Bottom Line? This Isn't Fantastic, But Neither Is It Terrible.

Rating: 7/10 (31 May 2006)

THIS REVIEW IS FULL OF SPOILERS!
With a $210MUS budget compared to $110MUS for the 2nd and $75MUS for the first, I don't know why I expected more substance. The money obviously went for the effects, but I would not go so far as to say (as have many reviewers of this work) that the action overshadowed the characters. To an extent, that is true, but only to an extent.
The action was great, and the character development was nonexistent, but in all fairness, the characters (for the most part) were previously developed, which precluded a need for extensive work in that area. What DID upset the Fiend was the long, laborious, and desperate contractual wrangling performed by Hale Berry. She saw to it that the entire movie was aimed at her character, was paid a ridiculous sum, and held out for a better script which would allow herself more screen time. The result? A lackluster performance dialed in by Berry, Xavier is killed to afford her screen time, and the more interesting characters were left on the sidelines.
The action did not override the characters. Berry's contract did.
The new X-Men looked wonderful, but the failure to give character exposition did little in the way of fostering love with the audience members. Angel was beautiful and, while he was only touched upon, that was more treatment than the other new additions received.
Frankly, the casting of Kelsey Grammar made me stop and say, WHAT? But my misgivings were apparently unfounded, as he managed to wrangle a great performance from behind a cold, calculating, shroud of ineptitude woven by the would-be director. Beast shone through, and no amount of sidebar inadequacies could shake him from it. The makeup artistry did not hurt, either. He was huge. He was hairy. He was blue. He was irascible. He had a human heart. He WAS Beast! NICE JOB, Kelsey! I won't underestimate you next time.
NOTE TO Bryan Singer: I hate that you did not continue to finish this series of works. You are an unfaithful lover, who has broken trust with your fans. Will you bail on the Superman franchise when the next "new" franchise is introduced? Will you disappoint your fans like this AGAIN? Once a lover strays, they continue to do so until they are bitten. Unfortunately for them, by the time they realize the meaning of faith, no one else will trust them. It might serve you well to learn that now, rather than after it is too late.
The Phoenix storyline I had greatly anticipated, was left to the comic books. This work was more geared to the Dark Phoenix saga, which meant a fast forwarding into a whole new X-Men sub-genre. I said it was "geared to" the Dark Phoenix saga, because it certainly was not THE Dark Phoenix saga. There were no aliens, there was no Apocalypto to bring us the "cure," which wasn't a cure but a poison. There was only Jean Grey, and her inability to control the more dangerous aspects of her gift, and no storyline concerning the Phoenix Herself. None whatsoever. That, in itself, is enough to make fans of the comic book series (You know, those little books upon which this was supposed to be based? Those comic books?) detest the film.
There WERE deaths. Or were there? We never saw Scott's body, and the "bonus scene" shown at the back end of the ending credits clearly gave us Xavier's voice emanating from the mouth of the man who was born without a consciousness.
The "cure" turns out to be more of a "fix" (disregarding the debate concerning whether mutants need to be cured or not), and is not as permanent as we were led to believe, as Magneto's powers appeared in the final scene to be returning; however minutely.
That final scene, along with the bonus scene, indicates to me that there are, indeed, plans to go on with this franchise. If not, this entire movie was a waste of film, leading to nowhere. If so, they have broken my trust in their original claim to make the trilogy, and then stop. For this to be the "final chapter" of the X-Men saga, it neither felt finished, nor WAS finished. It is completely open-ended. This was NOT the way to finish off a popular franchise.
Oh, and just in case you were wondering? There was STILL no sign of Gambit.
That brings us to the last. Is this movie entertaining? In spite of everything, I have to admit that I WAS entertained. While this work lacked any and all shreds of substance we came to expect from the X-Men franchise, it was still ... fun. I highly enjoyed the BlockBuster-y KABOOM factor of this work. But directors like Ratner need to learn that you can't replace style and substance with noise and effects, and expect serious fans to love it.
It rates a 6.7/10 from...
the Fiend :.