X-Men: The Last Stand (or Faster Firebird Kill Kill)

X-Men: The Last Stand is one of those films that it is easy to bitch about. In fact it is very easy to bitch about, so easy in fact that I fear this review could easily become a little snipe-fest, so I am going to say at the kick off that this movie is okay. It is not good, but it is not bad. It is a comic book movie that never transcends the confinements of the genre. In this respect I would put it in the self same basket as the first film in the franchise, which is no huge condemnation, it is just a pity coming as it does after, the excellent X2.

The film pretty much picks up where X2 left off. Everyone is moping around wishing Jean Grey would rise from her watery grave and come back into their lives. It is like the whole X team never heard that old adage "Be careful what you wish for!" Jean comes back as damaged goods to wreak havoc on the nasty nasty world. If that is not enough to handle, some smart chap has invented a cure for mutants, which obviously proves to be quite a divisive little invention.

The threadbare plot is actually an extremely solid base for a comic book film. The "Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix" story is one of the most revered comic book plots ever written and the idea of a cure for a genetic "defect" is a brilliant extension of the mutant/gay parallel developed by big gay Brian Singer in the second X-Men outing. Where did it all go wrong? Unfortunately, the film fell in a heap after Brian Singer was offered a chance to resurrect Superman. Singer out, Ratner in. To compound the damage, Fox Studios set an unreasonable release date and Ratner (rumoured to be a studio "yes" man) set about the task of castrating the film to enable it to be shot on the quick.

Ratner has been quite ingenious in how he has utilised his resources and, truth be told, he has pulled off some very spectacular scenes. Magneto's assault on the road convoy to free some of his colleagues is spectacular, as is Xavier's confrontation with Jean at her childhood home. But for every successful decision there are at least a dozen clunkers. The biggest is that the film relies too much on these flashy set pieces and any character and thematic development are left by the wayside. The complexities of the issues raised in the film are never explored, or in many instances even hinted at. This leads to a very laissez faire feel to the plot, where events seem to happen simply because they look good.

This of course leads to some pretty hefty characters being either killed off or "cured". I personally don't take issue with this. In comic book land it happens all the time and it certainly doesn't mean that they won't reappear in the future. What I did take issue with was the unceremonious way that many of the exits were handled in that the film is so bloodless that there was no emotional connection to the characters, or if there was Ratner basically traded off the emotional investment of the previous films.

In the end, this is one of those films that is not well-crafted enough to exist in and of itself but it is one of those films that if you loved the first two (or just the second one) you will be more than willing to explain away any inconsistencies. In other words, this is the Return of the Jedi of the X-Men franchise. Worth seeing but prepare for the worst.

Oh, and it is another one of those films that you have to watch right to the end... like the very very after the credits end.

Tags: movie review, x men