X-Men: The Last Stand is a 2006 superhero film based on the Marvel Comics' team the X-Men. It's a sequel to 2003's X2: X-Men United and the third installment of the X-Men film franchise. The film's story is loosely based on the X-Men story arcs The Dark Phoenix Saga and Gifted. X-Men: The Last Stand was produced by Dune Entertainment, Marvel Entertainment, The Donners' Company, and Ingenious Film Partners and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The movie was written by Zak Penn and Simon Kinberg and directed by Brett Ratner.
The story is there is a cure for mutants. In doing so mutants are now debating if they want to keep their powers or live among regular people. Magneto sees this a way to destroy mutants so he sets out to create an army to destroy the cure and the people who made it. The X-Men want to stop Magneto and his army but while that's happening an even bigger threat rises. That threat being Jean Grey who now goes by Dark Phoenix.
- Negatives
One of my biggest problems with the movie is how Jean Grey the Dark Phoenix herself was pushed to the side. She was hyped up in X2: X-Men United, then she gets some awesome moments and then when she joins Magneto she does basically nothing until the final act. It was real let down to see one of the most powerful characters in Marvel just be a henchmen.
My other complaint with The Last Stand is when you watch X-Men and X2: X-Men United back to back they were very subtle with there themes. X-Men 3 on the other hand not so much. I mean Mystique literally refers to her real name (Raven) as her "slave name". I mean seriously? I mean I'll give Kinberg a pass since this was his first project with the X-Men franchise, but Penn helped write the second movie he should have some idea how this works.
The other part of the film that really sucks is the love triangle subplot among Iceman, Kitty Pryde, and Rouge. It's introduced, talked about a little, and then it goes nowhere. So it was really pointless.
The final thing I'll complain about with this movie is they introduced why too many new mutants. Yes I know this is part of the story what with there being an upcoming war but what I mean is some of them have story arcs. We have to deal with this person's story, that mutant's story, oh don't forget about this subplot with this mutant. In matter of fact some are introduced and don't really do much. The biggest example being Angel.
My other complaint with The Last Stand is when you watch X-Men and X2: X-Men United back to back they were very subtle with there themes. X-Men 3 on the other hand not so much. I mean Mystique literally refers to her real name (Raven) as her "slave name". I mean seriously? I mean I'll give Kinberg a pass since this was his first project with the X-Men franchise, but Penn helped write the second movie he should have some idea how this works.
The other part of the film that really sucks is the love triangle subplot among Iceman, Kitty Pryde, and Rouge. It's introduced, talked about a little, and then it goes nowhere. So it was really pointless.
The final thing I'll complain about with this movie is they introduced why too many new mutants. Yes I know this is part of the story what with there being an upcoming war but what I mean is some of them have story arcs. We have to deal with this person's story, that mutant's story, oh don't forget about this subplot with this mutant. In matter of fact some are introduced and don't really do much. The biggest example being Angel.
- Mix
My real grey area in this is it's humor. Now having watch all three films it does feel rather odd how much jokes are in this. Yes if you watch the other films they do have humor but it didn't feel out place. In some not all scenes there were times when I'm thinking "did we really need that". Other times I thought it was appropriate. Like this moment with Wolverine.
Getting kicked in the nuts hurts bad enough but imagining getting kicked there when someone has adamantium bones.
- Positives
Now despite some complaints and all my other less than stellar comments, X-Men: The Last Stand actually does have some good qualities to it. One of them being good character moments. The best one is when Logan and Scott are taking about moving on from Jean's supposed death and Scott delivers an amazing line. No I'm not gonna tell you what is it. It's best if you watch the movie for that.
The other thing to enjoy from The Last Stand is the story surrounding the cure. It was actually a really good debate piece for this film. Because on one hand you have mutants who think it's an insult to them thinking their some sort of disease but on the other hand you have mutants who don't like their abilities and think it's something great.
My other admiration for the movie is the performances. Despite the script not being as good as the first two movies the actors still give it their all. Including Kelsey Grammer as Beast he was one of the best parts of the film.
I also feel like the movie doesn't get enough praise for the more emotional moments involving Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix. I mean the final act of the movie when it's Wolverine and her face to face was actually a heart breaking moment.
My final praise for The Last Stand is the action. All of the action scenes were awesome and were a lot of fun to watch. There wasn't a single one where I was like "nah this isn't good".
X-Men: The Last Stand isn't the worst X-Men movie ever made (that rightful title goes X-Men Origins: Wolverine). It has great character moments, a nicely done subplot with the cure, the performances are still strong, good emotional moments, and even better action. The real mix bag is the humor. The bad things are Dark Phoenix's treatment, less than subtle themes, a really really REALLY pointless love triangle, and introducing way too many new mutants.
My final rating is Okay
In my opinion X-Men: The Last Stand is kind of like Spider-Man 3 before Spider-Man 3 was released. Everyone pretty much focuses on the bad and says it's the worst film ever and push all of the good aspects a side. They seem to forget a film can be simply okay.
Anyhow I'm done here. Come back on Thursday, March 28th for my "A Look Back at" review for 1941's Dumbo. Until then enjoy the rest of your day.
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