In Kevin Smith's words: Yes, I enjoyed it, with all it's flaws and s****.

Rating: 5/10 (28 May 2006)

Starting at the beginning, I was really afraid that this movie would not be so great, I read the summary on the internet and the story seemed weak, and after seeing it I have even more things to say. Firstly, I'm a big fan of the X-Men, I grew up watching the cartoon, I dig the message, it was part of my moral as well as ethical formation, but as an adult, I realize that mutants are not the same as Jews, blacks and homosexuals. Real world minorities are not a threat to anyone and their continued persecution baffles me, anyone who would waste their time with prejudice and not enjoy life is, I'm sorry to say, an idiot. However, mutants are endowed with special, and often very destructive abilities, and for every one good-hearted mutant who wants to live in peace, there are ten maniacs who want to rule the world, make no mistake: these are dangerous people! Yes, maybe they wouldn't have to fight if it weren't for the racism, right? Wrong, trust me, JUGGERNAUT WOULD STILL BE LIKE THAT (I KNOW he's originally not a mutant, we're talking about the MOVIE). Moving on to the story, the humans have a "cure" for mutation, and so begins another debate between the three factions in the movie: X-Men (read "good" mutants, GM), Brotherhood (read "bad" mutants, BM) and humans (read "us stupid assholes", HM). To begin with, all three groups are wrong: HMs want to cure all mutants, which is racist. GMs say there is nothing to cure, but if your power was to kill whoever you touch and you had to live your life without physical contact, wouldn't you want a cure? And BMs say they are the cure, which makes no sense and only proves my point that they have lost it. This is where the movie gets lost in it's own argument, in the first movie you have a bunch of dick-heads with signs forming picket lines shouting "NO MORE MUTANTS!", and in this movie you have a bunch of dick-heads with signs forming picket lines shouting "WE DON'T NEED A CURE!". The discussion in this movie should have been "the use and misuse of power" as Xavier so eloquently put it, before he lost his way completely, as did Magneto. On to filmic and directing complaints. THERE ARE NO SENTINELS, what we do have is a lame teaser in the danger room, there is a shot where we see the silhouette with glowing eyes, it should have been the first but it's the last, yes we "see" the "fastball special"...ish, I personally wanted to see wolvie digging his claws into the robot's neck, but after he's thrown he just disappears, we next see him standing next to a giant head on the floor...pathetic. Also, the HMs who were once painted as racist bastards are now mere innocent bystanders, can you think of a more pathetic role in a film? Also, I can't believe how low Xavier has sunk, trying to control Jean rather than advising her to use her power for good, same goes for Magneto, who abandons Mystique after she saves his ungrateful butt just because she got "cured", up until X2 he was an evil maniac, but at least I respected him. The problem with both mutant groups is that they can't accept that there are going to be those amongst them that are going to want the cure, how can they be so thick headed? Also, I'm offended by Rogue's comment on Iceman, or any other instance in film or TV where a woman says that men only think of sex (fighting this misconception is part of the reason I became an artist, I'm a college film student), it's also a stupid cliché, stop using it! The soundtrack is weak, there is only one good moment but it doesn't compare to X2. And it's not like we really see Iceman, he's in full ice for two shots, maybe two and a half, and forget the character we came to love, Kurt Wagner AKA Nightcrawler, he is nowhere to be seen. It feels like the Mission: Impossible trilogy, where the 1st one had only content, the 2nd one had only action and the 3rd one had balance, making it the best one. Only in X-Men the 2nd had balance and the 3rd has only action, which is enjoyable, but let's face it, the 2nd one is the best, Singer took off and took everything with him, leaving the 3rd movie with nothing (fingers crossed on Superman, by the way).