X-Men 3: The Last Stand 3/5 reviewed by Mike

The X-Men are very dear to my heart. I grew up reading X-Men comics, and loving the characters, and I've been waiting for good X-Men movies since I was in elementary school. Having loved the first 2 X-Men films, I was very worried about this third one. When I heard that Bryan Singer and David Hayter were not involved, and that Brett Ratner had taken the directing chair, then I got incredibly worried. This film could have been like what happened when Schumacher took over the Batman franchise. Thankfully, it's not that. The film isn't as bad as it could have been, but neither is it as good as it should have been.

Anyone attempting to make an X-Men film is in for a tough time. With almost 50 years of detailed history and dozens of great characters and storylines, how do you choose what to do, and what to leave out? Herein lies one of the principal flaws with this film: too many characters. There's just too many people. Granted, all the characters are cool--you've got Shadowcat, Angel, Beast, Colossus, Iceman, Juggernaut, Multiple Man, Callisto, Pyro, in addition to the main characters from the last two films--but the sheer number of characters involved keep you from getting to know ANY of them. There is almost zero character development in this film. You have to go off what you know of these characters from the previous films, or else you're lost, because you never get to see who these characters are, or what they're about--which is sad, because the characters are so cool.
Another key ingredient thats missing is a good story. This plot is so cluttered, that it just barely makes sense. They try to follow the Phoenix story, but it feels really tagged on, and really distracts from the rest of the film. Plus, their treatment of Phoenix is wierd, creepy (I wouldn't take young kids to this) and downright odd. It's not what I think Phoenix could be or should be. The whole Phoenix story is clearly an add-on that doesn't fit with the rest of the film at all. The rest of the film is still very problematic in it's structure, and full of logic problems. Granted, we're dealing with a movie where people have super powers, but Singer showed us that this doesn't mean you have to ignore good story structure and logic.

One thing the movie does really well, however, is action. This is an action film, in it's purest sense--the story is an excuse for action. It has the pace of: action--exposition--action--quick explanation for why the next action scene is going to happen--more action! Regardless of the fact that I don't think thats a good way to make a movie, or tell a good story about real characters--the action is awesome to watch, and is much better done than the previous films.

Overall, this movie feels like a collection of really cool scenes, rather than a cohesive, powerful story. All the individual scenes are done very well, and there's plenty of fan service. It's great to see the "Fastball Special," Shadowcat fight Juggernaut, a Danger Room fight involving Sentinels, etc. But although there's a lot of "coolness," going on, the movie doesn't come together very well.

One thing that does stick out to me is this level of "fan service," but also a blatant need to screw with X-Men lore. I think this movie goes way too far in messing with things. People start dying left and right, and theres a really messed-up sex scene (no one actually has sex, but they get close, and it's way over the top). What I see in this, is a lack of respect for the source material, and a lack of respect for the first two films. There's a blatant disregard for certain canonical elements of the books, and a blatant disregard for some of the rules and continuity set in the first two films. It's almost like, they wanted to turn X-Men into something that it wasn't, really messing with it, and then placate the fans by giving all these "nod nod, wink wink" cheesy moments and refrences. Bryan Singer and David Hayter were able to mess with the continuity in a way that was true to the spirit of the books, and showed a respect and love for them. I don't feel that this movie does that. I don't think Brett Ratner loves these characters the way I do, and it's almost like this movie was a notch in his belt. He takes my beloved X-Men and reduces them to an action movie full of cheap thrills (that are genuinely thrilling, though). This movie is much more "Comic Booky" in it's tone and I don't mean that in a good way.

Bottom line on this one? It's still a good X-Men movie with plenty of coolness. I'll probably see it again. And it's a great action movie. But it's definitely the weakest of the three X-films. No, Brett Ratner is not Joel Schumacher, but good is definitely more than the abscence of bad.

See this movie if:
-You're an X-Men fan.
-You like really cool action scenes, and a lack of character development doesn't bother you
-You want to see the awesome new trailer for "Superman Returns"

Don't see this movie if:
-You like deep emotional dramas with realistic characters
-You're still bitter about how different Rouge was in the first two movies than she was in the comics. This movie treads on a lot more than that.
-Phoenix has always been your favorite, and you've always wanted to see her on screen. Whatever you're imagining is way cooler than the Phoenix this movie presents.