Somewhat anti-climatic and non-affective

Rating: 5/10 (25 May 2006)

First and foremost, I have to say that I am NOT someone who knows a great deal about the original Marvel Comics. Although I did read a lot of comic books as a kid, this whole series completely escaped me. This review is based on having seen the first two installments, and being very impressed with both, in particular the second.
The problem with this movie is exactly the same as the difference between a fantastic thriller like Seven, and a mediocre thriller like Saw. It lies in character development (or lack of). When a "good" character dies in a movie, particularly a central character, and the audience hardly responds to this at all, there has been a clear error of judgement in the production of the movie. Sure, the special effects of this movie were at times mind-blowing, but they couldn't mask the fact that as the death toll piled up, we cared less and less about the people dying (and losing their powers) - even though these characters were more and more central as the movie progressed.
In the cinema where I was sitting, there was audible laughter through a lot of the "serious" dialogue - again, another sign that characterisation hasn't been fully accomplished.
The accomplishment of a good comic book movie is being able to successfully depict scenes that would ordinarily be laughable and trite. Some movies achieved this - Batman Begins, Sin City, while others failed - both Spiderman movies. Xmen 3 is somewhere in between. All comic book movies contain clichéd dialogue, but because we don't really get a feel of a lot of the characters in this one, it becomes harder and harder to believe.
Overall, the special effects are fantastic in this movie, and the characters that we are familiar with from previous installments all fare well, in particular, Storm, whose role is greatly expanded. But those whose characterisation is sub-par, such as Cyclops, and virtually every new character introduced in this movie, suffer greatly from the director's lack of vision.
Not too bad, but it could have been a lot better.