Surprisingly x-cellent.

Rating: 8/10 (3 November 2007)

Having had the director of the first, highly terrific installments replaced by a man whose biggest hits include Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker comedies, it would be easy to get cold feet over whether or not the third installment of the X Men series could hold sway and keep the quality control over one and two in place. I am pleased to report that it does, but it isn't without its faults though. First of all the obvious has to go out of the way, Ratner does a terrific job as director. Although I would have liked to have seen Bryan Singer come back, although to be fair it would have deprived us of a terrific comeback for the Man of Steel, Ratner does do a better job than his 'rent a hack' reputation would have prepared your for. He stages the action sequences terrifically well and the film rattles along at a great pace (from my recollection I think the film runs under two hours, a rarity for a lot of today's blockbusters). If there are two flaws I can point out at with him, it would be that he does lack some of the visual prowess of Singer, who would do some innovative, almost comic book like tricks with the camera and being a director who specializes in somewhat more conventional action pictures, he seems more interested in blowing things up quite spectacularly than mixing in the subtext, something X Men's one and two did so well, although there are hints that Magneto is being compared to the terrorist threat that is present in the real world (a news report of Magneto on a home video reading from a statement seems influenced from similar videos made by Bin Laden).
As always the performances from everyone are superb, added gravitas coming from Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart as always and Hugh Jackman, as always, is great fun as Wolverine, mixing tongue in cheek humour, sarcasm, bitterness and a softness that marks him out as a superb talent. Halle Berry gets more to do as Storm, although she is somewhat overtaken on screen by the three leading men whilst Famke Janssen is mesmerizing as the darker, more psychotic Jean Grey. It's this plot line that really impresses, possibly more so than the mutant cure strand of the story that is really the main thrust of the plot. Whilst the latter wields some of the cod-political and ethical dilemmas that are the bread and butter of the series, whilst also furthering the action sequences culminating in a quite spectacular conclusion on Alcatraz, it is the Phoenix story that audiences and fans will find their hearts in more. Originally set to be the main story when Singer was developing the script, it takes a back seat to the cure strand, but it does hold the attention throughout. Janssen is terrific when playing it in a psychotic manner, anyone who has seen Goldeneye or her terrific turn in Nip/Tuck will testify, but mixing it in with a the broken personality of Jean gives the film more pathos than is really hinted at and impacts greatly on one of the most devastating scenes in the film which sees a long standing character killed off.
Other characters and performers are not quite so lucky. Rogue, despite a great angle being taken with the mutant cure story line through her character, is effectively written out halfway through the film before resurfacing two minutes before the credits roll. Likewise Mystique and Cyclops, wasting the talents of Marsden, whose never had much to do anyway, and Stamos, who along with Ian McKellan with films one and two, has always ran away with the show. It all builds to a satisfyingly action packed and emotional climax, the film overall is great fun and terrific. It may lack the subtleties and sub-text that Singer brought to it before, but in my estimation it could have been worse and to my surprise it ended up being a lot better than I thought it would be.