Rating of
2/4
"X-Men The Last Stand" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 01/28/12
When a research facility produces a "cure" for mutants, they find that they must choose sides in a war of ideologies between Magneto and the X-Men. I f**king hated this film when it came out. I have been a fan of the X-Men for more years than I care to admit to, and the Dark Phoenix saga is possibly THE classic X-Men story and to see this bastardised version of it caused a short circuit in my cerebral cortex. I still have a lot of problems with it; there are some serious lapses in logic, the plot has holes you could fly the Golden Gate bridge through and Vinnie Jones is still abysmal as Juggernaut. By far the biggest problem with it though is the dismissive way it treats its protagonists; it introduces large numbers of dispensible, second rate characters to use as cannon fodder (often completely ignoring their genuine personas from the comics) and even the central characters were not safe; six (count 'em, SIX) of the best characters are disposed of for no good reason which causes any real feeling of emotion or drama to just evaporate. The dark side of Wolverine that makes him so interesting is all but stripped away leaving a beclawed army recruitment poster in his place and worst of all, Phoenix is changed from malevolent, all-powerful galactic entity into "bad Willow" who spends most of the film just standing around doing nothing. Looked at objectively, there's plenty of action and interesting visuals to distract a popcorn-guzzling audience, mostly provided once more by Ian McKellen's Magneto, and it does entertain. It's just pales in comparison to both the brilliant second instalment and Nolan's Batman films.
