What a disappointment (From a lifelong X-fan)

Rating: 4/10 (6 June 2006)

Does anyone who's seen this movie really know what exactly was the X-Men's "Last Stand?" Me neither. That kind of continuity flaw and logic hole plagued the "final" installment of the X-Men movie franchise. Apparently, Magneto and his Brotherhood of mutants plan to blow up Alcatraz, now a center for mutant cures. Is THIS what the last stand is about? Defending a medical facility? This is what caused Phoenix to nearly destroy San Francisco? It's baffling if you sit back and try to piece this story together logically.
I have to believe there were so many re-writes of this script, what remains was a hodge-podge that resembles a buffet breakfast than a trilogy finale. The movie starts with the recruitment of Jean Grey twenty years earlier, indicating the movie will come full circle with Jean at the end. The next scene shows a young Angel trying to cut his developing wings, setting the groundwork for the mutant cure storyline. This probably was due to the studio and Marvel deciding that the Phoenix and mutant cure issues would be the main plots in this movie, no matter how convoluted mixing them would be. Of course, the next scene, in the "very near future," featuring Sentinels, is of course, a rip-off, because they are only a figment of the Danger Room, and of course, they aren't purple. Apparently, the only color schemes mutants or their enemies can have in these movies are black leather, metallic gear, or blue skin/fur.
If you are new to the X-Men, or are a casual fan, you might enjoy this movie more than a die-hard X-fan. The treatment of Mystique as this unbeatable super-spy was always a bit much for me, including the ridiculously shabby security precautions used in handling her.
Then there's the Storm issue. Way back in '99, when Halle Berry was cast for the part in the first movie, she bad-mouthed the genre by complaining "this is the only role" she could get, then two movies later, she grandstands that she won't be in the third one unless her character "is more like her comic character." (read: has a bigger part). Berry admitted she doesn't really know what the Storm character is about - a serene Buddha-like voice of wisdom, embodying harmony. Her snippy, know-it-all Storm in this movie is a sharp contrast to the once-mohawked team leader in the comics. Berry's "move it or lose it" speeches in the movie were real groaners, and definitely brought the movie down a notch or three. For a team movie of a very popular comic book, especially one focusing on the Phoenix Saga, there should be no way Berry should get listed second in the credits.
Magneto's goals were never really, well, Magneto-caliber. He was angry, he was taking a stand, and he was going to gather a bunch of leather-wearing mutants - almost all of them tattooed teenagers - in a forest, and they were going to go invade San Francisco! Sounds like the Burning Man Project or maybe Mutant Woodstock. Why wouldn't he just drop a bomb or an EMP on SF, rather than making his gang WALK to the place?
For those familiar with the epic "Dark Phoenix Saga," you know how Jean's transformation skips entirely over the "good Phoenix" aspect of Jean and goes straight to the dark side. If the movie makers are going to hint for the first two movies this aspect of Jean, it would have been nice to develop Jean a little fuller, perhaps extending into a fourth movie, but that would cut into Ms. Berry's screen time, wouldn't it?
Speaking of screen time, for so-called final chapter of a superhero team trilogy, a 1 hour, 44 minute running time is a little sparse. Marvel really didn't seem willing to give this an epic feel and shortchanged the franchise and the fans in the process. With the renewed popularity of superhero films, the remake of Superman, and the future Marvel releases, there remains hope that someday the X-Men movies (X-4 perhaps, Wolverine) will be done right.