X-Men: The Last Stand is the third installment in the popular superhero franchise, and it's an exciting one with a splash of fresh new characters. When a scientist named Warren Worthington II announces a "cure" for mutant powers, it raises an interesting philosophical question: is mutant power a disease that needs a cure, or is it a benefit that homo superior enjoys over "normal" human beings? No surprise that Magneto (Ian McKellen) and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants resist the idea that they need to be cured, and declare war on the human race. But it's a little tougher for the X-Men, led by Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Cyclops (James Marsden), and Storm (Halle Berry). If you're Rogue (Anna Paquin), for example, your power means you can't even touch your boyfriend, Iceman (Shawn Ashmore). To compound matters, someone previously thought dead has returned, and might be either friend or foe.

With director Bryan Singer having moved on to Superman Returns, the franchise passes to the hands of Brett Ratner (Rush Hour), whose best work is done in the big action sequences such as a showdown between mutant armies. But it's difficult to manage the sheer volume of characters when adding longtime comic-book stalwarts such as Beast (Kelsey Grammer) and Angel (Ben Foster), and one character in particular deserved better than an off-screen dismissal. And fans of the original Dark Phoenix comic book story might be underwhelmed by the movie's resolution. X-Men: The Last Stand is presumably the last film in the series, but the ambiguous ending leaves possibilities open. Look for the two writers most responsible for making the X-Men who they were, Stan Lee and Chris Claremont, in early cameos. --David Horiuchi

Beyond the Film

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A Good Conclusion That Begs For A Sequel

If given more time, this movie would have been better than the final result, but the final result is still really good. I understood the plot and what the film was trying to tell us through symbolism the way an X-Men story should. Some characters do "die" in this movie, but in the world of the X-Men, they are always brought back. Characters have died in the comics and came back, and the small clip at the end of the credits of this movie proves that dead doesn't always mean dead.

I thought they made good use of the special effects of the film. One of the most beautiful parts of the movie was watching Angel fly over the bridge. The special effects really came in use at the exciting battle scene towards the end of the movie. You hear about the war coming in the previous two movies and now it is finally hear and it makes for a good watch that isn't boring.

The acting is also as great as in the other films as well. There are some powerful scenes such as when Logan and Storm are crying over one of their friends who had died. Overall, if you are a fan of the series, then you owe it to yourself to get the DVD. No; it isn't the best in the series, but if you love the X-Men movies and are like me, then you will probably like this as well.

X-Men: The Last Stand (2.5 stars)

Plagued with production problems since the director from the previous two X-Men chapters, Bryan Singer, said goodbye, X-Men: The Last Stand proves to be no less problematic upon its theatrical release. Hired gun Brett Ratner tries to appease fans of Singer's work while adding a plethora of geekout moments for fan-boys to eat up. The plan backfires, however, as for every one of these moments that The Last Stand gets right, it gets at least two or three things wrong in character development, plot, and overall appeal. To start with, some major cast members are killed off, and surprisingly early on, too. This would be enough to anger fans of the comics and films alike but to make things worse, just about everyone in this movie acts out of character--Wolverine becoming the team leader and Professor Xavier turning into a control freak are but a couple examples. It also doesn't help that all the main story arches that have been developed so painstakingly by Singer are mostly ignored or completely dissolved here in favor of a few flashier and far shallower characters. Though the opening scene with Angel as a child is particularly moving, his character doesn't do anything of importance for the rest of the movie. The same could be said of countless others whose sole purpose is to look cool and provide a quick fight scene or one-liner. There are so many things wrong with X-Men: The Last Stand that to put them into a list would take days to complete. The only thing that can be said for it is that Brett Ratner is able to rely on the screenwriters to add in enough action-packed effects shots to keep people off the trail of just how much is lacking here. A summer popcorn flick at best, X-Men: The Last Stand strips the series of everything that made it enduring and original and replaces it with enough tongue-in-cheek humor and whizbang effects to keep casual audiences coming back for more.

Saving the best for last

A lot of people did not seem to like this picture as much as the other two. Allow me to be a dissenter. This actually was my favorite of the three.

For those who have not read my other reviews on the X-Men movies, the theme of the series is fighting prejudice. The bad guy mutants are ready to wage war with the humans who persecute them. The good guy mutants try to live peaceably with humans and even protect them from the bad guys. This one reverses the plot from the original movie: instead of mutants trying to change humans into mutants, there is a new drug humans devised to change mutants into humans.

This movie has a parallel theme, which is the matter of choice. As a minister, I'm familiar with the debate over predestination and free will. In the story, there are humans who think mutants need to be cured, mutants who oppose this cure, and mutants who believe they don't need to be cured but will allow each individual to make up their mind of whether they want to change.

One reason I like this movie is it introduces two of my favorite X-Men comic characters that were so far absent: The Beast, one of the original X-Men (played superbly by Kelsey Grammer), and the Juggernaut (Vinnie Jones), who is a mutant in the movie though not in the comics. Another original X-Man that makes his movie debut is the Angel.

I found the ending of the first movie to be effectively symbolic, and there is an allusion to it in the ending of this movie. I enjoyed several of the little tangent stories. I didn't mind the fact that Storm got more attention than usual (and the Wolverine always dominated the stories), but many of the other characters have adequate development. The movie does seem to close up the trilogy, but I would be happy for a spin-off or a new trilogy or something like that.