A frightful tertiary installment...

Rating: 8/10 (30 May 2006)

This is the first of the now three X-Men movies I watched in a theater. From what I saw on TV and word of mouth from the few people I know that watched the movie, I was expecting this installment to be different from the first two.
I was nowhere near to expecting the developments that Brett Ratner and the producers of this film would give us, though. Without giving away the major events, I'll just say that by the time the movie ends, two of the franchise's key characters don't live through to the end, and three others have their lives changed in a radical way! As with all of the movies in this franchise, each scene is meticulously planned and filmed, and it shows. Though it wasn't helmed by Brian Singer, Ratner did a very good job in maintaining some semblance of a workable plot.
This movie took a far darker role than what I was expecting, and I am honestly surprised the film received a PG-13 rating; much of the graphic violence would have garnered an R rating just ten years ago. And the dark plot development, particularly with the return of Jean Grey, was a shocking turn of developments.
Overall, of course, I was impressed with the good use of diverse characters; Kelsey Grammar was a surprisingly good addition, although I had no hint of an idea what his mutation was until the final battle of the film. And it was good to see more screen time for the more well-known mutants from the comics we saw only hints of in the previous movies. Lastly, anytime Rebecca Romijn is lying naked on the floor is a good scene! I would recommend watching the second movie before watching this one for the sake of character development.