X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
Director: Brett Ratner
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen
Primary genre: Superhero
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“X-Men: The Last Stand” must be one of the most disappointing closing chapters in all of film trilogies. Despite a massive budget, an invested cast and state-of-the-art special effects, the third entry became exactly what a superhero flick can be: soulless and pointless.
With the exit of Bryan Singer who showed remarkable understanding for the interesting dynamics and complex relationships between these superpowered individuals (and went to shoot the boring “Superman Returns” (2006)), “The Last Stand” seeks to cover so much ground in such a short time lucking the care to lay any foundation for the proceedings. The script is racing from place to place to introduce several sub plots shoehorning unexpected deaths, the discovery of a mutant cure and its socio-political implications, the resurrection of Famke Janssen’s Jean Grey as the Dark Phoenix, new characters and an upcoming civil war between the US government and the mutants.
Thus, it is inevitable for any film that bears so much content to crumble affecting key plot points with underwhelming and throw-away line resolutions. To make matters worse, heroes come and go at a whim covering vast distances in the same day (Wolverine goes from the East Coast to the West and then back again to East just under 24 hours by … a motorbike!) and rarely pause to engage into any productive conversation. The much anticipated depiction of Dark Phoenix (one of the most popular X-Men storylines) which should have the ideal central conflict is devoid by any meaningful confrontation with the X-Men, and Janssen’s acting isf to stand still in a red dress and gaze into the unknown. Yet this is nothing compared to the several character assassinations that populate the script, the worst offender being McKellen’s Magneto. The once beloved and can'-see-his-point-of-view antagonist is now reduced to a caricature villain who disregards his own subordinates in an 180 psychological turn.
The focus on the mutant “cure” would have been enough for “The Last Stand” to make an adequate socio-political point but it is obvious how executive thinking penetrated the creative process after “X-Men” made money twice. It is a shame after a three year gap, this is the best that the filmmakers could come up with. Even in terms of action, there is not much to enjoy here: mostly things disintegrate (courtesy of Dark Phoenix) while the heroic team is having their asses whooped by low level mutants in boring fist fights excluding the five-minute-cameo Juggernaut (and his silly costume).
There are flashes of brilliance though. The casting of Kelsey Grammer as Beast in superb make up is a stroke of genius even though the fan favorite character does not do as much as a character of his posture should be doing. The work of WETA (of the “Lord of the Rings” (2001-2003) fame) on the visual effects department offers a polished presentation and Ratner despite lacking Singer’s eye for action, handles the few sequences relatively well.
After almost two decades though, one can safely describe “The Last Stand” to be an underwhelming experience. While it goes down the route of bigger is better, it’s uncertain of how to intellectually interact with the audience. This third and expensive chapter remains a hollow and uninspired package which disservices pretty much all of these beloved characters. At least till Matthew Vaughn’s “First Class” (2011) that is.
An underwhelming threequel
+Good special effects
+Interesting socio-political ideas
+Cast is top notch
+Kelsey Grammer is excellent as Beast
-…and severely underused
-Too many sub plots
-…that go nowhere and have lame resolution
-Banal action
-Character assassination