Left a little disappointed...

Rating: 5/10 (26 May 2006)

I found this film rather disappointing after the build up from the 1st and 2nd movies. Unlike the first two, everything in this film seemed to be rushed. Interactions between the characters seemed truncated and there was a lot of incongruous scene progressions. There was even a glaring timing oddity leading up to the big finale where Magneto and the Brotherhood were crossing the Golden Gate Bridge in full daylight, yet, upon reaching the other side, it was night. There were some threads that didn't quite seem to pan out. Angel seemed poised for something important in the film, given his special introduction scene, yet nothing much happened with him. And some characters exhibited traits either too superficially "characteristic" of themselves or rather oddly contrary, such as a strange "attitude" adopted by Profesor X toward Wolverine. Aside from this, the characters of Storm and Jean Grey/Phoenix were much more fully realized than previously so. There also seemed to be QUITE a few more Brotherhood mutants than surviving X-Men. Not even some of the good-guy characters from the last two movies made appearances in this film, most notably Nightcrawler. In this sense, I think the movie misses a basic plot idea: that mutants are just like everybody else, only different. Some are bad, most are good. And they deserve the same rights as everybody else. This film seemed to contain an overwhelming number of those to hate, with a surprisingly small number of those you could love. It all seemed far to trite, too contrived and far too "tidyed up" at the end. And while the special effects were robust without being overpowering, the film seemed to lack a certain genuineness that made the first two so much more endearing.