The Last Stand to what?

Rating: 6/10 (27 May 2006)

I remember loving the first two movies. I also remember getting more and more excited as I watched both movies when they were released in the theaters. Yes, they changed a few details in order to make the live action believable, but as a moviegoer, I really didn't care. I just wanted the movie to stay true to the spirit of the comic without sacrificing too much of what the readers have come to love about the comic books.
And while I never felt it made much of a difference between directors, I now can see why directors make such a big difference for a movie. It's the difference between a Steven Spielberg film and a Stanley Kubrick film.
In this case, it's the difference between a fantastic movie director and a mediocre movie director that made a name for himself by helping put Jackie Chan on the map (ahem. Rush Hour anyone?)
Clocking in at barely 1 hr and 39 minutes, there just was not enough time allotted to any of the characters. Little to no character development and lots of Kraft cheese laid on top with the expectation that we as an audience don't know the difference. Psylocke was in the movie? Where? Jubilee too? and Siryn? WTF?!?
It became painfully obvious after watching it a second time that they needed to make this movie at least 20 minutes longer. Plenty of action, not enough plot or character development. It just tried to do too much at once.