|
X-Men: The Last Stand
Directed by: Brett Ratner
Starring:
Hugh Jackman
Genre:
Science Fiction
Run Time: 104
min.
Release Date: May 2006
On The Web:
Official
Site
Teaser:
Movie Trailer
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
Learning how to keep an audience
enthralled is one of the essential curves for good cinema. For me, it's
all about the characters. Always has been, always will be. And on many
levels, this third installment in the X-Men movie series succeeds.
After having watched Dr. Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) die in the second
film, I felt that the series directors, screenwriters, producers, etc.,
were beginning to understand what audiences need. But then we have Dr.
Grey return in X-Men: The Last Stand. The emptiness of her passing was
now miraculously refilled as we learn that Jean is not in control of her
faculties. Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) had previously held Jean's
mind in check by separating her destructive side from her more
controllable one. Jean was (is) a level five mutant, one with unlimited
power. But with that power comes a fractured mind. Something called "The
Phoenix" (uh-boy, not that name again) lives inside Jean's head and
refuses to be reigned in. A path of destruction and death reels before
Jean as The Phoenix part of her mind takes control.
Against this we have the discovery (by humans, of course) of a "cure"
for the mutant gene. This cure lives (naturally) inside the body of a
little mutant boy who's kept out of harms way at a new facility that
rests on old Alcatraz Island in San Francisco.
Magneto (Ian McKellen,
THE LORD OF THE RINGS) sees this as a threat to everything he stands
for. It's only a matter of time, he believes, until the government makes
it mandatory for all mutants to be "cured" of their "disease".
A personal, social, governmental, and worldwide movement begins on three
fronts. First is Magneto's group of mutants who want this "cure" threat
destroyed before it falls into the wrong hands. Secondly, we have the
government who says that the vaccinations are strictly voluntary and
want to protect the child/cure. And in-between them we have the X-Men.
Battling amongst themselves as much as any external threats, we begin to
see the extreme price the X-Men are willing to pay in order for peace.
New mutants abound in this third film. First, we have something called
"The Beast" (Kelsey Grammar), a blue cowardly lion with anger management
issues that acts as a Presidential aide between mutants and humans. I
don't know why, but I half expected to see Lilith from Cheers come
stomping in and pull him out of a scene by his ear. Go figure. Secondly,
we have The Juggernaut (Vinnie Jones), a bulky …um …guy who gets rolling
and can't be stopped. And finally, we see Angel (Ben Foster,
30 DAYS OF NIGHT), a winged
boy whose inability to accept the "cure" ends up saving someone very
close to him.
Although this film is subtitled "The Last Stand", I seriously doubt if
it'll be "The Last Film." An end scene with a "cured" Magneto opens up
an entirely new miasma of questions: Does the cure really work? Or is
Magneto immune? Will mutants need to be re-vaccinated every so often? I
feel pretty confident that X-Men movie aficionados haven't seen the last
of Wolverine or Storm.
(back to top) |
Image from X-Men: The Last
Stand
DVD cost: $23.39
Purchase:
Tower.com
(Blu-Ray)
Film Review Stew
Favorite? No.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy:
The bridge scene is based
on the scene in "New X-Men" #147 involving the Manhattan and Brooklyn
bridges rather than the Golden Gate Bridge.
Movie Quote: "I
don't understand. Magneto's a fugitive. We have a mutant in the cabinet,
a president who understands us. Why are we still hiding?"
Other Actors/Actresses
from X-Men: The Last Stand
   |
