Too short

Rating: 7/10 (27 May 2006)

This movie was too short. While I'm happy it included many new X-Men, a few of which deserved to be in the first two movies, the length of the movie doesn't allow for much character development. The movie is only 100 minutes long, and it really needed to be well over 2 hours. I realise that action movies can't spend too much time on character development, but I really think this movie needed more of it.
Cyclops' character, in particular, suffered greatly in this respect. Having been marginalized in the last movie, this movie seemed to not care much about him at all. I don't understand how such a major and important character in the comics can be marginalized so. Don't let Cyclops' portrayal in the movie and cartoons turn you off to him. Trust me he's a much better character in the comics.
Nevertheless, the story is good. I could complain about some of the twists and major deviations from the comics. But let's face it. You can't accurately adapt a comic book series that has been running since 1963 with several spinoffs and hundreds of major characters into three movies.
The story very loosely mixes the legacy virus story lines with the dark phoenix story. And when I say loosely, I mean it's a completely different story, which, in many ways, is a good thing.
One complaint I have about the story is that the Phoenix saga in the comics took years to simmer before eventually boiling over into a massively destructive climax. While I understand you can't have that slow progression of Phoenix's character from good to evil in the movies, I felt this one lost a lot of its effect without the slow buildup. And the lack of Cyclops' presence, who had a major role in the story, hurt it in some ways.
But still, if one were to forget about the comics, and view these movies as their own story, it's actually a great trilogy on its own. But this is not the best film in that trilogy, sadly.