A Summer Movie that's tons of fun but that's about all it is

Rating: 7/10 (26 May 2006)

X-3 is without Brian Singer but Brett Ratner (Red Dragon, Rush Hour 1 and 2) at least stays faithful to the original movies. I'm not sure if all comic fans will jump for joy after seeing the movie though. The movies never fully become what they could've been. It would seem that this one ends things before the series could fully develop into the great stuff the comics and even the 1990's cartoon series gave us. Still though with so much great action and fun special effects it's pretty hard to call this a bad movie. It may not be the ending fans want but is it bad ending ? No.
In this film, the father of Angel (Ben Foster) wants a normal life for his son who just happens to be a mutant with Angel wings. So he finds a cure but not all mutants want the cure. Magneto of course is strongly against it and plans on raging war against humans and killing the boy who's the source of the cure. While Jean Grey is back as Phoenix but without yelling "I am PHOENIX!!" like you may remember from the cartoon series lol. Here she just stands there thinking about what her next move will be. While Wolverine trys to get through to her. It's hard though since Magneto has a strong influence on her.
Ratner offers many new bad mutants but...they are hardly developed. Juggernaut (Vinnie Jones) for example isn't related to Charles Xavier at all in this movie and yes he has some great fight scenes but it's still sorta disappointing how he's used. I expected a fight between him and Colossus but that never happens here. I do like how he throws Wolverine around though and how he chases Kitty Pride around as she literly runs through walls as he just rams them down after her.
The best way for the ultimate X-Men fan to enjoy this movie is to not expect a movie that's a faithful ending but at least expect a good summer movie. With so many people hating on the Da Vinci Code they'll probably be more satisfied and entertained by seeing this movie. This is a fitting end for the movies since it fits in with the tone of the other movies. But since I loved the cartoon series there's so many other directions they could've gone. Now even if this isn't the last one, I don't know how they could pick themselves up and make more. Since Hugh Jackman does kick ass Wolverine though, I do see how they could make a lot of money at least making Wolverine movies. Cyclops though got the worse end of the deal with these movies since they were never interested in developing him.