Falls Right in the Middle

Rating: 7/10 (4 March 2013)

After X2, I was really looking forward to the third installment of the X-Men saga. When the film came out, some were happy with what the third film had to offer, while others were angered to the point of ripping every X-Men comic book in their household. I on the other hand had mixed feelings on X-Men: The Last Stand, overall liking the film, but feeling that it could have been improved in some areas. The new director of the series, Brett Ratner, really tried new things and did something unlike Singer did, but I think Ratner's X-Men 3 falls flat in some spots and really doesn't live up to the previous two installments. It had things I liked and things I disliked, but overall, X-Men: The Last Stand is an average film that would turn a lot of X-fans off the series for quite sometime.
Let's talk about the pros. Like the previous two films, X3 really digs in deep with the political matters and mutant protesting. The inclusion of Kelsey Grammar as Hank Mccoy/Beast really makes the mutants more heard in the face of the humans. The humans, as corrupt as they are portrayed in this film, view mutants as sick beings and form a cure to rid them of their mutant abilities. Both the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants oppose of the cure, and while the X-Men continue on their quest for mutant acceptance in society, Magneto's Brotherhood plans to overthrow the humans and take out the source of the cure, which in fact is a mutant named Leech. The tension between the good side and the bad side really shines in this film and you can feel the motivation of each character, especially Magneto, who recruits several hundred mutants into his league to stop the humans from trying to make mutants more like them. Another thing I like is that Professor X, despite all the crap he endures in this film, continues preaching his philosophy and optimistic point of view of each situation. Like he did with Captain Jean-Luc, Patrick Stewart really makes Professor X a kindly father like figure to many of the film's main characters.
Also pleasant in the film is the overall themes of corruption and deception. The character of Jean Grey/Phoenix is manipulated by Magneto as she finds that she can no longer find her place among the X-Men. The character of Warren Worthington/Angel is forced to endure the cure against his will, for his father is the one who developed the cure from Leech. As he is almost injected with it, he uses his massive feathered wings to fly out a window and he later joins the X-Men. Another theme of the film is choosing fate. The character of Rogue has to decide whether to take the cure or not, for she wants to be able to touch people and not inflict any pain upon them. And kudos to the filmmakers for adding the Days of Future Past simulation in the Danger Room at the film's opening. It was great to see the mutants' powers put to good use and for Wolverine and Colossus to perform the "Fastball Special", Wolverine beheading a Sentinel in the process.
Now let's get to the cons. Too many characters are killed off or pushed aside in this film and many characters are not as developed as they should be. I could go on and on about how Cyclops was killed off about 20 minutes into the film, but it has been said dozens of times already and I'm not even going to bother talking about it now. I will say that people hate this because the promotional images for X3 showed Cyclops in full costume walking alongside the other X-Men as if he was a major part of the film and that James Marsden left X3 to play a meager role in Bryan Singer's Superman Returns. Other characters to get the shaft are Rebecca Romijn's Mystique and even Patrick Stewart's Professor X bites the dust almost an hour into the film. It's not that these characters' demises aren't dramatic, for deaths of major characters can work if done right, but each of these characters fall in such fast paced, anti-climatic ways. It doesn't really add that much tension.
The wooden acting that was present in the previous two films is also amplified in the third film. Ben Foster's Angel could have been acted out a little better and his character could have been developed a bit more. Anna Paquin's Rogue was a little flat, but then again, her acting was also flat in the previous films. Even Ellen Page (pre-Juno) as Kitty Pryde could have used a little more depth, although it's good to see Kitty Pryde actually play a major part in an X-Men film rather than just have a brief cameo like in the previous films. So X-Men: The Last Stand falls right in the "okay" category. It's good for what it is, but not near as good as what X-Men and X2 had to offer. Take it for what it is, or just plain out avoid it.