Singer's Mistake

Rating: 7/10 (29 May 2006)

If -like me- you liked the first two X-Men movies, and lowered your expectations for this one because of Bryan Singer's departure, you're correct.
Simply put, the director's switch was a bad move for both camps. I don't think Singer will add anything to Superman we haven't seen before and Brett Ratner can't keep up with the expectations set on the former two X-Men Movies.
Didn't help the plot tried to grab more than it could chew on. Too many story lines and too little time to develop them all. Main characters die and lose their power without adding drama or urgency. Other characters are introduced without a backstory. The one that has some backstory (Angel) is almost a cameo. With this movie, one of my fears from the comic book came true: There were so many mutants at one point I lost track of them. But, Jackman and McKellen carry the movie as they did in the other two. Fortunately.
Add also the poor decision of giving up more story development for bombast. This movie mainly goes for apocalyptic, and totally unrealistic fighting scenes between the good guys and the bad guys, as if trying to show off the big budget the movie had for special effects.
Yet still, it manages to entertain, so it's not a lost case. The problem is, with Ratner the focus is on entertainment, when Singer focus is on delivering a message first. And that's the main difference between this X-Men movie and the other two.