Review: X-Men: The Last Stand

It's quite silly how the title of this movie was changed from X3, which indicated that this was the "third" movie in the X-Men series, to X-Men: The Last Stand. This was done in order to keep people from thinking of it as a sequel, since research shows that sequels in general tend to do worse business than the original movies. As if that would prevent people from realizing that it was a sequel! It's really quite silly reasoning on the part of the marketers.

In any case, the real reason people don't go to see sequels in as big of numbers as the originals (with a few exceptions) is that sequels tend to feel more stale and be action-packed instead of trying to introduce character- development. Directors often feel as though, since the characters have already been introduced in the first movie, the second (or third, or fourth) has to have bigger and better action sequences in order to keep people interested. And usually people aren't interested in seeing bigger and better action sequences, they want to see the characters that they love!

Many people have criticized X3 for falling into this trap, of being much less about character development and much more about bigger and louder action sequences. The reason people feel this way is because the ending of the movie leaves a bad taste in people's mouths. The last half of the movie really is just mindless action sequences, and a pretty dumb ending that pays lip service to the drama that the characters are going through but instead is just following the machinations of the plot that have already been set in motion.

That's quite sad, because the first half of the movie is just the opposite, with very careful setup of several tough decisions that the main characters must make regarding both their feelings for one another, and their feelings about themselves. The idea of a "cure" for mutants being created is truly fertile ground for the screenplay to examine what makes each character tick, and the first half of the movie really does explore the ramifications of the cure for many of the main characters. The internal battle within Jean Grey/Phoenix is also plumbed, as is Wolverine and Dr. Xavier's reactions to her rebirth.

But once all of those elements are set up, it all takes a back seat to explosions and special effects, and that is what makes the movie all the more disappointing. It really had potential. No doubt studio politics helped lead to this situation, as did the direction of Brett Ratner (not exactly known for insightful character-driven movies).

Then again, in all honesty, even the Bryan Singer-directed X-Men films got a little light on the character development towards the second-half of the movie. The idea of the X-Men has always lended itself easily to character development, but the movies have inevitably steered toward action sequences at the end that betray the character development plotlines. This has been a recurring theme of the X-Men films, and it's the reason why I think the series is less successful than the Spider-Man films, which have found a much better balance of maintaining true to the characters while producing big action sequences towards the end. (Then again, I still believe that Spider-Man should not have gotten the girl at the end of the second movie, that was completely against what the rest of the movie had so carefully set up! Grrr...)

One last thing. Much has been made about Halle Berry insisting that her character, Storm, have a bigger role in the X-Men movies. She gets her wish in this third installment, and the results are truly terrible. I have not seen the Dorothy Dandridge TV movie or Monster's Ball, but in every other movie I have seen with Halle Berry, she has been a very bad actress. I really do not see where her "Oscar-caliber" acting skills come from, because she has yet to present them to me. It's quite laughable to see how her character is imbued with additional "responsibilities" in the movie, but anytime Wolverine is in the scene with her it's obvious that he's the one who carries the weight and is the natural leader. This is not a problem with the script, but with screen presence. She should have been left as a small player, not as a leader in the new order.