Wishing There Was More To It

Rating: 6/10 (28 May 2006)

Never having read the comic books I view the XMen movies as just that - movies. I loved the first two but was slightly disappointed with the third installment.
This film is darker and more intense than the first two - the development of Jean Grey as the Phoenix is a fantastic storyline, and Famke Janssen is amazing as a woman with no control over the creature that lives within her soul. She is at once evil, lost, confused, dangerous and lovable.
However, with the second storyline concerning a mutant "cure" taking up most of the screen time the Dark Phoenix story is pushed into the background and this brings out the faults with the film. Some of the dialogue is missing the sharpness and wit of the first two movies and there are more new mutants introduced in this than there were in the second movie - and thus, not many (if any) are given much character development. The Cure storyline overshadows the more emotional and important Phoenix storyline and as a result almost every mutant seems out of character.
That aside the direction is good - the final fight is amazing, as is the heartbreaking scene between Jean and Wolverine. Watch till the end of the credits for an extra scene.
With surprises around every corner and a higher death count than the first two films combined, XMen 3 does its' best to end the trilogy in a satisfactory way, but you just can't help but wish that there was more to it.