This
is the third installment of the X-Men series, continuing the storylines
developed since the first X-Men and the
show-stopping finale which culminated in the death of Jean Grey (Janssen,
Hide and Seek) in X2.
Jean Grey does make a comeback here, although she isn't feeling quite herself
these days, as it appears that her darker side, which had been held dormant
thanks to the help of Prof. Xavier (Stewart, Star Trek:
Nemesis), has now emerged from the traumatic events of
saving the X-Men collective bacon. So far gone is she that she ostensibly
kills off her beloved Cyclops (Marsden, Interstate
60), then proceeds to wreak havoc on the X-Men
compound before going into cahoots with evil mastermind Magneto himself.
Magneto (McKellen, The Da Vinci Code)
sees Grey, now dubbed Phoenix due to her newfound destructive penchant,
as his trump card in his ultimate war against homo sapiens, who have now
developed a "cure" for the mutant gene.
Given the mass exodus of behind-the-scenes
talent and tumultuous mid-production changes, it's a bit of a small miracle that
the third installment in this lucrative franchise, X-Men: The Last Stand,
would end up being as good as it is. Bryan Singer, director of the first
two films, left to direct Superman Returns, only for the project to
finally be directed by one of Superman Returns originally slated
directors, Brett Ratner. Although Ratner is generally considered a more
lightweight director than Singer, mostly known for the mediocre but popular
action-comedies Rush Hour and
Rush Hour 2, he also directed a more
serious franchise film in Red Dragon, to mostly successful results, so
there was still some reason to hope.
I'm happy to report that Ratner does a
commendable job keeping this extremely difficult third entry together,
especially given the sheer gravity and scope of the multi-textured story, as well as the lofty
expectations among the fans to deliver the goods after the critically acclaimed,
X2: X-Men United. While the battle will rage on indefinitely as to
which of the X-Men movies is the best, I suspect the second entry will
claim the honors for some time, although my personal pick is for this one,
despite the middling reviews by many mainstream critics. Why? Simply
put, it actually captures the enormous magnitude of the mutant vs. human war in
ways the first two films never quite were able to. While the fate of the world
always has hanged in the balance throughout, this time, it is definitely
presented in a magnificent way onscreen.
If there is one thing that I wish could
have been better, it would have been to have beefed up the film about another
20-30 minutes in order to get a better sense of pacing. While the film
does hold together fairly well, and the emotional element is still quite
present, most of the momentum in terms of the characterizations come from the
first two films. The balance is shifted a bit too far in the action and
explosions direction, and while those scenes are a glory to behold, there is a
sense of profundity and underlying importance that seems to have been excised
out in order to accommodate more of a fever pitch. At only 1 hour and 44
minutes, which is about a half hour less than X2's running length, there
definitely was an opportunity to deliver much more in terms of giving the
magnificent action scenes more weight and drama. That another dozen or so
new mutants are introduced here and vie for precious screen time, while eating
into that which rightfully belongs to the characters we do care about, doesn't
help matters in the slightest.
Even though the opportunity for a truly great
X-Men movie is never quite realized, there are some great moments that make
The Last Stand more than worthy of the price of admission for all fans of
the series. While the marketing department behind the film would have you
believe this is the final film in the X-Men trilogy, they've left several
doors wide open for possible sequels and spin-offs, and given the box office
returns seen already at the time of this writing, it's impossible to believe we
won't see a return sometime very soon in some form or fashion for our beloved
mutant heroes. Let's face it -- they wouldn't introduce so many new,
needless characters if they weren't planning on using them more prominently in
the future, right? While the battle will rage on as to whether fan-boys
prefer this one over the first two films in the series, one thing isn't much in
dispute -- this is by far the best third film in any superhero franchise
to date (eclipsed later by The Dark Knight
Rises).
-- Followed by
The
Wolverine.
