Decent X-Men flick but not as good as 1 or 2

Rating: 7/10 (25 May 2006)

Fans anxiously await the final installment in the series. The question on everyone's lips: Is it any good? The good news is that it's O.K. It's a reasonably entertaining end to the series with lots of action, spectacular effects and a fun script. Trouble is, it's just not as good as X-Men 2. Or even X-Men 1.
The bad news is that there's simply no intelligence in the plot-lines. That's what 1 and 2 had. Intelligent plotting. Here logic seems to have been abandoned in favor of action and effects. Exactly why did Xavier confront Jean Grey in the house alone and why did the house have to go flying? Exactly why in the finale did Magneto have to re-arrange the Golden Gate bridge to get across the water? Surely simply catching a boat would have been easier? And how on Earth could a simple injection cure mutations so quickly and easily? In the end Magneto is reduced to looking like a bumbling klutz in a cape, which he never was. And the supposedly formidable intellect that was Charles Xavier is vanquished earlier in the movie with scarcely a fight. Give us a break! On the other hand the action scenes are spectacular, fun and effective. Jean Grey returns as the Dark Phoenix and she is certainly a very powerful character - the most effective in the movie. The awesome (and outright scary) nature of her powers clearly projects through the screen and into the psyche of the audience. Dark Phoenix rising up from the lake is a sight to behold and it really does appear that she could be the 'next stage' in evolution. We again see plenty of Wolverine and Storm in action and there are some great quips in the script. There's a great Wolverine scene - Wolverine is in his element fighting to get past the sentries in the forest in a covert operation. If one can forgive the woefully silly nature of the finale, it's still great eye-candy, with mutants using their powers in entertaining ways.
Entertaining but forgettable action flick and an O.K end to the X-Men series. Nothing more. But nothing less.