As I mentioned in a previous post my hopes for X-Men: The Last Stand weren't high. My caution was pretty much justified.
The previous X-Men films worked on the level of a comic book film because director Bryan Singer kept things moving at a fast clip. He didn't dwell too much on the details of the weak story, and even less on the paper-thin characters. This resulted in a pair of fast-moving, mindless effects-fests that one could appreciate in a summer action film state of mind.
This time around, Singer and two of his screenplay-writing cohorts are off to film Superman Returns, leaving Ratner and his Elektra and xXx-credited screenwriters to cope.
An aside: if you know anything about the source material, you just have to leave it at the theater door. This admonition is stronger now than with the two previous films. The Last Stand takes three well-known X-Men storylines from the past and mashes them into an unrecognizable mess.
Ratner wastes a stupendous amount of time attempting to establish a storyline which if better served with less of a set-up. In order to present a semblance of plot depth, he sacrifices all momentum for the first 60 minutes of the film's running time. The story threads that he attempts to weave into the story of The Phoenix are particularly troublesome, given that we end up with a half-baked explanation of Jean Grey's personality issues despite the arduous buildup.
Another weakness is the decision of the creative team to ditch many of the key characters from the two previous films. Some are written out early, and others don't even make an appearance. Where the hell did Nightcrawler disappear to after a substantial amount of screen time in X2? The power play by Catwoman herself, Halle Berry, for a more prominent role backfires on the whole project. Her Ororo Munro is completely passionless, and she gets upstaged continuously by Hugh Jackman's marginally more charismatic Logan. Storm is a powerful, charismatic and passionate character second only to Scott Summers on Charles Xavier's leadership team.
In Berry's hands, she shows less emotion than the unpolished Ellen Page in the role of Shadowcat.
While they ditch many X2 characters, they add a few that are entirely unnecessary. Warren "Angel" Worthington III is featured prominently on posters, even more so than Kelsey Grammer's amazing Hank McCoy. Angel doesn't do anything important in X3.
Overall, only Grammer and, surprise surprise, Ian McKellen turn in performances worthy of note. Everyone else ranges from forgettable to pathetic to simply annoying. (Oh, fine, I was entertained for a couple of minutes by Juggernaut chasing Kitty.)
Finally, one might call the last two scenes of the film (one before the credits, and one after) to be a cop-out. I'd call it leaving the door open for more X-Men films if The Last Stand is profitable. After the poor effort of the preceding 140 or so minutes, this kind of thing can't make it much worse. It's cheesy, but so was a lot of this film. Whatever happens, I hope they don't invite Ratner or the screenwriters back for any potential X-Men 4: What Comes After the "Last" Stand?
Bottom Line: This is easily the weakest of the X-Men films, and is one of the weaker heroes-in-tights films in recent memory. The special effects remain a key attraction, but overall the film fails as a comic-book film and an action film due to glaring missteps and questionable decisions by the creative team. The Last Stand isn't bad for a rainy evening Netflix rental, but there's no reason to go out of your way to see it in a theater.
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