This film is so bad it sucks.

Rating: 1/10 (6 June 2006)

Worse than its predecessors, it achieves quick oblivion. Incapable of transmitting any feelings, it's basically a catalog of clichés, with the drama of a high school play.
Basically, it's yet another instance of the extremely old US philosophy of "nobody's above the law". One character, invariably evil, selfish and a bit seductive, thinks he's better than the rest of humanity. He/ she embodies "Struggle for the fittest". In less than two hours, he's dead or in jail and unrepentant. The "tolerant" selfless view prevails, and you go home to your Darwinian job and life, even thinking you've learnt something useful.
Like "Charlie's angels 3", there are separate duels to make things last even longer (Iceman and Pyro, Storm and "Callisto" the Latin woman who moves fast). It has the aesthetics of a 50's corny film, like those of Liz Taylor in Rome or the like :).
The "political message" is so diluted and SO politically correct that it has less power of rebellion than a Che Guevara T-shirt. Scenes that should provoke some emotion end up being laughable, like the "Angel" flying away from the skyscraper and his manipulative father. Let alone their timely "reconciliation" Others, that should be beautiful, like Phoenix's love scene with Pyro, leave us as cold as the icy weather Storm creates.
This film is not alone in its mediocrity: it's a proved product, so I guess studios will hammer on with this "genre" of films acted by computers and with enough "romance" and "emotion" to make any intelligent teen throw up. There are a couple of new characters, and also a few sudden deaths, but even those elicit less empathy than a diapers commercial. The "rebellion" as well as the "mutants who want to be cured" look like people on welfare more than a mighty army ready to "take the world". Famke is nice, and red hair suits her. And the way she walks! Pity she's given no decent lines nor character development. Rebecca Romijn is a classic beauty, so much it can withstand all this blue :)!
Like most US blockbusters, packs a few jokes, two of them being actually good (the rest are sad). As any good franchise, the "open endings" leave room for about a dozen more episodes and related products. Stay until the credits are gone if you want to use your brain a bit (it'll be bored by 1 hour + of inactivity :) ). This is a film for dumb teenagers, so it's tirelessly marketed for them. The fact that this film grossed more than 200 million makes me have doubts about the humanity's future. And it having been shown at CannesI suppose any French critic armed with psychoanalysis can tear it apart in less time than you can eat one popcorn. I agree with "M. Miller" from Amazon that it's intriguing that Jean/Phoenix basically doesn't speak, given her central role. And with Andrew "Radaar": there are just way too many characters. Using his words, but with my own ideas: This film is a franchise in instalments.
The best review I read is, by far, "stu157 from United Kingdom" in IMDb. Selections: "The previous films had intelligence and emotion, compared to explosions and annoyances."
"The final battle is also inexplicable, with both sides not really sure what they should be doing". "what is (the problem)? The script. It's as if the writers truly want this to be the last film, killing off characters early to make way for new ones".