The Last Straw, not The Last Stand

Rating: 4/10 (7 September 2016)

Comic book movies may have been done to death, but the X-Men films are interesting. Not only are they not in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but they are set in the real world and feature many thought- provoking themes. They also have one of the best comic book movie villains ever; Magneto, who is played brilliantly by Ian McKellen. The first one was good, the second was better though not as perfect as everyone says it is, the prequel was excellent, this movie sucks. It actually just plain sucks. Bryan Singer has left and is replaced by Brett Ratner, who does OK but doesn't add anything to the film. Meanwhile, the script is a cartoonish, muddled mess with underdeveloped plot elements and boring scenes left, right and center. The action scenes are the only part of the film that truly work, but even they drown in endless CGI eventually. Killing off Cyclops and Professor X, 2 of the most pointless character deaths in recent memory, was just the icing on the cake. What makes things worse is the numbingly awful acting from nearly everyone aside from Stewart and McKellen. Even Hugh Jackman isn't as good as usual, while Halle Berry and Vinnie Jones are simply dreadful. It's a deeply tedious affair, and while the thematic depth that made the others work is there, it never truly shines through and the film dissolves into a CGI beat-em-up video game which is completely broken.
4/10