X-Men 3

Just got back from a midnight show of X-Men: The Last Stand. Yes, I geeked out and saw it early...

It wasn’t as bad as I had feared, but it was nowhere near as good as it could have been, which in the end amounted to a tremendous cocktease. Compared to other superhero movies, the X-Men films are, for my money, the best there are. But compared to the X-Men and X2, The Last Stand is amazingly lame.

The thing is, there’s good stuff here. The story could have been really powerful, with socio-political themes that resonate deeply today. And the treatment of the comic book storylines is surprisingly good – anyone who thought they couldn’t incorporate Phoenix realistically enough to makes sense in these movies should eat their words.

Yes, this could have been a really great movie…if only Bryan Singer had directed it. The style, wit, and substance Singer brought to the first two X-Men films is gone, replaced by Brett Ratner’s ham-handed, money-shot ethos. Worse still, all the drama surrounding the film’s pre-production is apparent throughout. Certain characters’ speedy disposal or absence from significant portions of the film screams of scheduling conflicts and contract difficulties. The Last Stand is the shortest of the X movies, and as such crams scene on top of scene with virtually no subtlety or character development. Angel barely interacts with any of the other mutants; it’s impossible to figure out exactly what connection Beast had to the X-Men; and Colossus is just a glorified extra. The first half of the movie plunges you right into the action, like watching part two of a TV miniseries when you haven’t seen part one. It rushes toward the spectacular climax of Act I, Xavier and Magneto’s confrontation with Phoenix. But nothing in Act II manages to top that single thrilling, heartbreaking moment.

And that’s where The Last Stand really disappoints. The ending is so astoundingly anti-climactic. I could have forgiven – and probably would have forgotten – all of those flaws if only the ending had been worth it.