Review: X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

Moving a bridge? Sure, why not.

★★★

This was the only X-Men film that did not have any involvement from Bryan Singer. He was busy making Superman Returns (2006), which wasn't a good film and was somehow worse than this. Rather than waiting for Bryan Singer to finish Superman Returns (2006), FOX got impatient and decided to hire a new director, Brett Ratner, whose directing style differs greatly from Singer's. Ratner is known for the Rush Hour films, which are comedies, and X-Men is not the kind of film meant for him. Now, I can't put all the blame on Brett Ratner for how this film turned out; FOX deserves some of the blame as well, as they rushed this film. They obviously couldn't wait for Bryan Singer, so they got someone new to finish the story they wanted to tell. Had they waited for Bryan Singer, we would have gotten something different.

So, what went wrong with this film? Well, many things. For one, the conflicting plot. It feels a lot more rushed than the previous films, and there's no clear purpose to all of this. The story's central themes undergo significant alterations, and there is never enough time for the spectator to completely grasp the abrupt pace of events. Another issue was the characters. Brett Ratner put more focus on Magneto (Sir Ian McKellen), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), and Jean Grey (Famke Janssen). Everyone else just takes a backseat; even characters who got so much development in the previous films don't get any screentime. They're either killed off or just disappear for about 90% of the movie. The previous films' captivating storylines and well-developed performances were replaced with something far more spectacle-driven and less emotionally charged. Scott Summers, aka Cyclops (James Marsden), and Mystique (Rebecca Romijn) were two fan favorites that were done dirty in this film. Cyclops was killed off in the worst possible way by having his lover, Jean Grey kill him, and Mystique loses her powers and Magneto just leaves her lying naked on the ground. Mystique, a franchise fixture, is actually abandoned in the film, while fan favorite Juggernaut is turned into an unpleasant joke.

With its many drawbacks, The Last Stand has some redeeming qualities. The special effects hold up quite nicely, the de-aging technology is very good for 2006, the action, while a bit cheesy and emotionless, is still fun, some of the performances are still good, though not as good as in the previous films, and Magneto is still a great villain. The result of this product has left people upset, underwhelmed, and fustrated with FOX and Brett Ratner. It just goes to show that studio interference isn't always ideal, they prefer quantity over quality. George Lucas understood that.

Overall, as much as I enjoyed the action, special effects, absurdity, and the incongruous use and misuse of mutant powers, this film has a lot of problems. It lacks in pacing, story, and direction. The first two films were leading up to this, and what we're left with is a mess. The star meter was hovering at just under three stars, but let's round it off to three and call it a day.