Coral Amber

Is the third X-men movie really the last? I hope not, because that would be a disappointing end to an excellent franchise.

This movie finds our heros and villains at odds over a cure for being a mutant, with some reacting with happiness or anger, and some fearful that it will be used as a weapon to wipe out all mutants. The Last Stand had a different director (Brett Ratner) than the first two movies and I'm sorry to report that the difference is obvious. I don't want to blame him totally, because it's not a bad movie; it's just not as good as the other two. Without spoiling anything, here's what I learned about the third installment of X-men:

Wolverine's real mutant power? Killing people. I know the healing factor really comes in handy, because people try to kill him back, but it's those adamantium claws that are really what Wolverine is all about. In this movie, his berserker rages left me feeling a bit blah. Because it's only PG13, there is a limit on gore and violence. Wolverine's best fights turn out to be those in which his claws can't do much damage.

Telekinesis can be freaking scary. Phoenix takes the "I can kill you with my brain" concept to a different level. If you're a fan of X-men you might have been wondering how they were going to pull off the Phoenix thing. While at first what they propose seems totally contradictory to the first two movies, it was soon explained in a way that satisfied me.

Bigger battles equal more destruction. And we're not talking abandoned compound at Alkali Lake destruction, Oh no. We're talking well populated area, innocent bystanders get killed destruction.

It turns out this is both good and bad. Clever fight scenes and special effects are part of the genre, but they shouldn't be the point of a movie. I got the feeling that a big chunk of the budget was spent on a certain special effect. It was a really cool effect, but it was overused to the point that its impact was lessened.

Oh, the one-liners. Oh so many scenes are ended with zingy one-liners. You know, those little witty things said as a parting shot? The movie is riddled with them and when you have that many, some are bound to fall flat. No movie is immune from this (remember the cumbersome "Do you know what happens when a toad is struck by lightning?" parry from the first one), but even for comic book characters it seemed a little much. Luckily there were a few funny sight gags thrown in to mix it up.

Mutant Powers have levels. Level 1 being parlor tricks to level 5 being able to bend others to your will. Apparently a mutant of level 3 or above also gets to be three dimensional and a member of a team (All official X-men are level 3 or above). If mutants are below that then they are personified by their power, and can be fan service or gimmicky cannon fodder. People in the theatre actually laughed when certain low level mutants were called upon seriously to use their power.

Logan loves Jean. Seriously. He doesn't just have a crush on her. He doesn't just think she's hot. He doesn't just want what he can't have. Logan has an epic love for a woman that is out of his reach. This is the actual point of the entire movie. That cure thing, it's a great gimmick to fill the movie with angst and catalyze action, but it's not the story. The movie could have been named "X-men: Logan Loves Jean" and been accurate.

The Last Stand assumes you have seen the other two movies. All the emotional development and buildup movies need to be great? It was left to that Bryan Singer guy. They obviously thought that he had lain such great groundwork that they could focus on trying to be sexy and funny and violent, without wasting more than a couple lines on human concerns.

Sure there are some exceptions, like the scene with Wolverine and Rogue, but as a cohesive unit, I found the movie lacking. Everyone is dealing with the hand they've been dealt in their own way (except apparently Gambit, who I missed in other movies, but I was glad he wasn't shoved into this one). I actually empathized most with Mystique, because Romijn and other actors did an excellent job showing the shapeshifter's emotions.

While everyone is busy running around doing their own thing there isn't one galvanizing thing for everyone to focus on (like I said, the cure is just a gimmick). Whenever their paths cross they interact, but some characters sit out huge portions of this movie.

All of this makes me wonder if they bothered to screen this movie with test audiences to gauge reactions. Sometimes movies withhold information to build suspense. Savvy moviegoers might catch on before the big reveal and it's all part of the fun that keeps us guessing. Some information in this movie is misleading without so much as a wink to the audience.

This gave me a general feeling of discontent throughout most of the movie because in my mind I'm thinking "That's not right, that's not how these things work in movies." They try to make it up to us at the end with a series of mini reveals, but I felt kind of duped.

All I can say is that the movie isn't over until after all the credits roll. Stay in your seat if you don't want to miss out.