NoFace for Film

Title: X-Men: The Last Stand
Year: 2006
Director: Brett Ratner
Starring Cast: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Patrick Stewart
Rated: PG-13

NoFace for Film Rating: 4.5 out of 7

After the coolness that is X-Men 2, my boyfriend and I eagerly awaited the release of this film. And although it wasn’t as great as the previous movie, it didn’t disappoint either.

X-Men: The Last Stand seems to take place a few years after the last film. There is a new President in the White House, and the world seems more tolerant of mutants now. There is even a “Department of Mutant Affairs” in the government. All seems hunky dory.

But of course if everything were really happy and peaceful, we wouldn’t have a movie. Therefore, just like in the first two movies, humans somehow screw up the delicate existance between mutants and humans, this time by creating a “cure” for the X gene, the gene that causes some people to turn into mutants, starting in pre-adolescence.

Naturally this splits mutants into several camps. Those who saw their mutation as a curse welcome the “cure” and hop in line to receive it; others are offended that their genetic differences would be considered a disease; and those who view themselves as superiors to humans are downright furious. Magneto (brilliantly played once again by McKellen) and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants unsurprisingly fall in this third category, as they plan to teach these pesky humans a lesson in interfering with evolution. Of course, the X-Men will be there to stop them.

But while the fight over the mutant cure is the main plot, there are two other subplots. One is a silly little love triangle among the junior X-Men. The other, more important subplot invovles the return of a long lost ally and the birth of a powerful entity.

Now, the movie holds many, many surprises, and all I can tell you all is to WAIT UNTIL THE END OF THE CREDITS. Don’t be a shmuck and take off once the credits start rolling, or you’ll miss out! There is a small scene that offers some answers.

I thought that the acting was relatively good. Stewart and McKellen are in fine form as usual playing Professor X and Magneto, the respective leaders of their teams. A lot more screentime has been given to Halle Berry, who reprises her role as Storm. Unlike the first two movies, in which her acting was atrocious and had very little to do or say, Berry actually did well in this movie. She didn’t attempt a weird accent like in the first movie, and she wasn’t given corny lines either. Naturally a lot of attention is given to everyone’s favorite X-Man, Wolverine (Jackman). Although the plots don’t focus on him this time, you still see a whole lot of him. Actually, many scenes featured just Berry and Jackman that at some points I started to wonder if this was the Storm and Wolverine movie.

The plots are pretty ok. My boyfriend is a total X-Men comic fanboy, and he mentioned that a lot of the scenes and the plots are ripped directly from many of the recent comic books. I think that’s pretty cool since it ties the movie closer to the comics.

But of course, the hardcore fans always have something to complain about when it comes to film adaptations, and this movie is no exception. Some complained that their favorite X-Men aren’t included. “Where’s Jubilee? Where’s Gambit?” they whined. Others bitched that some of the characters are inaccurately portrayed. “Juggernaut isn’t really a mutant! He got his powers from a magic rock!” some cried out. Yet others moaned about the actors played their favorite characters. “Halle Berry shouldn’t have been Storm! Alexis Bleidel would make a better Rogue!” they bellowed angrily.

Well guess what comic book nerds?

Movie adaptations aren’t created solely for your enjoyment. They’re created for EVERYONE, including those who have never picked up a comic book. So deal with it.

What I find especially ironic about complaints by comic book fans is that, unlike books, which depict only ONE version of events, comic books can feature multiple “universes”, if you will. Different publishers put out different story plots with the same characters. One comic book series has Jean Grey and Scott Summers (AKA Cyclops) happily married, while another has Scott cheating on Jean. One comic book has Beast (Kelsey Grammer in the movie) dead. Hell, one comic book has Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page in the movie) dating Spider-Man! If there is inconsistency in the comic books themselves, then it’s no big deal to have inconsistency in a movie.

Strangely, the critics have mainly given X-Men: The Last Stand negative reviews. Some have said it’s because of lack of character development. So I guess the two flashbacks in the first 10 minutes of the movie aren’t considered character development? Others mentioned the overuse of action sequences and lack of emotion. On the contrary, I’d say there was a lot of emotion. Many characters cry or are wrought with emotion. There are several tender moments in between explosions. In my opinion, I think that the major critics have been too hard on this movie. Rotten Tomatoes rates X-Men: The Last Stand as a 53%, while surprisingly Mission: Impossible 3 gets a much higher 70%. I don’t get it. I know it’s not Shakespeare, but it’s really not as bad as they make it out to be.

There are some weaknesses, though. Like I mentioned earlier, one thing was that there were so many scenes with just Jackman and Berry that I started to wonder if it was the Storm and Wolverine movie. Another thing that bothered me early on was that they introduced a certain point in the plot (involving Cyclops- those who have seen it may know what I’m talking about) but then another plot point is introduced and it takes a while for the first plot point to be revisited. It’s as if it was almost forgotten. Thirdly, while most of the fight sequences are really cool, one scene involving burning cars was kind of redundant and took too long.

Overall, I thought that X-Men: The Last Stand was an enjoyable movie. My boyfriend the comic fanboy is already itching to watch it again.

Storm, Jean Grey, Dark Phoenix, Rogue, Mystique, Magneto, Xavier, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen