Disappointing end to a trilogy

Rating: 4/10 (7 June 2006)

I went to see X-Men: The Last Stand a few days ago with two adolecents(13 and 16). They actually liked EPIII, so I guess they were accustomed to bad acting disguised by great special effects. They also saw the first 2 incarnations and some X-men cartoons (but read no comics, as most kids are now to lazy to read). I think this is exact the public this movie is aimed at. But guess what: they didn't buy it (either)...
The obvious reason: Bryan Singer left for Superman and took a lot of creative staff with him, and it shows.
I guess this is how it went: they figured they had only one shot left with the current cast. Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman probably had their financial and creative demands.
Moreover, some of the cast indicated they wouldn't be back for a fourth movie. X-men doesn't make sense without professor X so Brett Ratner had to replace Patrick Stewart, hence the disintegration. I wonder if this coma-guy will be bald and in a wheelchair too? This also resulted in killing or "curing" some other cast members and introducing a whole bus load of new mutants (something Bryan took two movies for).
I honestly think Brett tried to make the best of a bad situation but forgot that sometimes "less is more". The whole movie/theater experience is all about getting sucked into the story and caring about the characters. It's not about jumping from one location to another to see some fighting and special effects. Nor is it about adding subplot after subplot to make it's 104 Min's full.
Ironically, its premise is quite ambitious but I never had the feeling the movie dealt effectively with the issues it tried to touch (racism, terrorism). In stead the plot is mostly used as glue for the action sequences.
In the first two movies, the action supported the drama. I really cared about what happened to Jean: what an heroic way to die, saving your comrades. We all were curious about the history of Wolverine, we all felt sorry for Rogue. Singer was also able to dose. We even could understand Magneto to some extend.
Of course, this is the 3rd movie, so the main characters needn't to be introduced anymore. More reason to develop their characters to give the movie some depth and to put some effort in introducing new mutants.
The flash back scene at the Grey house is debated over often here. I find it one of the greatest of the movie. You see two friends who become bitter enemies later on, it's obvious they have some history together. One can only wonder what happened to Magneto later on. Hey, some character development after all :-)
If an important character like Cyclops dies, we want to understand how and why. I still don't get why Phoenix would want to kill her/her alter-ego's lover. For giving her a kiss?? Were his eyes disappointing? Did she want to try some kinky stuff with candles like Madonna ? We will never know... Imho we don't get to see this death scene because you can't film a scene that doesn't make any sense.
Juggernaut is just plain silly ("I'm Juggernaut you bitch").
I was (like some other posters here) also disturbed by the fact that Magneto and Wolverine are portrayed like some kind of dumb-asses. Indeed, Magneto has the awesome power to move a whole bridge, yet in stead of just crashing the whole thing into Alcatraz he just throws some burning cars aided by some sissy. Imho Magneto is portrayed way to powerful so he must under-use his powers to have a plot...
Wolverine on the other hand, wastes 4 or 5 doses of cure on Magneto and then has to kill the woman he loves to stop her, this is so unbelievable. You have to buy this stuff for at least 2 hours !!
On the other hand, Phoenix is not half as scary as she should have been. For me, she's an apathetic neurotic most of the time, not some kind of apocalyptic goddess.
Conclusion: I think it's very hard to make a believable X-men movie. Bryan Singer did the job, Brett Ratner IMHO failed. Nevertheless he did deliver an entertaining movie for 8-13 year old. The accountants of Fox will be delighted.