Not too Shabby

Rating: 7/10 (25 May 2006)

I'll do my best to keep this as spoiler free as i can
I'm not going to lie. When Brett Ratner was confirmed as Director for the last in the trilogy i was a little let down. Don't get me wrong, Red Dragon was a good film, but i felt letting the Rush Hour director run wild with everyones favourite group of mutants could be a bit of an error. However, while not superb, the direction is smooth and the action scenes should prove enough to keep even the most hard core of action fans happy.
I was also a bit wary of some of the new casting: Vinnie Jones? eek. And Kelsey Grammar as beast? After 10/11 years of playing Fraiser I couldn't really see that being a stretch of his acting skill. But that said, both men fill their roles well, especially Vinnie Jones who provides a hint of comic relief in an otherwise fairly tense film. Most of the old characters return and its business as usual with Sir Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart continuing to add thesp clout to the franchise in style! Famke Janssen portrays the tortured Jean Grey/Phoenix admirably and kudos to the make-up department on that front too. Slightly more annoying is the exclusion of Alan Cummings' Nightcrawler because they claimed he'd be a "peripheral character" only to bring in Angel who is on screen for about 4 minutes total.
The plot, although deviating more from the comics that the previous two, is enjoyable and, keeping with Bryan Singers legacy, belts along at a great pace, never letting itself get bogged down or attempting to make a bigger film than the script allows (King Kong's 2 hour film trapped in a 3 hour body springs to mind).
All in all this is great multiplex fodder: a good start to the Summer blockbuster season. Good film for groups of mates or for a date, however, and perhaps i was a victim of all the hype here, but i imagined the "last" (we shall see..) X-men film leaving me with more...more emotion! More excitement! More sadness that there wont be another! Don't expect to walk out of this one feeling like u did after Return of the King.
Oh, and make sure u stay til the end of the credits for the obligatory comic book adapt "hidden scene"