You have the cake...but not icing.

Rating: 5/10 (6 June 2006)

It was obvious from the starting of the movie that the movie had a different feel to it. Subjected to a new director, I came to the cinema with an open mind, thinking that a little difference in direction might be an interesting addition to the movie.
For this movie you have great actors in the cast, an awesome budget waiting to be burned and possibly enough material to pick and create a wonderful script from. Sure, it will not be as faithful to the comic series but then after watching the prequels, I have to say that this new universe is a welcoming addition.
Instead I ended up being entertained by another typical summer movie where CGI triumphs over characters, lame attempts of humour, lack of subtext and an ending that seemed to be echoing the ending of Van Helsing. Yes, I know suspension of belief is required...but not the suspension of intelligence.
Gone where the beautiful in-jokes that made the first two movies entertaining to watch for the die-hard fans, gone were the antagonist-protagonist tensions, instead we are replaced with those stereotypical caricature of villains and heroes, where the former are portrayed to be without any semblance of honour or charm that seduces you to their side. (The Magneto here doesn't seem to give a damn about those he fought for, why do people fight for him again?) And the plot, it seemed that they decided to take some of the memorable stories in the comics...and churned out this. It started promising with a brief introduction of Jean Grey and Angel, then Jean is turned into this thing that does little after killing Cyclops but pose, look pretty and randomly lose control to showcase more CGI. They have a chance here to fully develop the underused Cyclops instead they tossed him aside to give some angst to the audience and Wolverine. Angel...why does he even a LARGE portion of the poster? All he does if pose with his large white wings, fly ala Superman and save his dad. In less than ten minutes. One would think with the significance of him in merchandise he would have been fleshed out.
A great deal of characters are underused here and most of them are either killed, lost their powers or become wallpapers in the background. You wonder why are there in the first place. It was fun to spot characters though, especially during the Final Battle Scene.
Its not without its good points though. There are some lovely moments in the story, when Xavier was killed, I could actually hear a collective gasp in the cinema. And I felt strongly during Angel's scene where he frantically grind of his wings because he feared the fact that he was a mutant. It's an amazing way to show how much certain mutants would go just to blend in.
Alas they are severely overshadowed by the lack of depth, character development and a strong plot.
If anything it lacked a soul. I give it a 5 out of 10.