X-Men The Last Stand (2006) Review

The X-Men are back, but sadly not Bryan Singer, in what is considered to be one of the worst movies in the franchise: X-Men The Last Stand. In the director's chair, we have Brett Ratner who directed the Rush Hour movies and has angered fans with this movie. However, do I think it's as bad as people claimed it to be? Well, while I think it is mildly flawed, I felt there were some very cool elements that stood out as well as a couple of new things.

A medical lab has created a "cure" to suppress the gene that makes mutants what they are. This causes a rift between mutants across the nation on whether it is ethical or not when it seems like it is not used on them voluntarily. Magneto forms an even larger brotherhood with mutants who are against the cure, intending to crush the ones responsible for it. Meanwhile Jean Grey, who sacrificed herself in the last movie, returns but a lot different. A powerful, darker side to her has been released known as the Phoenix. This is based on The Dark Phoenix Saga, one of the most memorable comic book arcs ever. Jean is seemingly unstoppable as she even kills a couple of her fellow X-Men. With her and Magneto as a huge threat, it is up to Wolverine and the rest of the team, along with an old friend, to stop them.

Firstly one of the things that upset people in this film is the way the characters die or get de-powered abruptly. Cyclops only has four minutes of screentime, until he gets killed by Jean, while Mystique loses her power after just getting freed by Magneto in a military truck with other captive mutants and then gets abandoned by him. The same goes for Charles Xavier and Jean again. It seemed like the studio wanted the deaths to have an emotional impact but it backfired. However, it doesn't offend me too much because I don't have a strong attachment to the characters with a couple of exceptions, but I understand how people can be bothered by this. Another flaw is trying to juggle the two plotlines with the cure and Jean's Phoenix side in a not so effective way. Lastly, one special effect that doesn't quite work is making Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen look young in a flashback in the beginning. The technology wasn't really advanced enough.

But some things work for me such as new characters and more cool action scenes. With blue mutants like Mystique and Nightcrawler, it only figures we get introduced to another in the form of Beast, the intelligent Secretary of Mutant Affairs, played superbly by Kelsey Grammer. Grammer was a great choice to play this role, having portrayed intellectually sophisticated characters such as Frasier Crane. But he also does great in being an animal in combat. It was so awesome seeing him leap around and fight. Magneto is back as the villain again and is a bigger danger with a bigger group to help him. There is one cool scene where he lifts the Golden Gate bridge to gain access to Alcatraz Island where the cure was developed. Our heroes still kick butt in this movie despite the absence of major members. The climax was pretty cool where we see the team fight against Magento and his brotherhood. There hasn't been a fight scene on this grand a scale so far in the franchise and I was entertained. There were also some dumb moments that I could help but laugh out loud like when Wolverine is fighting a man who can reproduce limbs. After a pause, he just kicks the guy in the groin and says "Grow those back." Another funny element for me is Juggernaut, in general. Even though he's not properly portrayed in the movie, I love it when he says "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!" when he is chasing after Kitty Pride.

Overall, while I agree that this is the weakest one of the first trilogy, there were some things that pleased me that I wish I could say for the other people who saw it but no. Still, I understand if people cannot stand this movie. Heck, I wouldn't be offended if someone broke into my home and destroyed my copy of the movie. For five years, the X-Men franchise would be in disrepair and the next movie didn't seem to help that much.

NOTE: In my review for X2, I said that R. Lee Ermey has a cameo as the voice of a sergeant giving orders to soldiers. I was wrong. This movie is where he made his cameo. Sorry.

RATING: MODEST APPROVAL