Nearly Killed the Franchise

Rating: 4/10 (23 February 2017)

Every franchise has a low point. For some it's a scene or maybe a full act of a film. For the X-Men series, it's The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. After two acclaimed outings to kick off the new age of the superhero genre, The Last Stand is just about as goofy and messy as you can get. It nearly killed the franchise.
The reason comic fans are still yearning for a Dark Phoenix adaptation is because this film did a poor job of giving fans anything that closely resembles the classic storyline. In fact, what makes it even worse is it's hardly an adaptation at all. The first chunk of the movie certainly seems to indicate a Dark Phoenix direction, but once she has a big showdown with Charles Xavier in her childhood home, it becomes a movie way more about the cure than Jean Grey. It also doesn't help that Jean Grey's phoenix alter ego resembles another absolutely insane Famke Janssen villain, Xenia Onatopp. Yes, she also turns to an intimate make out position in an attempt to kill a few of her victims. Really, Brett Ratner?
Ratner gets a bad rap for The Last Stand, and most of it is warranted. But there are some redeemable qualities to this film. Plus, he did inherit the directing duties pretty late in the game (after Bryan Singer left a few weeks before production began because of Superman Returns). Although it still doesn't feel necessary at all, I definitely felt an emotional impact when Charles died and Wolverine killed Jean. The way those particular scenes were directed and shot made for an emotionally resonant few scenes. The action is also amped up a bit. Rightfully so, the first two films keep the action to a minimum and instead focus on story as the backbone. The Last Stand tends to do the opposite, hence another reason for the film's failure.
As with pretty much every other X-Men related film, there's no sense of continuity whatsoever. Whether it's the appearance of Moira MacTaggart or Bolivar Trask, the bad CGI used for young Charles and Erik, or the horrendous attempt at Angel as a character, The Last Stand gets a lot wrong. The grounded tone from the first two films is gone entirely. Why the heck is Juggernaut running around acting like he's from the 60's Batman TV series? Why does Pyro act like he's a worthy right hand man to Magneto? I think the questions raised here still frustrate me to this day. This could have been one of the best superhero trilogies but instead The Last Stand tries its hardest to tarnish any reputation the first few built. There are a few moments of classic X-Men joy, but it's really a bunch of nonsense for the most part.
+Some emotional moments hit
-Tone is all over the place
-Continuity issues galore
-Was this an attempt at a Dark Phoenix saga?
-Everything feels rushed
4.4/10