The result of Rushed project...

Rating: 4/10 (9 June 2006)

"X-Men: The Last Stand", chapter three of the film adventures of Marvel Comic's most popular superhero team has finally arrived after a long chain of pre-production problems and repeated changes in the crew. Sadly, all this problems are reflected in the final product and it is safe to say that the studio's insistence on making the film on time to compete with "Superman Returns" no matter the cost is directly responsible of the mediocre results of the film.
The movie starts off with a "cure" for the mutations being discovered, giving the mutants a chance to abandon their powers and become "normal"; this discovery is taken by the powerful mutant Magneto (Ian McKellen) as a threat and decides to eliminate it causing a confrontation with Prof. Xavier's (Patrick Stewart) X-Men. In the middle of the confrontation a tremendous source of power appears that seems to be linked to the deceased Jean Grey (Famke Janssen).
Brett Ratner takes on the spot left by previous director Bryan Singer and attempts to continue exploring the universe Singer and his writers developed in this adaptation of the comic book. While writers Zak Penn and Simon Kinberg construct an intriguing plot that continues the story arc set by the previous movie, they fail to develop believably the characters and in an obvious attempt to include as many new mutants as possible, they forget to give them a purpose to be there.
The visual style follows the same realistic sci-fi vibe that Singer created for the previous movies, keeping a continuity in design that is very effective. However, Ratner's movie feels too short, or more exactly, too fast; as its non-stop pace makes one wish they had not rushed the project because the amount of continuity errors and overall the film's poor edition are fatal flaws that terribly affect the movie. The epic-scale tale penned by Penn and Kinberg is left as another typical and predictable "good VS evil" fight with terrible plot twists and bad characterization.
The acting is average at best, with Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart being (as usual) the best in their roles. Jackman's Wolverine, who is probably the only character who receives attention from the writers, is still very good, although his lack of chemistry with Janssen is apparent. the rest of the cast is as dull as usual, and not because the actors are bad, it is just that their talents are wasted in pointless roles. Complex characters such as Rogue (Anna Paquin), Mystique (Rebecca Romijn) or the newly introduced Beast (a superb Kelsey Grammar) are reduced to shadows of their former selves.
The special effects range from outstanding to cheap looking, and this big variation in quality makes one suspect that Ratner had not enough resources to work with. This is could be called the trademark of this film: there are things that are simply outstanding while others are very, very disappointing; leaving an overall mediocre result and definitely not a worthy follow up to what Singer had accomplished in the previous two movies.
Director Singer and his writers build up a universe where the audience not familiar with the characters could enjoy a coherent and entertaining story; in contrast, Ratner's attempt to continue Bryan Singer's labor in the X-Men saga ends up as an inconsistent and weak episode in the series, and surely will disappoint not only fans of the comic book, but also fans of the first two movie episodes.