-Men begin tearing themselves apart. Cyclops, still in mourning, leaves the X-Men to visit the watery grave of Jean. He bears witness to Jean's resurrection. Apparantly Jean is possibly the most powerful mutant on the planet and Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) took some drastic measures to keep her in check.

Anyways, Jean, now called Phoenix, returns and the X-Men concentrate on intercepting Magneto before he and his forces reach the child. You'll have to watch the rest of the movie to find out what happens but let's just say lots of people die, some expected, some unexpected.

So did I like the movie? I enjoyed the movie, but I was a little upset at how the movie was written and resolved. There are some great fanboy moments like the 'Fastball Special' involving Wolverine and Colussus but the overall feel of the movie did not reflect the comic books at all.

I came to realize that all three X-Men movies were interesting and enjoyable, but not really memorable. The writers are trying to take 30 years of X-Men and shove them into three movies. With such an all-star cast, it was difficult to give all the actors equal screen time. Like the first two X-Men movies, X-Men: The Last Stand could have been 3 great movies.

It was clearly obvious that this was to be the last X-Men film. There will probably be spin-off movies but I don't think the studios can afford to keep such a talented cast together without blowing huge chunks of money. This last film didn't do as well as the first two so increasing the budget for a fourth film would seem out of the question.

I would have liked to see some of the other villains in the Marvel Universe make their debut. Mister Sinister, Apocalypse, the Brood, these would have been awesome villains for any of the sequels. With each successive movie, more and more mutants were introduced. It seemed almost like the writers were fanboys that wanted to put every favourite character they had in the movie. This overabundance of mutants made all the mutants in the movie soulless and unimportant. I didn't care if a few of them bit the dust. There's always more mutants that they can make up.

The movie was also very short. You would think that it would have been at least a two hour long movie. Instead we are treated to an hour and forty minutes. With the Phoenix storyline, the mutant cure storyline, the Iceman/Rogue love story, the Angel back story, there was just too much going on that it just clouded everything. Nothing was really resolved. Just more fighting like the last two movies. It really felt like an opportunity to introduce more mutants to create more marketing material.

The acting in the movie wasn't top-notch but after two movies, the actors are definitely familiar with their roles. There were no real flops in performance, but there were no stellar performances either. I don't blame the great cast of actos, I blame the poorly written material produced by the writers of the film.

The costumes and design sets were great. Computer graphics have made the impossible possible. There were countless CG scenes but these were necessary to strengthen the movie. The bridge scene was great but I still don't understand why Magneto did that. I would've taken the ferry or something to cross the river hehe. I think audiences are now spoiled by CG movies and we forget how difficult it is sometimes to create these incredible effects. The CG teams did an excellent job with Beast. You would never know that Kelsey Grammar was underneath all that fur.

The costumes and design wasn't enough for me to really feel satisfied. I was really surprised at the length of the film. I think that X-Men: The Last Stand had the potential to be a great movie but it has definitely fallen short of that potential. I know when Bryan Singer left the project, there was a mad scramble to find a replacement director. I'm not sure if Brett Ratner was the wisest choice. Ultimately, the blame must be laid on the writers of the script. It really felt like they threw in everything, including the kitchen sink.

Even if you are an X-Men fan, don't go to the theatres to watch this movie. Save your hard earned cash for something that's longer than 1 hour and 44 minutes. This movie is strictly for DVD viewing. The film was enjoyable but it just lacked that blockbuster appeal. I give the X-Men: The Last Stand four out of seven stars. If only there was a mutant that could increase ticket sales...

Dragoncrypt 7/13/2006 9:31:54 PM