Not too shabby, but all in all little more than a popcorn flick

Rating: 6/10 (6 June 2006)

Having just seen X3: The Last Stand for the second time, I've formulated a couple of opinions. There were a few things i liked, and several things I didn't.
Firstly, I loved the opening sequences. They did a lovely job making Ian McKellen look twenty years younger. Kudos there, and kudos on storyboarding the scene. While we're on the subject, it was VERY nice to see some further evidence of Charles' character. Namely that he frequently views bottling up issues as the best way to deal with them. The BEST improvement over the other two films though, (IMO) was Storm's improved role. Finally they let her actually use her powers WELL.
As far as things that need improvement. I would've liked to see some acknowledgment of the relationship between Charles and Juggernaut. Second, although I appreciate the nods to comic fans like finally seeing Bobby iced over, it would've been even better to see an actual fight between he and Pyro rather than just a beam war. This underscores my main problem with all of the movies: There is not enough good action to legitimize the lack of story and character development. The large fights at the end have consistently broken down into one-on-one fights: Pyro vs. Iceman, Storm vs. Calysto, Juggernaut vs. Kitty, etc. In X2 and X men this was also true. It would be nice to see the team actually work as a team for more than the thirty seconds it takes for Colossus to fling wolverine at Magneto.
Also a minor point... I'm not sure that Leech's power should have worked on Juggernaut given that his abilities are not a mutation but magically endowed.
In conclusion, X-Men 3 shows us some vast action scenes which really aren't all that vast, showcasing characters which really aren't all that deep. Despite these There are a few very nice nods to the comics, and SOME characters which are finally given ample attention, while others like Colossus who are left in the dust. All in all, not a terrible movie, worth a watch, but don't expect to be wowed... especially since it cost over two hundred million to make. Go see the matinÃ©e.
6/10---Slightly better than average