If you've read the comics, be prepared

Rating: 8/10 (26 May 2006)

This movie has me torn. On the one hand, it was great - the story idea, the "cure for mutants" was a great theme, the action sequences were interesting and enjoyable with new characters involved, seeing a plethora of mutants with different abilities, and just seeing another X-men movie in itself was satisfying. And yet, on the other hand, I felt a little let down - the story was great, but it felt like a bunch of mini-movies all sewn together without a lot of direction and continuity. It felt like emphasis was placed on some characters unnecessarily while major character arcs were happening elsewhere. And above all else, it strayed so far from the comics that I can't even justify that this is the "movie version" and that its okay to twist things to make it work on film. The first X-men movie was similar. It felt as though the writers/director were caught trying to find where to start out with a movie in this huge comic saga. Also, Marvel is not known for keeping things consistent or realistic, so they were faced with the difficult task of bringing in characters that have been written about for 20-40 years. You felt the pain in the movie of just learning. Plus, the budget wasn't nearly what it was on X2 or X3, so the special effects are not nearly as good as they could have been. X2 was another story. This movie found where it needed to be - it had a great story line, introduced characters appropriately, and overall allowed the audience to get engrossed in this mutant world and make you really care for the characters. It felt as though the writers had figured out how to make a "mutant movie." X3 will show that it obviously wasn't that simple, and they didn't learn from what X-men vs X2 could have taught them. If you liked the first two, chances are you will like this one as well. But be prepared to be disappointed by the loss of direction and the fact that the prequel, once again, was better than the sequel.