Not as good as x2

Rating: 5/10 (26 May 2006)

Not as good as it should of been. X-men 3 never builds or has the guts to flesh out its ideas and sub plots. An interesting triangle between Bobby, Rouge and Kitty is set up then never really finished. While there are some decisions and deaths that took some guts the film doesn't explore the affect that those deaths have on the characters in my view. Also the sense of humour that X-men 2 had is gone.
One of the films major problems is that there are far too many characters for its pretty short (90mins) running time to cope. This means that characters come and go, some are never fleshed out while others simply disappear. Cyclops, Rouge, Colossus, Mystique even new boy Angel get very little to do and have no impact on the film.
Hugh Jackman, Famke Janssen, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen all do well with what they have been given. While Halle Berry's plea for more screen time has been answered she is still uninteresting and it has meant that the script is fill of moments where people say how important she is. Aaron Stanford and Shawn Ashmore are solid just a shame their rivalry didn't get more screen time. Kelsey Grammar is good but like other characters his sub plot could have been developed a bit more. Vinnie Jones meanwhile should have been cut he is that bad.
The action is a much bigger scale with mutants fighting mutants. The special effects are up to par and the final 20 minutes are awesome. But still can' fix the problems that are before it. X men 3 was always going to be in trouble when Singer left and I can't help but feel that the film's problems are direct result of different directors and their different ideas.