What the hell happened?? SPOILERS WITHIN

Rating: 1/10 (27 May 2006)

Long-time fan of the comics and fan of the first flicks. That being said - this was one of the worst films I have seen in ages. Brett Ratner should be ashamed of himself.
It is painfully obvious that Ratner never read X-Men, nor did the screenwriters successfully piece together any sort of cohesion to the story. Such utter disregard for the history and development of so many beloved characters is like a slap in the face to true X-Men fans.
With just way too many random story threads running throughout the film, the movie just winds up not knowing which way is up. Razzle Dazzle SFX does not a good film make, and killing off main characters or taking away their powers is a great way to destroy what was a great franchise.
HOW TO KILL A FRANCHISE 101
Cyclops: Phoenix kills him in the first 15 mins. His death is never seen. He dies like a punk. Totally inappropriate. Anyone who's read a comic would/should know this wouldn't work.
Xavier: Phoenix disintegrates him. WTF?
Jean: Ends up getting stabbed by Logan at the end (another huge no-no if you've read the comics)
Mystique, Magneto, Rogue all lose their powers. Pointless.
Not only are there too many story threads, but also too many characters. Angel - who figured prominently in the trailers is in the film for all of 3 minutes, as is Collossus. Shadowcat and Iceman's relationship is twisted since she looks all of 12 years old. And let's not even go there with Rogue whining about not being able to kiss Bobby (hence taking the cure) and Xavier being played as an arrogant SOB.
The sole saving grace in the entire film was Iceman vs Pyro. The rest of it was an illogical hash of SFX, written and directed by an uninspired, uneducated (when it comes to X-Men knowledge), and ham-fisted ability.
The only way this film could be good is if they had hired a different director, different writers, and added about 30 minutes to the proceedings. The film ends up imploding on itself and in the end making no sense whatsoever. A dismal and disappointing end to a great franchise. A true example of what could have been.