X-Men: The Last Stand

Review by Adam Weeks
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It’s time to take a look at one of the years most hotly anticipated & debated films of 2006, Brett Ratner’s take on the X franchise, X-Men: The Last Stand. Set shortly after the events of X2, The Last Stand finds the band of Mutants in a state of disarray. Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) is apparently dead, and with Cyclops (James Marsden) shirking his responsibilities at Professor Xavier’s (Patrick Stewart) school for the gifted, fellow “X-Man” Wolverine is taking on substitute teacher duties alongside Storm (Halle Berry). In all of their minds though, the seemingly deceased Jean is reaching out to them from her grave, leading to disaster for all of them when the resurrected “Phoenix” emerges in her place.

While these events are unfolding, Warren Worthington II (Michael Murphy), in an attempt to “cure” his own son (Ben Foster as “Angel”) has discovered a strange source of vaccine against the “X” gene, that seemingly has the ability to convert any Mutant back to a mere mortal – but whether or not they voluntarily take the treatment or it is forced upon them is taken up by Magneto (Ian McKellen) & his “Brotherhood”, including Pyro (Aaron Stanford), Mystique (Rebecca Romijn) & Juggernaught (Vinnie Jones) amongst others. Adding to the mix is the Secretary of Mutant Affairs, Dr. Henry McCoy (Kelsey Grammer) otherwise known as “Beast” who juggles his personal beliefs in “curing” mutants alongside his professional standing; Rogue (Anna Paquin), who believes her boyfriend Bobby (Shawn Ashmore) is developing feelings for newcomer Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) due to her inability to touch him without killing him. It all comes to a massive climax involving the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz island, as both Humans & Mutants wage a mammoth battle against and with each other, and have their (dun-dun-dah!) Last Stand.

Alright, so it’s complicated to describe this film, because there is a hell of a lot of stuff going on it. Hopefully that’s given you some indication of the general idea, but apart from that, you need to know where it stands in the “X” trilogy (so far), and to do that, we have to talk about Brett Ratner, or more specifically the Internet backlash against him.

Seemingly from the moment he was announced to helm The Last Stand, there has been a collective bashing of him, and I can’t for the life of me figure it out. I don’t claim to be some kind of genius when it comes to what I like, I just like it. So therefore, movies like Rush Hour, Red Dragon & even Money Talks have been enjoyable films for me. Are they perfect examples of their genre? Hell no! Are they entertaining? To me, absolutely. It’s with that in mind (and the great job he did with the Prison Break opener) that I didn’t get involved in any of the hating, choosing to wait and see what the final product was like. 

Here’s the thing, X-Men: The Last Stand is not the disaster some of you have been expecting, it is in fact a very entertaining movie that fits in well with the first two films. As has been the case with both 1 & 2, there is definitely cheesy dialogue (thankfully nothing comparing to the embarrassing “coming out” scene with Bobby in part 2) in places, some of the effects work doesn’t look the greatest at times, and some of the supporting parts are as thin as can be, but as with the other entries, the stuff that does work far exceeds the things that don’t. A few particular standouts that have been mentioned in some of the other early reviews include the FX that surround “Phoenix”, the de-aging of Magneto & Xavier by 20 years, “Beast” unleashed during the final act of the film, and the fact that also like the first films, Rebecca Romijn is still smokin’ hot.

Hugh Jackman has always been the standout in the “X” franchise, and it’s never been more obvious with what he’s given here that they are pretty much solely writing the film around him. The one thing that I will say about him is that outside of a quick comment by Jean in the film, there is nothing to do with his history that was such an integral part of X2, and that does feel like kind of a let down. Famke Janssen & Halle Berry both return to their roles with a little bit more relish from the second outing, Janssen making a good turn at being the “nasty” Jean, and Halle actually getting to do more than show up for 5 seconds at a time before disappearing in the background and Kelsey Grammer is perfect for Dr. McCoy – you’re not likely to look at the character in a comic again without hearing his delivery of the lines. Patrick Stewart & Ian McKellen by this point have their characters so well down that they could sleepwalk through the part sand still come away smelling like roses (it is great to see when they were working together during the early flashback of the film though). Unfortunately though, as is the case with at least one of the acting parts in the 3 films to date, some are sorely underused, and this time out, the honor goes to Anna Paquin who gets a grand total of maybe 10 minutes onscreen. Considering the amount of presence that Vinnie Jones gets as Juggernaught (and I do like Vinnie), there really should be a bit more of a trade there, for someone who is supposed to be a pretty big part of the underlying thread of the film.

Here’s the thing – if you’re one of these people who have gotten caught up in the “I hate Brett Ratner” scene, you will most likely come away from this film disappointed, because you are hoping that this film will really suck badly. On the other hand, if you’re a fan of the “X” movies to date, and go in not caring about who’s calling the shots, I think that you will probably walk away enjoying this at least as much as X-Men 2 (but I do miss Nightcrawler). There are some very good (and very surprising) twists that happen during the course of the film that really give it a great sense of forward momentum, and along with the always great Jackman front & centre, The Last Stand is well worth your time for any fan of the franchise - and make sure to stay until the credits finish.

4 out of 5

X-Men: The Last Stand
Australian release: 25th May, 2006
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin
Director: Brett Ratner
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