Bryan Singer, We Miss You!

X-MEN: THE LAST STAND

I didn't think the first two movies were that deep but after seeing this effort I can see I was obviously wrong. If you want to see the difference that a director makes be sure to watch the first two movies directed by Bryan Singer and then go see this one. For one thing as a typical Hollywood director, Brett Ratner obviously subscribes to the "blowed up real good" motto. Which gets tiresome after a while frankly.

Also, this movie seemed much more rushed as if it was cramming in a lot of pieces of the story without giving them proper time for normal reactions or even explanations to develop. For instance Professor Xavier was never given a chance to explain more of the reasoning for his actions in the whole "mental barrier" thing with Phoenix. He just spit out a few sentences of explanation and then told Wolverine not to judge him and to go away. It was very unsatisfying and left Prof. X in a very shaky moral position which I doubt was actually the case in the comic books.

Also there was an obvious moral lesson that I kept waiting to be pointed out but that never was. I expected Phoenix to see the family in the car on the bridge or to think more about the little innocent mutant in the laboratory ... and then to have a glimmering that they had become everything they hated about the normal humans. Perhaps with a sentence or two said to Magneto so he could see that he had turned into a Nazi (full circle, which would be nice, eh?). But no.

Nightcrawler is gone from the movie and he was one of my favorite characters (but you'd expect that from a Catholic, right?). Gabriel's addition in no way offsets that loss as his character has very little impact on the movie anyway.

Those things aside, however, if you were a fan of the movies I would still go see it. It is not a bad movie, just not a great one. There are some great moments such as the scene between Magneto and Mystique at the end of her confinement, Magneto's reaction to Professor Xavier's fate, and Rogue's decision about whether or not to remain a mutant.

It is a satisfying end to the series ... although the very end leaves the door open. Speaking of the very end, don't leave until after all the credits are done. There is a significant scene then and you don't want to miss it.

HC rating: *** Good despite lack of flubber

Tags: Movies