Ratner, 2006
The Xmen series is likely the most successful of all the superhero new wave movies (yes, I just made that up) out there. Other than the superior Spiderman movies, there really hasn’t been much quality out there. In fact, a large amount of the new superhero movies which have been pumped out rapidly since the breakout success of Xmen and Spiderman, have sucked. Fantastic Four, Elektra, Daredevil, the list goes on. But there was always Xmen. The first one was a bit shaky with some bad moves here and there, but it was still quite solid. X2 was significantly better, and it one of the best superhero/comic book movies out there, despite completely faltering in the final act. I was looking forward to X3: The Last Stand, because I figured if it followed what the first two did right, it would be great fun. However, this was not the case. Whatever the reason, the movie does way too many things wrong and ends up being a huge misstep for the Xmen series.
The main problem is the script, which may very well have been written by a band of monkeys – maybe those apes from The Dawn of Man finally found a job? Regardless of whore wrote it, they completely toss ideas which were carefully developed in the first movies, as well as a major character from X2, whose absence they don’t even bother to explain. Furthermore, much of the movie makes no sense. As the movie progresses, it looses focus more and more until the end battle - by then, I didn’t even understand nor did I care as to what was happening or why. I won’t even get into the gapping holes in common logic…
Having said that, the movie was still fun to watch in many respects – while there actually wasn’t as much fighting as I had been expecting, it was still enjoyable. Many people have knocked the Juggernaut for being in the movie, but I actually really liked him. The battle that takes place in the house was Wolverine and Juggernaut was particularly well done and I couldn’t help but laugh when Juggernaut threw Wolverine through the ceiling only to see him fall back through the floor in the other room. It was little things like that which enhanced my enjoyment, and a number of the one liners were very well executed as well. “Grow those back”, was properly my favourite. As far as the final battle is concerned, I am a bit conflicted. The Golden Gate Bridge sequence finally shows off Magneto’s true potential…but was it really necessary? Disregarding the notion that the entire sequence really had no reason to exist, the action that took place was still enjoyable. Xmen fighting Xmen is always fun, and a few humans dying along the way is a must. Sometimes the sequence felt a bit ‘confined’ and at times looked too much like an enclosed set, but in the end it was still enjoyable.
I think that final battle sort of sums up the entire movie; they are both essentially irrelevant and don’t really contribute anything, and they also have many plot holes and gaps in logic, but they are both still fun to watch. X3 will forever be the weak link the in Xmen chain, as it really doesn’t add or refine anything to the series at all, but as a summer action movie by itself it is still enjoyable. Extremely flawed, but I had fun watching Xmen use their powers to pointlessly kill, maim and crush other Xmen as well as the occasional homosapian if they get in the way. It had it's charm, had it's moments, and I am glad I saw it - I had fun; but X3 is still massively flawed.
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