X-Men Suffers without ex-Singer

Rating: 6/10 (5 June 2006)

Somewhere way back in the year 2000 one man, Bryan Singer, breathed life into the comic book genre by giving the world X-Men, a funny, smart, violent adaption of the hit comic books by Stan Lee. Fast forward four and a half years, and Bryan Singer leaves amidst allegations of arguments with studio execs. Another year after that, and after four directors, Brett Ratner released the "last" (said with baited breath) in the "trilogy", X-Men: The Last Stand. My first criticism... the man who brought the world the travesty that was Rush Hour 2 is given $200 million to direct a super-hero film? What blaspheme is this? To give him credit, he ticks some of the boxes: good special effects, brings out Storm and Wolverine to their full potential, has a reasonably good ending, and unleashes a good performance from Famke Jensen. But his worst mistake, and what is, inevitably, the downfall of the movie, is the lack of emotion. You should be upset when Professor X dies, but his death is so overblown and stupid that you really couldn't care less. You should feel Rogue's pain as she sees Bobby with a girl who he can embrace, but again, no emotion. Ratner manages to take a great scenario (the destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge), and, thanks to shoddy camera work, destroy it. The final stand-off, thrilling as it is, is oddly anti-climatic, although we challenge you not to go "Wow" as Pheonix (Jean Grey) destroys everything around her in a massive explosion of tele-kinetic power. And how, exactly, do they decide to bring up the story line of Pheonix, if there isn't even a mention of this, or a hint of Jean's inner demon, in the previous two? Add to the mix a lot of characters that come and go (Poster boy Angel is on screen for, give or take, five minutes), and an early demise for the mysterious Mystique and Cyclops, and you have a disappointing movie, that in future years, will be said in the same breath as Jurassic Park III, and, dare I say it, The Matrix Revolutions **/***