Way too short, but not terrible

Rating: 6/10 (11 June 2006)

I'm not going to say that this was a bad movie because I don't think it was. It's not nearly as good as the first two, but then very few third installments are. I think the main problem with this movie is lack of character development. The movie is way too short and devotes little time for character development. The story seems to focus mainly on Jean Grey and Wolverine. All other characters act as secondaries with some humorous one-liners and such, but I still see that as a problem. In the first two movies, every character personality was given time to develop, which is how we fell in love with Storm, Rogue, Cyclops, Professor Xavier, and even Magneto and Mystique. Everyone was made an equal part of the team regardless of whose side they were on. The new characters we are introduced to are very hollow. I'm disappointed that I had to look up Callisto's mutant name on-line since she was one of the few characters that was actually given dialogue. Also, for those of you who say that Juggernaut seemed to just run around and smash into things with no development, that's pretty much what he did in the comics. Having read the comics and seen the old animated series, I think that was a pretty accurate representation of Juggernaut, so if you have a problem with him, talk to Stan Lee not Brett Ratner. Angel, however, is a big exception to this trend. Despite the fact that Angel does very little in the film, the scenes involving him and his relationship with his father are excellent. You really get the sense that these two care for each other despite the foreboding public perception of mutants. You feel sympathy for both him and his father.
However, what little character development present in the film is made up for with the special effects. You can definitely tell that the budget made special effects priority one, and given the circumstances surrounding the making of this film (the constant changes in directing and such), it's nice to see that this film did not totally suffer from those circumstances. The Dark Phoenix effect is really cool (even though I would have preferred that they stick to the comics and give her actual flames), and the scene where Magneto lifts the Golden Gate bridge is fantastic (despite the huge continuity error the develops after the effect is done with). These are just one of the many cool effects that will leave you entertained throughout the movie.
I will not totally spoil the movie for the ten people out there that still haven't seen it, but there are also some good scenes that were totally unexpected and very emotional (but again, most of these emotional scenes involve Wolverine and Jean Grey). I guess they really wanted you to know that this was a war, and in a war there are always some casualties. The end of the film also leaves an interesting teaser that the war may not be over just yet (but I'm kinda hoping they don't make another one; I think they've done as much as they can with these characters; you don't want to overdo it) Overall, this movie makes for a good hour and a half. Would I see it again? Personally no. I would probably just wait for it to come out on video, and then I'd rent it. However, I'm not going to sit there and blame the director, the cast, or the crew for any of the very evident problems with this film. Given the circumstances of production, they all did the best with what they were given, and it's a testament to the commitment and enthusiam these people had for the film that is not seen on very many sets in Hollywood these days.
I recommend that X-men lovers see it just for a sense of closure. Just beware that there are some errors and go with them. It doesn't hold a candle to the first two, but then I wasn't really expecting it to. I think an actual grade scale best summarizes how I feel about this movie instead of the numeric system on IMDb, so I'm giving it a personal grade of B-.
PS: Hats off to Brett for his small tribute to the short fan film "I'm the Juggernaut Bitch!" That's how you know that with all the problems, this was still a labor of love.