The Last Stand

Rating: 8/10 (28 June 2006)

When director Bryan Singer left the X-Men franchise to make Superman Returns (2006), he was replaced by Brett Ratner (Red Dragon, Rush Hour), much to fans' dismay. However, the result is easily as enjoyable as the first two in the series, and despite several flaws which were not as destructive as one might think they could be, Ratner has kept the spirit of the franchise to deliver an action filled and twisting conclusion to the trilogy.
This time around, humans have developed a mutant cure, and although not compulsory, many mutants want it. Magneto, however, believes this is the first step of the human-mutant war he is always preparing for, and so creates the Brotherhood in order to find the source of the cure (which is on Alcatraz Island) and destroy it. Meanwhile, Jean Grey has returned, this time as the worryingly powerful Phoenix who, torn between her two personalities, is talked into joining Magneto's army, which the X-Men must now help the humans defeat.
It sounds very action packed, and it is. It is these scenes that are the most competent and confident, and are the highlight of the series. Finally, we are shown the full potential of all the X-Men's powers in the mutant standoff on Alcatraz, and the X-Men are shown to be the real heroes they are. It is the best climax to a superhero film so far, and is inventive with its display of mutant powers and the humans adapting to Magneto  their weapons are plastic, for example.
On to the flaws and, whilst it may sound like I'm damning the film, it turns out that although some of these flaws are large, they didn't affect the overall enjoyment of the film as I thought they might. Firstly, the film is too short and contains too much. Both the Phoenix storyline and the cure storyline could have had a film each, but they are adequately combined, although it is the Phoenix storyline that suffers most from this  we never see enough of the Phoenix and her turmoil, and she is not as involved at the end as one would like. However, the scene at Jean's old house make up for this, and it has to be the most shocking and well-handled scene in the film.
Secondly, there are too many characters. Bryan Singer managed to juggle all the characters the most effectively, but The Last Stand doesn't; and this isn't helped by its shorter running time (1hr 45 compared to X2's 2hrs 15). Whilst we focus in on many new characters, the established characters miss out (Cyclops, Rogue, Mystique, even Jean Grey). Worse, the new characters aren't all that effective  Ben Foster's Angel is utterly irrelevant, and Vinnie Jones is an obscene casting choice for Juggernaut. Kelsey Grammar's Beast, though, is absolutely brilliant, perfectly fitting the role that calls for calm judgement and more than a dash of feral ferocity. It is a shame that Rogue is sidelined, as she is the only mutant we already know that feels the cure is a good thing, and more could have been made of her feelings towards it.
As said, The Last Stand is actually a very good film, and there is enough going on that the flaws pass by without affecting the overall result. The themes of terrorism, genetic engineering and stem cell research that the film makes links to makes it relevant to today's political world. The acting throughout is fine, the highlights still being Wolverine and Magneto (and so good are they that they are both getting their own spin-off films).
A point that struck well in this film was the deeper exploration of Xavier's and Magneto's relationship than the other two films allowed. It is interesting that they both essentially want the same thing, but want it in radically different ways. The moment where Magneto scorns Pyro for disrespecting Xavier was an especially nice touch.
Overall, one feels that The Last Stand was not quite as developed as it could have been, and it certainly needed to be longer to better juggle all the characters and sub-plots. But it is still an accomplished film with some stunning action scenes and is a fitting conclusion to the X-Men trilogy, if never quite reaching the peaks of X-Men 2.
Rated: 8/10
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