Thursday, June 08, 2006

X-Men 3: The Last Stand - Movie Review

The Big Question about X-men 3 prior to its release was: Can Brett Ratner Pull It Off? After two extremely successful prequels, was The Last Stand going to be a stunning closing chapter for the X-men trilogy?

Replacing Bryan Singer was a tough act - but Ratner does what he does best - packing an unimaginable amount of action into a 100 minute movie. It was entertaining and fast moving - though a tad disappointing for die-hard comic book fans of the X-Men. Elaborating on this would mean revealing a few spoilers, so I won't ;-)

The Good:
* Wolverine is back - 'nuff said.
* Kelsey Grammer does a surprisingly good job as Beast.
* Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut - "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!".
* The unexpected death (sort of unexpected - the spoiler was leaked on the internet two weeks before the movie was released) of a central character


The Bad

* Angel has about two and a half minutes of screen time.
* Due to all the action sequences, there are hardly any time to focus on complicated relationships that were a core feature in X-Men United (I missed the Dark Phoenix-Scott-Wolverine arc).
* Wolverine has a grand total of about three excellent one liners in The Last Stand.
1) "Who's the furball?" (regarding Beast)
2) "Let's see you grow those back." (after kicking a mutant in the nuts)
3) "Don't get your panties in a bunch".
He should have been given a lot more than that!
* Unsatisfactory closure/departure for at least three characters (Rogue, Cyclops and Mystique).

For those who have not yet watched the movie - hang around until the final credits stop rolling - there is an extra scene at the end!

Out of the three movies, my favorite will always be X-Men United. Awesome, awesome flick!!

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