incoherent mess

Rating: 3/10 (26 May 2006)

what a disappointment! while the first two installments of this series were far from classics, they at least stayed (relatively) true to the characters and were internally consistent, plot-wise (of course, they deviate quite a bit from the long and convoluted history of the X-Men in the comics, but that is to be expected -- and isn't a problem for me, as long as the stories make sense). you will search in vain for that kind of competent film-making here, as daytime scenes suddenly turn to night (for no reason & without time elapsing), characters come and go with little or no explanation or motive, and the plot "develops" with no discernible reasons or direction. as always, there are some nifty special effects, but as g. lucas has amply proved, special effects wizardry in the absence of good dialogue and plot is an empty exercise indeed. amazingly, hack director brett ratner (who only took over this project after he nearly ruined the new Superman movie -- and ya gotta wonder why the producers would hire him after he got fired from that project) can't even coax good performances out of highly gifted actors like hugh jackman and halle berry (patrick stewart and ian mckellan were still good, although they had precious little to work with here).
take my advice -- wait for the DVD if you must see this, it just isn't worth the money in the theatres. and make sure to RENT the DVD, you will not want to watch it more than once.