X-Men: The Last Stand
X-Men: The Last Stand
2/5
"When an individual acquires great power, the use or misuse of that power is everything, will it be used for the greater good or will it be used for personal or destructive ends?" - Profesor X
When a Director acquires great power over a movie franchise that has produced two quality films, he then has the choice to continue the trend for the greater enjoyment of movie goers, or her can ruin everything and destroy all of your positive feelings towards the series that one may have. Director Brett Ratner has apparently chosen the later of the two options. X-Men and X-Men 2 were two of the better comic book adapted films that Hollywood had seen in a long time. They both were able to put these fictional superheroes into the realm of the real world and make you buy into their pain, and their struggles. X-Men 3 takes many of the elements of the previous movies, throws them into a blender and eventually just pours out its remains in front of you.
X-3 has some heavy marks against it from the early goings. One thing that people have always loved about the series is that the X-men are a team of superheroes, and unlike the fantastic 4 are not goofy or cheesy. These are people who have powers, but none are superman. All have their strengths, weakness’, and they must join together to use their powers to save the day. In X-3 the X-men we know are really cut down to two people. Cyclops and Dr. X are out of the movie very early with death scenes that seem questionable. I feel as if they were killed for no reason other than making the movies ending a bit more dramatic. Nightcrawler who was a great addition in X-2, and played by the great Alan Cummings wasn’t even asked back for the sequel, which also leaves me a bit puzzled. Then we have Jean Grey who is the star, so to speak, of the movie, yet she really doesn’t do all that much. She has been changed dramatically. So dramatically that a good 20-30 minutes of the movies seems to be spent explaining all this back-story that was never given to us in x-men 1 or 2. Rouge? Rouge is seen in posters and was one of the major players in the first two movies. And for no real good reason she disappears after the first half of the movie and we don’t see her again till the final 3 minutes of the movie. So that leaves us with the famously cheesy Storm played by Halle Berry who has been a drag on this series from the word go. She takes on a combat role, but all of her fight sequences seem to be her getting beaten for 5 minutes, then electrocuting them and it ends. Kinda lame. Then we have Wolverine.
Wolverine is one of the few things that do go right here in the movie. Hugh Jackman is still as strong in this role as he was when he was originally cast. Hugh Jackman is proving that he is an actor that can really carry a movie and is almost taken on the role of a modern day Harrison Ford style actor. Harrison Ford when he was in his prime that is, not "Hollywood Homicide" Ford. Jackman will also be staring in the sci-fi thriller "The Fountain" later this year, which is also from the acclaimed director of Requiem for a dream, Darren Aronofsky
So where does that leave us? Wolverine and Storm. But since this film is the X-men, there must be more and there is. To fill the void it seems X-3 takes a page out of Harry Potter as it enlists the young students to join them in battle. Ratner not only feels that he needs to include a bevy of high school mutants, but also writes In a completely out of place love triangle between 3 of the students that takes place during this epic war. But its not just Highschoolers, but Fraiser is there also! Yes, Kelsey Grammer plays the wooly blue mutant Beast, who’s powers are too… hit people hard? Jump kinda far? Its never really made clear as all he does is talk and then joins a battle at the end. Now of course the super fans of the x-men know beast well, but newer fans will seem puzzled by this addition. And if you choose to add Beast, why not Gambit? If it truly is the last stand, lets truly pull out all the stops and give people a good show. But adding Gambit would take time away from the highschooler storyline that the director seemed so dead set on telling.
And then on to movie B. 20 minutes of X-3 follows the story of the Mutant “Angel”. A young man who has the gift of flight. But what puzzles me is that there is only ONE scene in which he interacts with ANYONE in the X-men, or the villains. He is labeled in the media ads as a big part of the movie, yet he has nothing to do with the story. It is beyond pointless as he struggles with his father and ends up saving his father in the middle of the mutant battle, having nothing to do with the Dark Phoenix or the war itself.
But who is the Dark Phoenix? That is Jean Grey. The Mega weapon who goes around and scares people and then melts them every once in awhile. Between X2 & X3 Jean has let one side of her mind take over the other and has become… get this… evil. Well, maybe I’m being a bit harsh. It isn’t that bad of a twist, as it is just a very poorly executed twist. Even though she has these superpowers and has a split personality storyline, she spends most of the movie standing behind people as they debate what to do with her or what to do next. She latterly becomes a part of the scenery. She joins with Magneto who is once more played by the always-amazing Ian Mckellen. She joins him in trying to destroy a group who are researching a cure for mutants. This ends up in a giant mutant war in the final 20 minutes which has its moments but overall leaves you wondering “what’s the point if….” Not to give away the ending.
Overall, Big X-Men fans will find things to enjoy in this film, as will people who just enjoy watching things blow up from time to time. But for people who are looking for that same great action packed adventure of the first two films, you will be disappointed walking out of the theater.
