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X-Men: The Last Stand
2 of 4 Stars
Rated: PG-13 (Nudity, Violence, Sexual Content and Language)
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Anna
Paquin
Directed by: Brett Ratner
Produced by: Avi Arad, Kevin Feige, John Palermo
The X-Men series, contrary to all of the hype trying to promote this movie, is
far from over. The X-Men “The Last Stand” continues in the near future where
Cyclops is mourning the death of Jean Grey and the rest of the team are
doing what they can to move on. A pharmaceutical company has finally
created a “cure” for what the homo sapiens call the mutant “disease” and
they have offered this to anyone who would like to voluntarily take the drug.
The government has also purchased this drug as a weapon against enemy
mutants that choose to use their power for evil. Magneto decides to form a
union with the lowest of low mutants and fight against the homo sapians,
believing that the mutant civilization is at risk of becoming extinct. The X-Men
must come together and fight against Magneto to stop him and his army.
Not to worry; there will be sequels, spin-offs and more heroes and villains to
come. With that said, the new X-Men was a very good movie but not without
flaws. Flaws aside for now, let me tell you what I did like. The movie has a
very solid cast of actors with a new addition who I believe steals the show;
Kelsey Grammer, one of the most versatile actors of the modern screen. To
see him go from Fraser on the small screen to a huge blue mutant is just
amazing. Being that he is a Shakespearian actor, he brings this mentality to
the character, while maintaining the true integrity of the hero he is playing. I
also really enjoyed the fact that this movie manages to kill off 3 main
characters of the series. None of the three are “series bearing” and none of
them really make a huge impact on the team, however these 3 are still key in
the whole series evolution. Wolverine does arise as being the ultimate
leader, leading the charge against Magneto. He finally seems to be in the role
he was designed for and Hugh Jackman does a stellar job pulling off the role.
X-Men was just a lot of fun to watch and an enjoyable hour and a half of
entertainment. It’s no Mission Impossible 3, however it is a good runner up
for the summer’s action fest.
Now for the flews: first let me tell you that the movie was way too short. You
left really wanting more out of the movie and desiring more character
development. Like many recent movies, some of the scenes just end without
really being finished. This movie strongly develops a few of the characters but
is lacking with others. The hardest part to handle is that no one is really bad
or good. Magneto’s desire is to make sure the cure is abolished, but the way
he goes about it is wrong. He actually seems to have sincere compassion this
time for human kind and actually spares many lives he could have killed. The
pharmaceutical companies and the president are not really painted as being
that bad and you feel like they too are just attempting to do something to
help, even though their methods are questioned by the mutants. The central
character, the super mutant, is a good guy and a bad guy all in one so you
never really feel any distain for this person either, but simply remorse. There
are also just too many things that go unexplained. For example, there is
another super mutant that is being locked up for no apparent reason at all,
and he doesn’t even object. Yes, he does have amazing powers from which
the public feels they need to be protected, but the fact that he is being held
against his will and he doesn’t seem to mind, is just odd. There are many
other things about the movie that don’t flow as they should, not due to
directing or acting, but more due to a weak script.
I don’t want to chop this movie up too much because I honestly enjoyed it. It
was fun and worthy of a sequel. Action movies have a very hard time
because, like this movie, most are somewhat misguided in their attempt to
deliver a movie with all of the important elements; they either focus too much
on action OR character development, or if they try to do both they fall terribly
short. This movie did not fail terribly and they attempted to do both, so they
get kudos for that, but like I said before this movie really needed to be longer.
That fault falls squarely at the feet of Brett Ratner. Bryan Singer, who directly
the first two X-men movies, focused more on character and you will notice the
difference in styles between the two.
I was a bit shocked at the gritty nature that Brett Ratner brings to the series. I
liked the raw action, which was pretty awesome really, but he also tried to
delve into the sexual and somewhat vulgar. Mystique, the naked blue chick
with scales, is back and sexier than ever. Something to be aware of before
you let your youngsters see this movie, they purposefully show you way more
of Mystique’s body than before and this time you actually see some detailed
nudity. There is also a pretty heated pre-sex scene that is fairly graphic and
may not be suitable for younger audiences, however they do remain totally
clothed in this sequence. Brett Ratner also feels compelled to step of the
graphic language by calling people names that seem totally out of place. This
just seemed a bit out of place for this kind of movie. There isn’t much bad
language but there is enough to notice and it’s placed to get a rise out of the
audience. On three occasions the audience laughed at the words being used.
That said, I did like this movie, but it is really a “leave your brain at home” kind
of movie. Expect little and you will love it. I expected a bit more but I was
pleasantly satisfied as far as action movies go. X-Men is coming up against
one of the best action movies of recent times, Mission Impossible 3, so
expectations are set high. This movie should not even be compared, though
you can hardly help it. If you are trying to decide on a movie for your extra
long Memorial Day weekend, I say X-Men has it hands down for the adults.
Warning to Parents: There is definitely more nudity and the sexual references
are stronger than in the previous incarnations, plus the violence and some
foul language. For these reasons I can recommend this movie for older teens
but not much younger.
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