Story hopelessly dragged down by unforgivable plot twists

Rating: 1/10 (28 May 2006)

The movie viewed completely as an action movie was decent. From the perspective of a fan devoted to the comic books, the many character appearances and displays of mutant power were mostly well done and enjoyable. Even the adaptation of the storyline from various comic books was done to nicely fit into a more realistic setting without traveling to alternate dimensions and all of that.
***Spoilers*** But killing off the three X-Men most closely related to the comic books for 40 some odd years is a travesty and a big middle finger from Ratner to all of the close followers of the franchise. I can deal with the fact that Rogue, Magneto, and Mystique have a loophole for a return to the series should another movie be made. And Xavier returning to another body is a clever twist so long as it can somehow be explained that his powers came with him. But poor Cyclops--who through 3 movies was so underused that you almost feel confused about why he was even in the movies--get's bizarrely vaporized just when you think he might actually have a significant impact on the plot. And Jean Grey? Not only is she killed with the least room for a way to bring her back later on, but throughout the entire Pheonix saga, you never get a feel for any internal struggle going on. They made it 50% of the basis of the movie and it's like they totally ignored developing the character at all.
The worst part of it is, these are the only things that really kept me from enjoying this movie, and you get the feeling that any director that cared about the rich history of those characters could have made small changes without it impacting the overall plot. If they actually do make an X4, I seriously hope they get another director and address those problems.