The Action Builds to a Screeching Halt with Its Lack of Imaginative Powers

Rating: Null/10 (12 September 2009)

'X-Men: The Last Stand' (2006) is the third movie in a series consisting of 'X-Men' (2000) and 'X2 - X-Men United' (2003).
To begin the third movie we go back to Jean Grey's childhood in which Professor Xavier's tries to persuade her to come to his school for gifted children. In the second movie Dr. Jean Grey previously "died" in combat, crushed under a huge wave of water.
As a new twist, we discover she (as Dr. Jean Grey) has latent powers that saved her from being crushed in the second movie. She has a split personality. One, as Jean Grey, a somewhat average mutant that is good at telekinesis and some limited ESP. Two, as the Phoenix, a mad woman cloaked in red with red hair (sometimes evil black eyes too) and the most powerful of all mutants; she can make most anything happen by merely thinking about it (though she mostly stands around waiting for a spot in the script to do something). Mostly we see her break bodies into dust, dismantle guns, stop bullets, break buildings apart, and manipulate water.
However, the Phoenix is not much of a conversationalist and is ready at any moment to snap and lose control of her powers. She plays mind games with her old boyfriend Cyclops at the start, and she gets in the head of Wolverine. She craves for terrifying kisses, her passion simmers wild; and if she had had better writers, she would have been a very exciting mutant to watch.
The main part of the plot involves a new cure for mutants. We are told that a mutant X gene is the carrier of mutant gifts and sparked the evolution of mutant powers. And one of those mutants, a bald child dressed in white, has power to inhibit the powers of any other mutants standing in a close radius. The humans use the child to make an antidote to cure mutants. Some mutants are pleased such as Rogue (played by Anna Paquin). Her gift doesn't allow her to touch another person with her bare skin. If she does, then she draws on the other persons life-force and either kills them (if human), steals their powers (if mutants), but her touch is fatal for mutants if she holds long enough. She is determined to be romantic with her boyfriend, Bobby\Iceman, and to have a normal life.
Some X-men are not happy with the cure. Magneto, especially, is rebellious. He gathers a team of mutants and plans to destroy the cure. The main talents on his team are Pyro, a flame controlling powerhouse, and Juggernaut, a rammer-man like figure (sort of like the character from the He-man series). His associate Mystique, a blue skinned mutant who can take any form, gets information on the cause of the cure (i.e., the boy in white, who is necessary for making the antidote) and puts Magneto hot on a hunt to destroy the cure and kill the boy. Though if any of the mutants are shot with the cure, they instantly turn into a human.
The X-men, on their side of gearing up for battle, engage in a virtual reality simulation of a worst case scenario battle against giant machines (just like in 'The Matrix'). But later fights in the film against Magneto and his mutant faithful are not nearly as destructive.
Wolverine enters as his typical loner self, but we can't have any of that in this movie. He must learn to work together in a team; all individuals must be put down the movie seems to suggest. The X-men are led by Storm and they join with human forces to stop Magneto's army from destroying the cure. A fight ensues between the X-men and Magneto's forces. Magneto spends most of the fight standing in the back like a general moving his pawns.
We are forced to think back to the first movie where Magneto stripped a squad of police officers of their weapons, and compare his inability to do the same here. In the second movie he was more inventive and broke out of prison with multiple pellets of metal (which, in my opinion, was the cleverest use of his powers yet).
Magneto spends most of the movie seemingly stripped of his powers, with few exceptions. He moves a whole bridge to get to the secret fortress where the little boy is kept, he uses metal pieces from a bridge to prevent antidote darts from hitting him on one occasion, and he launches cars at the X-men with Pyro lighting them on fire. But he doesn't like to use his powers in creative ways. Why couldn't use his powers to make a well manipulated weapon (cars could be shaped into a giant hammer or millions of pellets, for instance)?
I walked away thinking many of the ideas could have been interesting (the Phoenix and Juggernaut come to mind), but I was very sad and bored by the end. This movie is sort of like a cautionary tale against great power: power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely; we are told. The action screeches to a halt and doesn't let the good mutants fully utilize their talents. One exception is the girl who can walk through walls; she is much improved in this movie, but the metal man stays in the background.
A new mutant, beast, a blue skinned hairy guy is a central figure (he reminds me of Sabertooth from the first movie, who disappeared never to return). He acts as a diplomat, oddly enough, between human and mutant. The days of the Professor are over. The private, secretive mutants behind the scenes are now out in the open. In the end, all stand hand-in-hand, and the crowd cheers as a hairy oaf stands to give a speech!
It is viewable for the special effects and for fans of the series.