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Review of X-Men: The Last Stand |
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Friday, 16 June 2006 |
By Timothy Chow
 I have to admit. X3 was a disappointment. For me, the series always was one of the better comic book movies out there, with a cast of interesting characters and a semi-story to boot, advocating a message of love and tolerance. While that was evident throughout this film, there lacked a certain...oomph to it, as if it was a necessary element, but one in which director Brett Ratner decided to relegate to the backburner in favour of more and bigger action.
The story picks up from the second movie, after Jean Grey sacrifices herself to save her friends and family. Understandably, Scott is all emo and unshaven nowadays (i.e., hot) and Wolverine's still half-reeling from the tragedy. The other characters have also changed a little bit; kids have magically gotten many years older, Storm's hair is all short now, Bobby's flirting with Kittie Pryde, and Pyro has become Magneto's angry right-hand henchman.
In comes the story that a company has discovered the cure for mutantism; it'll suppress their powers so that they can be "normal.” This obviously has huge moral and ethical issues associated with it, and the story would have you believe that the characters are really struggling with this opportunity/insult. THEN, it turns out that Jean isn't actually dead. Her subconscious Dark Phoenix rage has somehow kept her alive still, even after that huge blast of water, but it's now competing with her conscious mind for control. When she can't control it, bad things ensue. Cue Magneto and plans to lead a war against humanity. There's the rest of the movie.
As you can tell, there's not much substance to the film. In fact, the story's fairly thin, compounded more so by bad editing and a very uneven flow which reveals its inadequacies. Whereas the first two movies had a methodical approach to them, in that you could figure out what was coming up, X3 is all over the place. Action scenes are long and entertaining to watch, but lack coherency.
Why is Magneto moving the Golden Gate Bridge? I dunno, I guess it looks more impressive on screen than a bunch of freakish-looking mutants on a dinghy. Furthermore, while characters get time to explore their sub-plots, it's almost as if nothing happens in them. There is no emotional connection; the characters develop, but not in any real meaningful way. Emotional scenes are built up falsely, and the cheesy score only worsens the experience. It's really a pity since the entire concept of the series is to establish these mutants as individuals who feel like any other person would, yet have powers that distinguish them from others. When you have so many elements going on at the same time, but most of them failing, it's hard not to feel disappointed. A shame really.
3 out of 5 stars |
