X-Men: The Last Stand (also known colloquially as X-Men 3 or X3) is a 2006 superhero film and the third in the X-Men series. Director Brett Ratner took over when Bryan Singer dropped out to direct Superman Returns. The Last Stand revolves around a "mutant cure" that causes serious repercussions among mutants and humans, and on the mysterious resurrection of Jean Grey. The film is loosely based on two X-Men comic book story arcs: writer Chris Claremont's and artist John Byrne's "The Dark Phoenix Saga" and writer Joss Whedon's and artist John Cassaday's six-issue "Gifted" arc.

Following Singer's departure, the director's position was offered to Darren Aronofsky, Alex Proyas, Joss Whedon and Zack Snyder. Matthew Vaughn, who cast Kelsey Grammer as Beast and Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut, dropped out during pre-production and was replaced by Ratner. Filming started in August 2005, budgeted at $210 million, the most expensive film at the time of its release. X-Men: The Last Stand received mixed reviews from critics and fans, but grossed approximately $459 million worldwide, the seventh-highest grossing film of 2006.

Let's go back to the year 2000 for a moment. X-Men achieved something unexpected. It delivered not only a financially successful film launching a lucrative franchise, but it also garnered a lot of praise and approval from reviewers. The last large-scale comic book adaptation before it was the rightfully panned Batman & Robin, so it was not hard to understand that expectations to see a high-quality comic book adaptation were fairly low. X-Men, however, was not just bland and flashy popcorn fun. It was a dark and smart film that still managed to entertain in its fullest. Despite a large cast and a high number of characters, the movie never lost its focus and treated each character appropriately. The movie's greatest achievement was, though, that it paved the way for big-budget comic book adaptations to hit the screens and thus opened the door to great movies like X2 and both Spider-Man flicks.

When X2: X-Men United arrived with a huge marketing campaign and big anticipation, it was just astounding how much raves the film has got. It easily managed to outdo its predecessor as far as box-office and critical approval go. What was it magic formula? It basically took the essence of what made the first movie so good and expanded upon it by adding something new. X2 is not considered the best comic book adaptation by many for nothing. It is what one would call a perfect continuation. It picked up the themes of the first and led us further down the path together with the characters which were more explored in the second film. The lack of this formula in the third film is what makes it the downright most disappointing film I have ever seen in theatres in my life.

Ever since the moment Brett Ratner was announced to take over the franchise from Bryan Singer there has been a lot of scepticism. Deservingly so? Yes, but it is sad that all the blame will be on him for this film, even though the screenwriters deserve it just as much at least.

The main premise of the movie is a supposed "cure" for mutancy and the X-gene developed by the government. The idea of having such a cure splits the mutants community it two halves. The ones see it as a certain way out of misery while the others consider it as a dangerous step by the government and a possible attack against mutants. The radical part of the second group is led by Magneto (Ian McKellen) who believes that a war against humans is the only way to solve the issue. Watch out for a nice bin Laden reference there. Moreover Jean Grey is back, but this time as Dark Phoenix, ready to unleash her wrath upon anyone who comes in her way. Sadly, the screenwriters also tried to tackle several other subplots which include two love triangles. With a running time of under 110 minutes it is not a surprise that most of these subplots are badly developed and end in nowhere. Even the Dark Phoenix storyline is not as well-constructed as it should have been and that's a pity because in the X-Men comics it is one of the best storylines ever. Wolverine's story is dropped here, even though it was a solid thread that connected the first two installments of the series.

The movie is not bad just very disappointing in comparison. I think Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is a good analogy here. Both films have two great and highly praised predecessors. Then a director change happened for the final film and while the product ended up solid in both cases it just couldn't quite match the first two outings. There is some really good construct buried in X3, it's just that the makers fail to explore its potential fully. There are still many good aspects of the film to be mentioned. The old ensemble cast still works together pretty well with the highlight being Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Ian McKellen delivers a great performance, in particular towards the end of the film. His character, however, loses a lot of ambiguity that he has shown in the previous films. That is something that applies to the entire film as it draws the line between good and bad pretty clearly. There are several cool appearances by new mutants like Callistro, Beast, Angel and Multiple Man in the film, but sadly all of them are way too short and none of the additions come close to the character of Nightcrawler in X2. Especially the heavily-promoted character of Angel is barely seen in the movie.

The visuals are as great as you'd expect. The effects and the make-up are top-notch. The action is great, even though some of it does not make much sense and seems to be in the film just for the sake of showcasing action. The final battle scene is as senseless as it is impressive. There are several unexpected character demises during the film, but only one of them comes close to the powerful "death" of Jean Grey at the end of X2. The rest just leaves you cold. There are several powerful scenes on themselves throughout the film, most of them between Wolverine and Jean Grey. Thanks to a nice pace and the splendid action set pieces the movie is far from boring and can easily serve as good, light popcorn fun. Unfortunately it is not much more than that either. It will certainly be enjoyable and entertaining to most moviegoers who don't ask for more, but for a fan of previous X-films, it is a sore letdown.

The reason why it is one of the most disappointing movies I have ever witnessed is not just the quality of the movie itself, but much rather that it is likely the final entry in the series and it is sad to see the series go out this way (even though an after-credits sequence surely leaves a door open for another sequel). It could have been worse, far worse. But seeing what potential the story bears, it is obvious that in right hands it could have been much better too.

As it is, I still give this film a fairly high grade because in the end, it is an X-Men film with an X-Men feel to it. It does not miss that mark. It has all the entertainment ingredients of the predecessors, but doesn't have the complexity of their storylines. Go in, enjoy this entertaining, but ultimately forgettable romp and don't expect anything close to the best of the genre. For that, we all should look forward to Sam Raimi's Spider-Man III and Nolan's second Batman film.

Yeah, because you weren't screaming, "This will suck!" to the heavens a year before release. You're Harry Knowles, mock 2.

Man, I really do miss 2005. That year really made me appreciate blockbusters. 2006 has made me realize how things are.

I came into X3 with low expectations. And..it BARLEY met these expectations.

Now, let's start with the good. Kesley does an amazing job being Beast. Best acting performance in the movie, though I think that was a given. The comedy in this is good and you actually laugh hard a couple times. "I'm the Juggernuat Bitch" is the greatest thing in the entire movie. And I am being DEAD serious. F/X were good too.

Now on with the bad. Bad pacing, dull acting, bad plot, & the movie sets itself up to be the "last" one and then ends it with, "Oh nvm, theres still some left." Don't call this the last stand and then give an ending like this

I'll do a more in-depth review later as I just came back from the midnight showing. But I must say, this is a big dissapointment. It was no where near X1 or X2.


B

And honestly, it would be C+/B- territory without the Juggernaut.

WOM will not be that good. I mean, even the die-hards at the midnight show weren't that pleased. An average fan probably will enjoy this, but if they are thinking it'll be close to the other two, they are sadly mistaken.

Man, will any blockbuster this summer actually get an 'A' rating?

Now that's a screenplay...

Loved it.

X3 draws on all the best of Shakespeare, the Arthurian legend, and Chinese melodrama to craft a atory of immense power and resonance.

This is the best of the series.

Even better than the solid X1, and fortunately incomparable to the tawdry X2 (certainly, in future, to be considered the "mutant" of the series...) -- X3 brings the thundering storyline and the legendariesque characters under the talented helmsmanship of Brett Ratner, compared to the series' previous sleepyhead director.

(Be sure to stay till after the credits for the X4 teaser...)

6 out of 5.



(Wow, an unusually great summer movie season so far, with X3, the best of the series so far; Poseidon, the action movie par excellence; Over the Hedge, best animated movie in at least two years;, and the exciting church thriller, Da Vinci Code -- I didn't see this many good movies the entire summer of 2005!)

You HAVE to be kidding...

A question to those who have seen it...

Why does at the final battle the day turns into night so rapidly? The entire audience I was seeing it with was asking this question I think...

That looked stupid.

I heard everyone sitting around me wondering about that...

It is never easy walking into a film sequel, especially when the original(s) are held in high esteem. It is even worse when the latest in the franchise is being helm by someone different, not out of choice but because the original helm"er" had decided to call it quits (or run off to make another project). This creates an odd situation. In most situations, you either walk into the flick with high expectations or you walk in with low ones. X3 is an example of a franchise film where your expectations themselves are at odds. On the one hand, the first 2 films have created a great legacy and on the other, all signs point towards certain doom. There are 2 different expectations to meet and if they're not, chances are that the result will be bittersweet.And bittersweet is exactly how I felt walking out of the theater, more bitter than sweet though I felt relieved that it didn't turn out as bad as I thought it 'could'.

Before I continue though, there is one important aspect of the film that must be pointed out, which may invariably be the deciding factor for many if their 2 hour experience was worthwhile or not. At no moment did X3 feel like it was a sequel made to just cash in on the success of its name. The intentions of the studio and all those involved seemed genuinely noble from the get go. X3 has a premise that is compelling, a moral debate that is sound and intelligent, main characters that show hints of depth and as expected off all summer blockbusters, tonnes of action with CGI that may not be jaw dropping but respectable enough. If I really think about it, X3 seemed to cover its basis in just about all respects and everyone deserves a big pat on the back. Well, almost everyone. Something did go wrong somewhere right?

Somehow, even with all the right elements thrown into the movie, none of it seemed to properly work and integrate together. While there is ample action, there is little excitement. While there is a moral dilemma, there is a lack of an emotional response. It is quick to blame the bad execution of the film on the director but putting the entire blame on the director's shoulder would be unfair. The problems lie with the script more so with the director. It is inconsistent, with irregular pacing and even worse, with dodgy development. It's like every great aspect of the film was marred by moments in the script that if I look back, made little sense.

X3 is a film that can essentially be divided into 2 segments. A build up and a 30 minute long CGI laden finale (and by that, I am not implying negativity. I'm part of the popcorn crowd and have never considered CGI as bad (unless its horrible mine you)). Both segments show clear evidence of there being something wrong with how the entire project was executed. The build up sets up everything for our grand finale but the entire time, it only deals with 'who, what, when, why, and how'. Every dialogue and every scene caters to driving the premise and the premise only. Does my negativity on this sound odd? Well think about having a conversation with someone who just deals with telling you the important facts and never deters from it and never becomes casual? You may feel that the content of the conversation is important but it also becomes less engaging. Due to this, the entire film till the very end just feels rushed, with no side tracking. I would say that it gives no breathing room but that is not possible. Due to the way the script is written and the way it is executed, it lacks a certain amount of excitement. Instead of building the audience up to the grand finale, when it finally comes, it is more of a moment of relief than anything. And even then, things aren't spectacular.

Which leads me to my next problem. The characters behave in ways that do not make much sense. The story progresses in a way that does not make much sense. They make for great action pieces but at the end of the day, in all honesty, should have been avoided. There are examples of this throughout the film. Lets take Magneto for example. Here, we have a villain who is not necessarily driven by evil intentions. His intentions, in his mind, are noble which in many ways makes him more dangerous but not necessarily an immoral person. Why would he sacrifice his own brethren as 'pawns' when we can avoid the death of so many of them by taking 2 of the most powerful X-Men (out of the 6 that stood together) out of commission by a single thought? Why would he recruit Phoenix, when he was only going to use her as a last resort. The entire mutant population is fighting for their own survival, and we all see early on how magneto treats those who are no longer 'like him'. Why would a particular mutant character in the middle of the movie sacrifice himself for the greater good of the entire mutant community. It made little sense to me, much like the actions of a lot of characters. Characters show off their powers in fashions they don't necessarily have to, the motivations of many seem unclear and sadly at the end of the day, I felt little emotions for even the lead characters who are dealing with their respective predicaments.

As negative as I sound, X3 is not a bad movie. As I said in the beginning, it had everything going for it and the problem lay in the execution of it, which did not bode well with me at all. X3 calls itself the Last Stand and many actors have confirmed for us that this will be the last in this mutant franchise. Don't be surprised though if you get the vibe that the studio doesn't feel the same way : )

A question to those who have seen it...

Why does at the final battle the day turns into night so rapidly? The entire audience I was seeing it with was asking this question I think...

That looked stupid.

Storm??

It was a big plot hole in the film that I also heard many people go, "WTF?"

But honestly, who liked the action in X2 better? While the movie only really had like 3 good action scenes(Nightcrawler, invasion at Xaiver, & the end) those combined were bettter than all the action sequences in X3. That's why I'm like really dissapointed with this, because at the least, I expected this to have the best action.

Arg, I just can't get over this. This film has like ruined the whole franchise for me. Everything that was set up in the previous two just got destroyed by this one and had no meaning. I mean, Scott and Mystique are freakin gone in like 5 minutes. Rogue is hardly in the film. I could go on and on. Man, its been like 5 hours and I'm still pissed off.