{"id":1797,"date":"2006-05-31T21:38:19","date_gmt":"2006-06-01T01:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinemacrazed.wordpress.com\/?p=1797"},"modified":"2016-03-19T06:47:56","modified_gmt":"2016-03-19T10:47:56","slug":"x-men-3-the-last-stand-2006","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2006\/05\/31\/x-men-3-the-last-stand-2006\/","title":{"rendered":"X-Men 3: The Last Stand (2006)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"x_men3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My antipathy and scathing skepticism at the fact that FOX would hire hack Brett Ratner to direct one of my favorite comic book franchises of all time hasn\u2019t exactly been a secret for all this time. I hated the fact that Ratner was given resources to potentially destroy my beloved storyline, and I was not looking forward to this. Even with the fact that Ellen Page was cast, I didn\u2019t find anything worth being impressed about with Ratner\u2019s alterations of the series I loved. \u201cX-Men: The Last Stand\u201d is supposedly the \u201clast\u201d film in the X-Men franchise; of course all the fans know its complete bullshit. \u201cThe Last Stand\u201d is the final film in the \u201cX-Men\u201d franchise like \u201cThe Final Chapter\u201d was in the \u201cFriday the 13th\u201d franchise.<\/p>\n

When the film\u2019s director (who refers to himself in a third person) chooses to cut out my favorite character from continuity, and further marginalize my second favorite, you can understand why I\u2019d be pensive and spiteful. Now as for whether I was wrong in my utter campaign to tear down \u201cX3\u201d\u2026 well, in some aspects I was. Frankly, \u201cX-Men: The Last Stand\u201d was not the terrible film I predicted it would be, in fact I\u2019ll admit, Ratner didn\u2019t create the new \u201cMortal Kombat: Annihilation\u201d as I\u2019d suspected. \u201cX-Men: The Last Stand\u201d continues the storyline from the first two films and if you haven\u2019t seen them, you\u2019ll be very lost. Interestingly enough, \u201cThe Last Stand\u201d possesses the same mood and atmosphere as the first two. Ratner, often a ham in his films, thankfully doesn\u2019t get too out of hand here using most of the same sets we saw in the first films, and there\u2019s not much drastic altering in terms of character development and plot.<\/p>\n

I was able to sit through most of the film without rolling my eyes, thus that\u2019s an instant win. Ratner, also a fan boy, also wants to compensate for his bad press by giving the fan boys what they want. In doing so, he serves what most fans wanted. We finally get to see the danger room in all its glory, we\u2019re finally introduced to powerful mutant antagonist Trask, we\u2019re finally able to witness the Morlocks, and many of the side characters get their day in the sun, particularly Iceman who, with a strong performance by Shawn Ashmore, really becomes integral. But most of all, Ratner wins me over with one major positive: Ellen Page is cast as one of the more original X-men characters: Kitty Pryde. Page, a newcomer to the franchise, is able to deliver a rather sublime performance as the lonely but intelligent Pryde who uses her unusual power to benefit the team, and Page seems to be having fun in her part as the girl who inadvertently cuts into Rogue and Bobby\u2019s romance.<\/p>\n

I really enjoyed her standout performance, and I hope the director has enough sense to bring her back. As for the story, it\u2019s rather thin, but what we\u2019re able to get, Ratner has fun with. \u201cThe Last Stand\u201d succeeds in giving rather interesting social commentary correlating mutant kind with homosexuality, and race. Mystique even prefers not to be called by her real name, which she refers to as her \u201cSlave name\u201d. And the plot of the government creating a cure for the mutant gene echoes many social themes in terms of issues concerning society, and I found it rather engrossing. One of the better additions to the team is Kelsey Grammar who gives a quaint performance as the educated, acerbic, and witty Beast. Grammar, who I was annoyed about in terms of casting, manages to fit the role very well, and I was amused by his portrayal. Meanwhile, most of the characters and plot lines are continued without much of a hitch, and we witness much more of the intellectual rivalry between Erik and Charles as they fight to bring the newly revived Jean (now the homicidal Phoenix) to their sides.<\/p>\n

What further adds to the realism of the story were the age gaps, which I never had much of a gripe with. Colossus is still just a beginner, Iceman is still a teenager, and Pyro is still the hothead. Stanford continues his excellent portrayal of the most underrated characters in the X-men mythos, and he just\u2014for lack of a better word\u2014owns the character. Ratner also takes advantage of the incredible dichotomy between the ice and fire controlling mutants pitting them against each other like competing brothers. Ratner does, indeed, squeeze in many mutants, but various times he does it smoothly by putting them in the background, and bringing them to the foreground without much inconsistency, and I enjoyed watching them in action. \u201cThe Last Stand\u201d is a fun third installment in the house that Singer built, and I was surprised. For the incredible climax alone, \u201cThe Last Stand\u201d wins with me.<\/p>\n

What kept \u201cThe Last Stand\u201d from achieving any sort of excellence was the complete waste of characterization that could have sufficed with more time to the story. Phoenix is introduced only to do nothing but stand around for most of the film, Rogue is relegated to a whining passive aggressive baby who disappears from the beginning, Angel appears for a brief period of time only to re-appear in the climax for no reason and not be featured again, the Morlocks as a villainous team were completely mis-handled being portrayed as mustache twirling villains dressed like Prince wannabes, and Goths with tattoos for no clear reason, and he further pushes Wolverine into the spotlight; a major mistake considering he\u2019s getting a spin-off.<\/p>\n

Ratner could have used this opportunity to focus on other characters. Ratner once again shows how when compared to Singer, he just can\u2019t add up. The short running time for \u201cThe Last Stand\u201d at a little over 100 minutes shows Brett\u2019s lack of storytelling need, and his desire to push aside important storytelling in exchange for balls to wall action. For any other film that would be okay, but this is \u201cX-Men\u201d a comic book that\u2019s supposed to be rich in character development and subtext. Ratner apparently wants to get to the climax immediately, so the short run time reflects with a thin storyline. If the film would have been longer, we could have had a much smoother story, and much better characterization. The problem with the short runtime is that no one outside of comic fans will know these characters, and the short vague introductions just won\u2019t garner interest. Here\u2019s a guy who can turn into multiple men\u2026 enjoy!<\/p>\n

That\u2019s basically the extent of the character focus Ratner places on the characters here. It\u2019s sloppy, it\u2019s hackneyed, and it\u2019s just up Ratner\u2019s alley. Most bothersome though was the careless inconsistency that showed how sloppy this installment was compared to the prior. Whatever happened to Nightcrawler? So, Jean as a child can lift cars in an instant yet as an adult in the first \u201cX-Men\u201d she had trouble closing a door? Why would the army house a metal controlling mutant\u2019s assistant in a metal truck? If Leech can suck a mutant\u2019s power, how did Callisto sense his powers if he\u2019s basically the referred to as the anti-mutant? Worst of all, Cameron Bright once again continues to play the same character he played in \u201cGodsend\u201d, \u201cUltraviolet\u201d, \u201cBirth\u201d and so on.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s shocking how such a terrible actor keeps getting cushy roles for playing the same character, and he\u2019s yet another martyr themed character. Team that up with basically average special effects which are a basic step down from the effects we saw in Singer\u2019s films, and occasionally clunky dialogue, Ratner basically shows while he\u2019s not trying to stand out, he really doesn\u2019t match up with the previous. I was surprised by \u201cX-Men: The Last Stand\u201d I have to admit. While I didn\u2019t get what I expected, the film is still rather filled with highs, and lows that only Ratner could have achieved. Ratner never manages to achieve the intelligence of the previous installments, but he knows how to get his point across, and though it\u2019s not the best installment of the series, with many, many present flaws, it sure is a very entertaining film.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My antipathy and scathing skepticism at the fact that FOX would hire hack Brett Ratner to direct one of my favorite comic book franchises of all time hasn\u2019t exactly been a secret for all this time. I hated the fact that Ratner was given resources to potentially destroy my beloved storyline, and I was not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[58,64,71,349,633,906,922,1208,1210],"class_list":["post-1797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-action","tag-adaptation","tag-adventure","tag-fantasy","tag-marvel","tag-science-fiction","tag-sequel","tag-x","tag-x-men"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1797"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20106,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1797\/revisions\/20106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}