succeeded in telling a story like no other

Rating: 8/10 (4 October 2006)

Fanboys/girls and Critics unite! X3 has so changed so much about the X-men universe that entire essays could be written. But should they? I view this movie in two ways- as a big action fan and as a fan of the X-Men comics and cartoon series that i watched so long ago. (i remember all the action figures I had!) As an amalgam of the two, X3: The Last Stand is an outstanding action movie that captures the heart and sole of the comic book-- it just so happens that it's story telling isn't accurately retold, rather a manifest of one person's interpretation. Obviously this leads to disputes. Many of which I've read about myself. Now, I do not pretend to know the entire history of each individual x-men character, nor do i remember much of the Pheonix saga anymore.
However I do know that regarding the 40+ years that the X-Men comics have existed, including it's multitude of spin off series-- It's just not possible to make all the hardcore fans happy. How could one take so many stories and put together something that could satisfy each individual fan? To have the X-universe come to a final stand in only three short movies and accurately reproduce what the comics presented just doesn't seem feasible. Perhaps one should say fine then. Don't include something if it's only a half-way attempt. Honestly, i view little in this film as half-effort. It's more of a daring attempt to satisfy many fans and movie-goers alike in combination with the first two films. What X3 got right is capturing the underlying meaning that echoes through the comic books. Mutants aren't much different from the ordinary. Ordinary people can go bad. Something snaps, thoughts are altered and judgment fails. The conflict between Good vs. Evil is a classic tale that takes it's morals from real life and I truly believe Jean Grey was the link in the chain. Her character bridges our reality to the surreality that is the fantasy world of the X-Men. X3 realized and harnessed the power of fantasy like no other before it. Ratner understood how much potential a world where mutant abilities can exist had and put together a display of something amazing-- A mutant with mental powers so great, the destruction of anything is possible.
X3 satisfies the fantasy aspect of the comic books and that should be what the main goal is. Had the X-Men comics not existed this movie would have monumental status in imagination (not to mention imagery) alone. But that isn't the case. The X-Men movies tell the an alternative story to what has already been four decades in development. To have pegged the personalities and sociality between each member of the team is a hard task to achieve. How many x- titles are in existence? Hundreds possibly Thousands? Look at what's already been accomplished in the series prior to X3. They've gotten the basics right so far, including popular love triangles and well-known grudges between characters. They have shown each main characters strength and weaknesses, even have gone as far to showcase mutant abilities with amazing accuracy. X3 does not deviate from this already set standard. Instead it backs the previous titles to showcase an even further character development. A good example of this is towards the end during the final showdown between Wolverine and Jean Grey. Logan is strong. He's been beaten and battered all his life, still living to tell about countless fights that would have resulted in certain death, even for most mutants. As he walks towards her, Pheonix is virtually ripping at his flesh. Using his healing factor he demonstrates his will to stay alive regardless of anything and his from-the-pages undying love for Jean. That was just--wow.
Speaking of Jean Grey and we realize she's not actually supposed to be involved with Wolvie, rather with her husband Scott. In X3 they a do kill him off in a very unnerving way. I didn't like that scene initially but it did further the understanding of how dark Jean's alternative personality really is, so actually his death had a purpose. How evil would one have to be to kill the person you love? The sultry scene between Logan and Jean in the X-mansion was so clever. Ratner again displayed his vision of mutants well. Using her mental powers to remove Logan's belt buckle in a fit of passion. Genius. Speaking of geniuses How about Dr. Hank Mcyoy? An intellectual with words, the agility of an acrobat, the brute force of a beast. I believe they couldn't have portrayed a better version.
Regardless of it's hit and misses, X3 will go down in my opinion as one of the best comic-to-movie translations of the decade. It's story telling, albeit wrong, still makes for a very compelling movie with excellent characters leading up to show downs so big, it raises the bar for all comic-book movies to come. It does have it's shortcomings but on the average the good heavily outweighs the bad so it is my opinion that Brett Ratner and all who were involved succeeded in telling a story like no other.
8/10