A sad end for what could have been a lucky three...

Rating: 4/10 (27 May 2006)

X3 is not unlike Star Wars: Episode III. Both have huge budgets. Both have huge budgets that were entirely dedicated to visual splendor. Don't get me wrong - the action scenes were really cool. They didn't skimp on those, and I was really impressed by how faithfully they treated Hank 'Beast' McCoy. Kudos to Ratner and team in that respect. But what we have here is an extremely rushed production intended to beat the Superman Returns juggernaut (pardon the pun), partly out of desperation and partly out of retaliation against Bryan Singer (X-Men, X2) for leaving.
***MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD***
The film starts off with an arbitrary flashback showing us a young Professor X and Magneto (still played by Stewart and McKellan) approaching Jean Grey and her parents about Jean's mutant ability, which her parents refer to as an illness. Xavier and Lensherr speak with Jean alone and we get an idea of how powerful her ability really is and the potential for evil. Xavier offers to help her control the power she has.
Flash forward about ten years, where we see a young Warren Worthington III (aka Angel) in a bathroom using a sharp object to cut something on his back. His billionaire father approaches the bathroom and demands he open the door. Warren frantically begins putting away all the cutting tools he was using. Upon hearing all the clanking, Warren's father breaks open the door and sees what is happening. Warren begins to cry. We see in the mirror the jagged shafts of feathers growing from his shoulder blades, to his father's utter dismay.
Flash forward to present day, where the cure for mutancy has been discovered by none other than the elder Warrington using his son as the catalyst. We then flash forward to the present.
And that's all the story you get. From there on out, it's nothing but a patchwork of events that tried too hard to fit two movies into one. Jean Grey, having been killed in X2, is back as Dark Phoenix. Her death in the previous film undid a series of psychic blocks Xavier put in her mind to control the evil persona. Her story is not developed in any way, nor his her strange energy absorbing power, and becomes a mere plot attraction. Though fans of the comic will understand it perfectly -having read the Phoenix Saga- the rest of the audience won't. She serves no intrinsic function in the story other than to up the stakes of battle and even that doesn't go the distance.
Then there is the part about the cure. Magneto's band of villainous mutants prepare to unleash their power on the human race and the island where the cure was developed. A lot of typical ethics issues come up, and the mutants are uncharacteristically split over this issue. Like they're going to just give up their identity after fighting so hard for their genetic rights.
The fans of the X-Men characters deserved something much greater than this. We are introduced to the 'Danger Room', where the X-Men practice their battle skills against a laughably arbitrary Sentinel appearance. The general movie-going audience won't get it, and it's function isn't even touched upon.
There were certain touches that Ratner put in that are something the audience isn't even supposed to think about while they watch, but he makes them painfully weak attempts and bringing certain story elements in a 'full circle' kind of way.
There is very little payoff in this movie. A love triangle hinted at in the trailers between Iceman, Rogue, and Kitty was nothing short of contrived, and nothing emotionally fulfilling came of it. Nothing ever comes of it, and loose ends are poorly sown for a fourth installment. Many mutant characters were wasted during this film. Colossus is cool to look at, but that's all. He doesn't really do a whole lot and any strength he exhibits (as is the case with Juggernaut as well) is extremely toned down from the comics. The greatest tragedy of this movie is the absence of the extremely popular Nightcrawler. He wasn't liked by Studio heads, and for no good reason was cut.
The Fox Studio heads forgot that most people like a good story nowadays. No matter, for this movie is merely a giant commercial for ancillary rights to be exercised (i.e. movie tie-in products). Two characters die that didn't need to, and on top of that their deaths are not even given any justice or meaning. The disappearance of the first one isn't even questioned until much later, even after people discovered what happened. I could go on and on about this, but I'll rest here.
What you will pay for here is some good action scenes, some funny one-liners, and a whole lot of brain-rot storytelling. Please don't get me wrong. I am glad that people have enjoyed this film. I really am. It had some cool moments. But to say it is good, or even great, is ONLY a matter of personal preference and not a matter of this film's quality. Skip it. 4/10.