I recently watched all four X movies again. I have already gone back to X-Men 1 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine so I decided to leave X2 for later and move on to Brett Ratner's X3, or X-Men: The Last Stand, which before Origins came out, was pretty much seen as the black sheep of the franchise by fanboys. Critically it was also the worst received of the three. But, it actually made the most money and many non comic fans really enjoyed it.
So going back to it after a few years, does it deserve all the hate? I remember the first time I saw the movie I actually enjoyed it. I was aware while watching that it didn't seem to be holding up in comparison to Brian Singer's previous films but was taken in by the spectacle nonetheless. And maybe there was an element of self delusion there too since the trailer had been so good, I almost wouldn't allow myself to dislike the movie! Of course that was just while I was watching it. Afterwards on reflection the disappointment really crept in.
X3 follows on from X2 by using elements(well, AN element) of
The Dark Phoenix Saga from the comics, and mixes in a little from Joss Whedon's
Gifted for good measure. Jean(Famke Jannsen), believed dead at the end of the last film, returns with her evil alter ego in control. She kills Cyclops(James Marsten) and Xavier(Patrick Stewart) and hooks up with Magneto(Ian McKellen) and his brotherhood. Magneto is on a crusade to rid the world of "the cure". A serum capable of changing a mutant into a human. The remaining X-Men, led by Wolverine(Hugh Jackman) and joined by Beast(Kelsey Grammer) set out to stop him. With Wolverine's feelings for Jean threatening to compromise their mission.
There is a bit more to it, but basically that's your lot plot wise. As with any CBM, there are 2 ways you can look at X3. From a fanboy perspective it's a disaster. Taking what it wants from 2 comic arcs and tossing the rest(in many cases the really good stuff!) away, killing off major characters(although that happens so much in the comics anyway you wonder why that bothers em so much), brining in characters like Angel and Juggernaut and then completely wasting them. Unfortunately, disregarding any changes from the comics and watching as a film fan only it doesn't fare much better. Studio stooge Brett Ratner was brought on by Fox only after a plethora of actual directors left the project. The man seems incapable of wringing emotion out of any scene, even one in which a beloved character is killed. All of the heart and smarts of Singer's films is gone, and we are left with more explosions for compensation. In fairness to Ratner, the action scenes are handled well. The Golden Gate bridge taking a trip and the scene is Jean Grey's family home are standouts, and there are many more scenes that WOULD have been very successful had we given a damn! There is very little in the way of character development in this movie. The main characters have an arc(of sorts) but it's basically just paint by numbers "he does this in this scene, then he does this in the next scene" and nothing ever really feels at stake for these guys. Add to that the criminal underuse of the likes of Rogue(Anna Paquin) and Angel(Ben Foster) who is brought it for literally no other reason than to be shown on screen- "Look guys, we gave you Angel!, our movie is obviously more fan pleasing! Right?" Wrong. One could argue that the film does attempt to appeal to the fans by doing this type of thing. Ratner shows the danger room, sentinels(sort of). We get a "fastball special" and see Ice-Man in his comic book incarnation etc. Fine, I want to see all of those things but I want to see them in a good movie. Work on THAT first!
Performance wise it's a mixed back. Newcomers Grammer and Ellen Page as Shadowcat are standouts, with Janssen giving her best performance as Jean yet. Unfortunately the rest of the returning cast seem to be on auto pilot. Even Hugh Jackman, who so frequently delivers even when the movie isn't up to much, phones it in as Wolverine. Don't even get me started on Halle Berry's Storm. Ian McKellen(Magneto) and Patrick Stewart(Xavier) are good but not THEM good! And we have a whole load of other mutants running around and displaying their awesome powers without ever opening their traps(Daniel Cudmore(Colossus) I'm looking at you).
The action and special effects are of a high standard and there are some lofty themes and intelligent ideas lurking in the script by Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn. Some even filter through in certain scenes. If only Ratner had resisted his music video sensibilities and really took the care to craft something of substance, maybe this could have been great. As it is it's not terrible, merely at best, serviceable. And that is not a worthy conclusion to what was building up to be a great trilogy.