Higher rating than X Men 2, but X Men 2 was far better.

Rating: 9/10 (5 June 2006)

I give X Men 3 a higher rating than X Men 2, but I liked X Men 2 better.
First, the imagery of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (BOEM) as Gothic "punks" is a throwback to the eighties punk culture. The less-stylish imagery of the BOEM is predicated more on reality. Still, the useless powers of a porcupine are not good for entertainment. Watching the porcupine mutant flex out his needles in front of Jean Grey's house is humorous. Really, what is he going to do? Spoiler Ahead Secondly, the scene where Wolverine and Storm searched Akalai Lake was eerie. That was a good scene, but it was messed up when Storm cleared the fog and destroyed the ominous look to it. Storm should have not been there to retain the eerie look in that scene. There are instances where certain scenes would work well if certain characteristics of those scenes were retained.
Thirdly, my favorite character in the film was, Beast. The Beast played by Kelsey Grammar was very good. The idea of placing a mutant in the President's cabinet was intriguing. I liked all the scenes with Beast, because the scenes were good in dialogue and presentation.
Fourthly, the problem with X Men 3 was two main plots and several sub-plots that never inter-connected. The Phoenix story only tangentily touched on the Cure story, but they never connected. These were two parallel plots that should have been two separate movies. The main mutant of X Men 3 should have been Beast, like Nightcrawler in 2 and Rogue in 1. Angel had no suffecient character development and there were several plot holes. Thence, the problem with X Men 3 is that it was trying to be several movies and it failed in that respect.
Spoiler Ahead Fifthly, the political issues surrounding the cure were dealt with appropriately. Rogue became cured, so she could have a normal relationship with Iceman. Mystique became cured and was rejected by the anti-human, Magneto.
Spoiler Ahead Sixthly, the death scene of Professor X was not very good. For instance, Professor X acts very calm when Jean Grey dissolves him. It appears that Professor X should have been figthing against Jean Grey or at least put up a fight, which he did not do. On the other hand, he did transfer himself to another body at the end credits.
Finally, there were positive and negative things about the film that are touched on in other reviews of the film. However, Magneto should have still been put in prison for his crimes. He killed people and with no powers he could be put into a maximum security prison. The ending for Magneto is unrealistic. The first two X Men were based in reality, but X Men 3 went far beyond reality within the confines of the fantasy realm of X Men. The special effects were good and the Danger Room scene was interesting.