A good action flick with less than stellar direction

Rating: 7/10 (6 January 2007)

I had avoided seeing X-Men 3 for quite some time for the simple fact that I had heard it was a supreme disappointment compared to the second film of the series. I finally caved in and was pleasantly surprised that while it doesn't live up to the previous two films, it still stands on its own as a worthwhile part of the series.
From an action point of view, there is plenty of. The action sequences are impressive to watch and the effects work is nothing short of fantastic. There was not a single effect that looked bad or looked like obvious CGI work -- which is a shortfall of even the best of films -- so in that regards it is quite impressive. There is a broadening of the ethical questions that the series poses, this film introducing the idea of a "cure" to mutancy and questioning whether there can be moral absolutes.
My two biggest complaints are that of direction and the script itself. Brett Ratner has once again failed to show himself as an actor's director. Many scenes looked as if they were filmed simply for being parts of the script that he had to get out of the way in order to move onto the fun stuff. Unfortunately, this approach has the effect of making the actors' performances look stale, unimpressive and -- in some cases -- completely out of character for what has been established in the past. I would venture to guess that he could have drawn out (translation: directed) more honest and better performances from his cast than what he chose to put on screen. This has always been his downfall as a director, a trait he unfortunately brought to what had been to this point a well developed character piece for a comic book movie.
The script itself had some very poor choices both in terms of logic and dialog. Some of the major action sequences prove to be very poorly thought out demanding more than a realistic level of suspension of disbelief. The entire finale rests upon moving the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco, yet does not actually take into consideration the reality of the situation in any way. By ignoring why the bridge sits on concrete bases, what is left is a view of the bridge sitting across the water as if its lower supports could float making for the scene to be rather ridiculous. Add to this some extremely poor dialog (most notable an example being Juggernaut's line to Kittie Pryde in the lab complex) and things could be better. And while the moral issues brought forward in this film are excellent, at the same time the writers failed to truly explore the issues more than a fleeting admission of their presence.
However, not to make it seem like I didn't enjoy the film, I would say that X-Men 3 is a fun film to watch with many exciting and visually attractive elements. Don't go in expecting X-2 and you will not be disappointed.