X-MEN: THE LAST STAND (2006)

Many things have disappointed me when it comes to the X-Men movies. The first film had some excellent opening scenes and then the rest of the movie is filled with cheap production, fake effects, and general lameness. The second one is a vast improvement over the first, but for me it has too many melodramatic moments which took you out of the action packed comic book world. Some people love these tender character interactions, however, I can't stand them. These are mutants with awesome powers, so there should be constant chaos and destruction just like its printed source material. Yes, the comics have stories, great stories, but they also always had a sense of darkness that's missing from the first two films. In X-Men: The Last Stand, the third time proves to be the charm. It has some trouble spots and misses some opportunities, but the action and effects blow away the first two films, reinvigorating the spirit of the marvel comic's.
Brett Ratner directs this time around, taking over for Bryan Singer who jumped ship for Superman Returns. Interestingly enough, Ratner was at one point attached to direct Superman but Warner Bros. decided to go for Singer. This would turn out to be great for the X-Men franchise and not so good for Superman. Ratner has made these X-Men much more lively, powerful, and just more entertaining. In this adventure a possible "cure" has been discovered for the so-called mutant condition leaving some mutants thrilled at the chance to be "normal" and angering others who feel there's nothing to be cured from. This only strengthens Magneto's position that humans seek to destroy all mutants and a massive confrontation is inevitable. Meanwhile Professor X, as usual, seeks more peaceful means to solve the conflict. Making things even more troublesome for the X-Men is Jean Grey's return with a powerful new personality. From a story standpoint this X-Men film is far more ambitious than it's predecessors. It also does smaller storylines justice as well, such as Rogue's longing for physical contact. There's also a little bit of time devoted to a father and son subplot between a certain mutant with Angel wings and his dad who helped to create this "cure".

The action and effects are light years ahead of the previous films. The other 2 X-Men movies were extremely conservative when it came to unleashing the true powers of the mutants involved but this one just lets them rip. Hugh Jackman is better than ever as Wolverine who is as wild and tough as he is in the comics. Kelsey Grammer nails his 'Beast' character as do the makeup and costume crew who make him look like a snarling live action version of Sulley from Monsters Inc. The visual effects team (or should that be army?) really up the ante here as there are some absolutely breathtaking sequences. Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) has a climactic effects filled scene at the end of the film which serves as the most outstanding moment of not only this, but all 3 X-Men movies. The Juggernaut (Vinnie Jones), Multiple Man (Eric Dane), and a slew of other mutants make appearances which include there own mix of digital and physical effects, again executed expertly without flaw.
There are a few dull moments here and there. Some of Storm's (Halle Berry) scenes seem like they're only included for the sake of Halle Berry getting some screen time. Rogue is still reduced to being a lost little girl which has become tiresome and now not serving much of a role in the third film. In the comics she is one of the most powerful mutants and one of the most interesting to follow. Not to mention how many pages were devoted to her romantic involvement with Gambit. Which brings me to another complaint. Where the hell is Gambit? A couple of other characters don't get the screen time they deserve such as Cyclops, but I never thought I'd see the day where Iceman would get more of a role than Cyclops.

Through it all, Brett Ratner's X-Men: The Last Stand is sleek, well paced, and just a plain old fun movie. The action sequences get bigger and better as the movie shifts along at a fair old pace. Last Stand also does an excellent job of capturing that "the skies the limit" spirit of the comic where as the first 2 movies felt a little too grounded in reality. Hopefully this won't really be the X-Men's last stand (but did I mention that Gambit's not in it?)