Horrible!

Rating: 1/10 (27 May 2006)

Very few things keep me awake at 2am, yet I feel I cannot go to sleep until I tell everyone just how pathetic X-Men: The Last Stand truly was.
If you are planning on seeing this movie, please take my advice: don't see it. Save your time. Save your money. Save yourself from being so frustrated you literally shake your fist at the screen.
Bryan Singer definitely knows when to leave a sinking ship. Ratner, of Rush Hour...fame(?)...certainly has ensured the X-Men franchise is finished. He does this in a multitude of ways, some of which I will not get into just in case you want to see this stinker without any spoilers. In short, I am simply amazed Marvel actually let their characters be misrepresented as badly as they are! It is clear the film has been written to accommodate Halle Berry's demands for more screen time as Storm -- the X-Men movie universe now apparently revolves around this lackluster character. Additionally, it is quite apparent that the film has been written to pave the way for a future Wolverine spin-off film. Frankly, apart from one moment involving Iceman near the end of the film, I felt cheated and disappointed.
Character development is shoved to the wayside in order that we see a whole lot of mutant cameos. Who cares? Kelsey Grammar is quite good as Beast, and is crucial to the main plot of the movie, but Ben Foster as Angel is quite unnecessary. I respect Ben Foster as an actor, but he has three lines all film and a subplot involving his father that is just ridiculous. The part his father plays in the story could easy be re-written to have the character as just another doctor, thereby removing Angel altogether and the expensive CG-effects required of the character. The money saved right there could have been used to hire a writer with some actual merit.
Cyclops is one-dimensional. Magneto comes across as merely a lunatic and loses every ounce of the conflict he has shown in the two previous films and throughout the X-Men comics. Rogue gets turned into a whining, selfish little girl. And just what the hell happened to Nightcrawler?
Grandiose displays of stupidity are attempted to be passed off as plot devices. Characters do not stay true to themselves. An array of unnecessary deaths are carried out in front of the audience, draining the film of every single drop of emotion it potentially could have had. The Jean Grey-Phoenix storyline is completely ridiculous and plays no real part in the film. It could have been scrapped altogether, and thereby would have left the franchise with a leg to stand on. Instead, the film robs the franchise of its former glory and ensures its tattered remains will never be resurrected.
At least I can breathe a sigh of relief and know I'll enjoy Superman Returns because there is no way Singer can manage to screw up his film like Ratner did this one.
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