Film Review: X-Men 3: the Last Stand

by Pat Johnson

Introduction: I'm a fan of the original X-Men movies. One and Two were interesting, character-exploring action movies set in a world I love.

Thesis: My fandom is waning.

Body: There is just enough bad writing for this movie to be laughed at. New characters are nothing more than their powers and the audience is never given a reason to care about any of them. Some big special effects are fun, but aren't we past the point where cool graphics can save a movie from its own terminal badness? Also, prepare for plot decisions that are more unnerving than shocking.

Conclusion: Some parts of this movie are good. If you can ignore all the bad, you might find enough good here to call this a worthy sequel. But too much of this movie is off. Perhaps if the new director (Brett Ratner of Rush Hour fame?) had created this trilogy in his vision, it would not have been so distinctly mediocre by comparison. But then again, if the first one had been like this, there may never have been a sequel. I didn't feel ripped off, but my fandom for this franchise has taken a serious downward turn.

7 cardboard superheroes (out of a possible 11)

Contact: pat@king-sheep.com