Low on drama, high on action/entertainment

Rating: 8/10 (27 May 2006)

First, I'll explain where I'm coming from. I did not grow up with the X-Men, though I did read a few comics here and there. More recently, I've started reading some of the original comic books. The interviews with the old director(Brian Singer) and the new director (Brett Ratner) revealed to me that Singer is an extremely intelligent and thoughtful individual. Ratner appears less thoughtful and more pretentious. The films reflect this difference in their character to a certain extent. I went into the movie with lowered expectations.
Whereas the first two films were roughly 2/3 drama and 1/3 action, the final film trades most of the drama for action. In this way, the first two films seem much more "realistic" than the final film, which is more cartoonish. That's not necessarily a bad thing if you're coming to the movie to be entertained; and in that department, it is definitely successful. This is the kind of film that does well at the box office, but rather poorly in the reviews, because you can only go so far in analyzing the special effects before you have to turn to the plot and the acting.
The first two films were character-driven; this one is not. The plot in the final film is really just a vehicle for the action. The humans have found a "cure" for mutantism (new word) and the mutants are once again divided as to how to react to this. That's about it. On a more personal level, we do get to to see a few plot twists, a bunch of new characters, and what becomes of Jean Grey. The main new character, Beast, is well played by Kelsey Grammar. Unfortunately, having virtually the only character in the movie that looks non-human spout extraordinarily intelligent lines doesn't translate perfectly to the film. -That is a lesser point; but overall there is no character development beyond that which is a fundamental part of the plot. I also would have liked to have seen Angel get more screen time.
It's not as if there is zero drama. There is drama, and some of it is quite effective. It's just too sparse to maintain any real cohesion. You would expect to see the most action in the final film of a trilogy like this; but it's possible to interweave that action with drama--like Peter Jackson did fantastically in the final installment of Lord of the Rings.
The film was better than I thought it was going to be, and I was tremendously entertained. This is the kind of movie you want to see on the big screen, because the action and special effects are so extensive and awesome in and of themselves. Just remember that this is the work of a different director.