X-Men: The Last Stand falls short of previous movies

Rating: 4/10 (24 May 2006)

It's difficult for a new director and writing team to take over a spectacular franchise, but the new crew missed the mark on a lot of details. Without giving away plot, it is fair to say that there were a lot of disconnects between the characters and the plots in which they were - or were NOT - played. Where a character should have been integral to plot (Rogue and Beast making choices, for instance), we saw none of the inner conflict that should have existed - either prior to or after the decision made.
Another area in which this movie lagged far behind its predecessors was in "Easter egg" background characters. The previous movies offered identifiable glimpses of supporting characters known within the overall X-Men universe; Last Stand instead used generic characters that could have just as easily been at home in the background of any Star Trek television episode.
Expectations for Last Stand ran high, but ultimately weren't met. The movie may have been great for a lover of action films who was totally unfamiliar with X-Men lore, but for anyone who enjoys any of the monthly comic series or previous movies the result had to be disappointment.
I guess my main hope - if indeed another X-Men movie is even optioned, that is - is that the next movie start out with Cyclops waking up in bed and stating "I just had the weirdest dream..." which would basically remove X-Men: The Last Stand entirely from movie continuity.