This film is good, when it could have been great...

Rating: 6/10 (25 May 2006)

I went into the movie with trepidation about the choice of Brett Ratner as director, and unfortunately I believe the direction in X-men 3 fell short of the first two instalments. Despite decent and genuinely spirited performances from the vast majority of the actors, I felt the third movie simply failed to reach the benchmark of the previous films.
Maybe I was victim of self-driven hype but with the sea of potential available to this film, the securing of additional respected actors and unlimited financial backing I don't understand why this film just didn't have the oomph. The fight scenes weren't as creative as previous films, the dialogue was more sentimental and with so much plot activity, the overall focus of the film was lost in a spiral of unrestrained amateurism.
With all that negativity out of the way, nonetheless the film was not bad. There are a lot worse films that I could have spent a £5.90 film ticket on, and as is becoming a pleasant standard with the X-Men movies, there were gasps, laughter, cheering and a real connection with the character development of some figures (namely Mystique, Storm and the cleverly crafted Hank McCoy). I'd watch it again, if anything, to mutate this initial review of the film, but whether or not in future viewings I change my mind, if there are successive X-men films, I hope Mr Ratner has nothing to do with them.