Gen-X-Men III: Mutants for the Dumbed-Down

Rating: 6/10 (27 May 2006)

To those not familiar with the X-Men comics this movie will stand as solid entertainment, with plenty of action and continuity in the storyline from the two previous film incarnations to hold their interest. It is a by-the-numbers slugfest between the X-Men, who want to protect a mutant that can drain all mutants nearby of their powers and is the source of genes used to create a vaccine or "cure" that the government uses as a weapon to de-power mutants and Magneto and his ad-hoc army of Gen-X skanky mutants who want to kill the boy and fight the government and normal humans for dominance.
Exactly why the X-Men wind up fighting side-by-side with corporate rent-a-cops of the company that makes the virus and the US military and their plastic weapons against Magento and his army is not explored. The story is a train wreck caused by too many story tracks meeting in one place. Oh, and why cast Michael Murphy as Angel's father when he looks so remarkably similar to Bruce Davison as Senator Kelly?? To anyone at all familiar with the X-Men as characters from the comic book series, this film is a mish-mash of Gen-X drivel.
We all know the story, journeyman mainstream Gen-X director Brett Ratner was brought onto the film when most of the creative elements were already set. He did a good job, considering. He's not an artist, and this film isn't art, but it's not bad - just without a soul is all.
Bad creative choices were made, for example - killing off three main characters who are the pillars of the X-Men!?!? Obviously an X-Men IV will have to involve the Pheonix (Jean Grey) resurrecting and bringing back Xavier and Cyclops, and just as with time-travel movies, it is too easy an out. But there is no point in making and X-Men IV without those characters. It would not be true to the legacy of that comic to move on instead to truly lame characters like Gambit.
What we got with X3:The Last Stand is the Gen-X X-Men, a whole bunch of skanky tattooed mutants who reflect the Chris Claremont influence upon the comic series.
For true fans of the X-Men, Chris Claremont represents the turning point of when the X-Men started going downhill. Rogue was always a lame character, but in the films thank goodness for a truly gifted actress in Anna Paquin to give her relevance.
The real X-Men were Cyclops, Iceman, Jean Grey, Angel and Professor X. The Beast was always a lame character, and the fact that the filmmakers chose to include him this time around reflects the level of poor artistic choices which went into this project. We get Angel in this film, but he's a useless presence, there simply to band-aid together story elements for the film that found their roots in the comic.
The fact that the filmmakers decided to use the Phoenix storyline yet not have her character flare into the bird of fire form makes you wonder, "why'd they bother?" Throughout the series we've never seen Scott Summers as Cyclops really convey his leadership of the team nor use his powers in full-force demonstrating that he is one of the most powerful mutants. Why not bring Havoc, his brother, into the storyline? Havoc is one of the best characters. The Cain-and-Abel aspect to that relationship was always compelling reading, and Havoc's plasma power was cool. Bobby as Iceman is wasted as a pubescent boy beset more with the troubles of teen angst and is never allowed to demonstrate his full power until one stupid little moment where he turns all gray and icey (like a bad outtake from Terminator 2) instead of white while fighting Pyro. Where are the sheets of ice Bobby can make from the air? His power looked like a clogged snow-blower at a ski resort.
The studio should just thank their lucky stars that they got Hugh Jackman for the role of Wolverine. I always hated that character, as most fans of the early X-Men series do. Jackman made me actually like the character. As written, Wolverine is like a murderous muscle-bound Bob Hoskins - and he was never the heart of the X-Men.
I can see the films are going to go in the Gen-X direction of more dark story lines and skankier characters. We'll probably get that awful Gambit and Bishop in X-Men IV. (sigh)