Do yourself a favor and forget about it.

Rating: 4/10 (10 August 2006)

What? A third X-men film? What are you talking about? They never got around to it. You must be thinking of something else. Pity, though. The first two were so entertaining. Imagine how great a third one would have been...
Yes... this is what's going through your mind now. Repeat it to yourself. Repeat and remember. Do not attempt to let any other reality clutter your mind. The truth of this movie's existence is a truth best left forgotten.
The primary reason is that to put it simply and quite generally, compared to the first two X-Men films, this film fell way below the mark in plot, character development, and scripting. Now before I elaborate on this, I'm sure some who have seen the film are thinking, "Yes, but the point was to end the series, and that's what they did, so the movie was a success." I almost agree. I'd say the point was to end the series WELL. And to that end they most certainly did not succeed. In essence, it was much more akin to a sloppily written concluding paragraph to an excellently constructed essay, conjured together solely due to the necessity of a concluding paragraph with little thought to the work that for which it serves to be the finishing punctuation.
Let's talk scripting and character development first, which were the weakest points of the film. The first two movies were filled with key exchanges between major characters that led us deeper into their beings and made them feel real. The second movie in particular, though it boasted a large cast, worked diligently to make each character feel necessary to the story. The first film set up several important character interactions, and the second not only elaborated on those but introduced new ones that were equally compelling. XM:TLS, however, neither introduces nor elaborates. Whatever we know about the characters in XM:TLS must already be with us before the opening credits roll. Many key character interactions feel cut short and shallow (Scott/Logan was a disappointing regurgitation of their old issues, there was very little Xavier/Magneto besides a flashback and a quick exchange in a residential setting, Magneto and Mystique are on the screen together for about three minutes, and Rogue and Iceman barely even speak to each other... not even to argue). The only character one could argue shows any development at all is Logan, but for this to have been a feasible wrap-up, they should have done better than just one character. Also, several key moments are fraught with terrible lines and worse delivery, as if the actors recognized the flawed script and lowered their enthusiasm in quiet protest. Without giving away too much, one major character's downfall in the film's climax is met with the spellbinding memorable line, "I'm...". Yep, that's the whole thing. And as dumb as that sounds here, it's even worse on the screen.
The plot of the movie is just as deplorable. (Possible spoiler alert... but if you've read this far, then you've either already seen it or are actually considering my arguments, so read on.) The first problem is that a few of those key characters that the first two movies had encouraged us to love are not even present in XM:TLS or play an extremely minor role. Don't look for Nightcrawler... apparently he teleported out of here (I like to think when he read the script). Other key characters (at least three) are rendered functionally useless (e.g. death, loss of powers, mysterious disappearances) by it's midpoint. Many of these losses might have been truly powerful with some magnificent scripting to support them, but alas, there was none to be found. In the end, I felt I had lost characters I loved, but not to the inevitable circumstances of the story's progression, but to the vortex of shallow plot devices thrown together to end the story as quickly as possible.
While some new characters are (more fully) introduced, like Beast and Juggernaut, there was very little background given for any new character. Beast is introduced as a refined diplomatic government worker who happens to be blue and furry and has connections with the X-Men. Juggernaut is literally simply found, his name read aloud with "Once he gains momentum, nothing can stop him," and he's sent out on his merry way. Indeed, the development of new characters would have been counterproductive to the director's intention of simply wrapping up story lines, so it seems he took pains to keep all new characters on a shallow level which completely paralyzes the audience's ability to connect with them.
I could continue, but I believe this review is verbose enough, and by now I've painted a sufficiently detailed portrait of this film's shortcomings to appease my troubled mind. In conclusion, this movie existed only to wrap up story lines, bringing very little substance to the table and consequently very little satisfaction to the fan. So do yourself a favor and forget this film ever existed. I plan to.
Wait, what film was I reviewing again?