The Brett Ratner Deception

Rating: 8/10 (26 May 2006)

When I heard that Hollywood was passing the X-men reins to Brett Ratner, a man who decides to sell movies as opposed to directing them so he can fill his pockets with cash to put fuel in his expensive cars, throw massive parties and date supermodels when he isn't having mysterious trysts with Lindsey Lohan, I was naturally a bit worried.
All the buzz from X-men was not necessarily negative but it was certainly not positive. The articles I read on the subject were not super reassuring but rather expressive towards the same question on my mind and from what I gather a lot of people's minds: "Is it really possible to f**k up X-Men?" After seeing the movie, I personally found the answer to be "no". This is definitely the inferior of the X-Tril but that isn't a bad thing. The first two were amazing films, not just super hero flicks. The first two X-Men settle in a realm with Batman Begins, the only three super hero movies that I think live in a world that feels like it could be our own. X3 falls into the realm of the "super hero-y" feel but as far as that goes I find it to be the better of most movies of that path.
Brett Ratner gets offered scripts and shoots them in a way that will appeal to the majority of people. He is not a nerd, he is not a dork and he is not even a fan boy. I would be surprised if the man has ever read X-Men books or any comics for that matter and I certainly don't care for that kind of passionless director sneaking into a beloved genre franchise. I call this movie, The Brett Ratner Deception. He mimicked the first two films to the best of his abilities and deceived me into thinking it was a somewhat rushed offshoot of the Bryan Singer masterpieces. For this I am pleased and not overly cynical. I didn't quake in my soul foundations and I didn't feel much emotional connection but I found my peace.
There be many surprises and though the screenplay did not wow me (when stealing Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men plot, why did they not see it fit to put this movie in the hands of a talented writer and committed human being such as...oh say...JOSS WHEDON...and maybe not give directing duties to Mr. Brett Lohan and instead offer the helm to wonderous genre mind similar to...oh right...JOSS effing WHEDON). Anyhoo...where was I? X-Men 3: The Last Stand is not an amazing film but it a badass action flick with committed actors that are obviously still amazing despite all other aspects. The shout out to "I'm the Juggernaut, Bitch" was hilarious as lame as it felt and Kitty Pryde was so great that I want her to have her own spin off. I've always hated Ice Man...Rogue needed to do something else, Storm was way better than she has been in any film and the moment before the click of the credits with Magneto at the chess board definitely put a smile on my face. And make sure you stay until after the credits.
As a concluding chapter of an epic trilogy, it's fine. As a super hero flick, it's great. Forget all the negative buzz and try to have a good time with the movie and I think you will find yourself pleasantly surprised. I miss the times when I left a movie and talked about the parts of it that I liked as opposed to the parts that I disliked. Cynical viewpoints are easy to take in this world of imperfectness but when you step back and relax and really absorb what X-men 3 is, I would say it is a far better film than anything we have had in a long time and possibly anything we will be given for a while. I look forward to Bryan Singer's Superman Returns and of course, the next two Pirates of the Caribbean installments which look to me as if they could be the making of one of the better told trilogies of all time. We'll just have to see.
Go see the movie. Try and enjoy. If not...well, there are at least 3 more movies from that Universe lined up and I predict the wind in the sails will change. Let's get Tim Burton up in this.