A Lesson in Destroying the Beautiful

Rating: 5/10 (27 May 2006)

For a movie I have been waiting for since the marvelous ending of X2: X-Men United, X-Men 3 was a marvelous disappointment. I think the main downfall movie is the operative word "rush": the production of the movie was rushed, the plot was rushed, and all our favorite mutants had to work with was the director of the "RUSH Hour" franchise.
The predictability was a major downfall as well. The opening scene very obviously was a not- so-suspenseful Danger Room sequence, and it didn't get any better from there. Every second of this film I was silently praying that it wasn't going to end up as I had hoped. Unfortunately, it did.
The two leads, Storm and Wolverine, had absolutely no chemistry as team leaders. Wolverine completely breaks from his comic book character to become some genial and friendly hero, something he most certainly never was. Storm, who seems to have been stubbornly pushing her way to the front of the line over the past three minutes here, succeeds in showing us that Halle Berry certainly knows dramatic, but not action.
It seems as though the writers and Brett Ratner were trying to destroy everything the past two movies had been working for. Professor X mutated into some inaccessible monster who used people just as much as the humans did, Magneto became typecast as a villain almost immediately (thankfully, Ian McKellen managed to salvage some of his role), Rogue lost all of her headstrong attitude and sold herself out for the "love" of a boy. Iceman and Shadowcat's love story was pushed to the front in this movie for some reason, and I couldn't have been more disinterested. The Iceman and Rogue dilemma was mildly entertaining and poignant, as they could never touch, but Shadowcat suddenly is thrust upon the viewers as some sort of leading character.
So many story lines were put forth, but never sufficiently developed. Angel's story could have been an emotional tale of a youth who refused to give up what made him unique and useful, but the few minutes spent on him were wasted on sappy, melodramatic shots of him soaring over recognizable landmarks. Leach also could have had an interesting character, but his powers were misexplained (he disrupts all energy, not just powers. Juggernaut would have been unaffected and he would not have been able to use a Playstation). I think everyone was expecting Leach's gift to be the final solution, but it was traded instead for a rotating shot of Wolverine's claws buried in Phoenix's chest. And Phoenix...where do I begin. One of the most infamous sagas in the Marvel Universe, and it was written off as insanity. Phoenix was a force to be reckoned with...not just some crazy girl who stood off to the side waiting for her queue.
Brett Ratner and his Destructors successfully burnt all bridges. There is no room for a decent sequel now, so this is it. The franchise that made it okay to like comic book movies again is buried in the ashes, and this time no Phoenix will arise to shine her light.