X-Men: The Last Stand
Reviewed by Brenna on June 27, 2006
If Tim Allen were to make a parody-film about mutants, a tyrannical government, and an impulsive attack on Alcatraz Island, I imagine it would look something like X-Men: The Last Stand. While it would be unfair to expect a summer blockbuster to have much social resonance or staying power, former franchise-director Bryan Singer set a precedent with his work that replacement Brett Ratner doesn't honor. I suppose it goes without saying that Ratner (Rush Hour) has a vision for the series that is slightly different from Singer's (The Usual Suspects). However, the disparity in style simply cannot account for some of the awful things Brett Ratner has done to this movie.
Ratner sacrifices all the character development of the first two installments (which was by no means meticulous) in favor of massive explosions and epic mutant battles. What script there is generally consists of one-liners, possibly intended to be so bad that they're funny. But mostly, they're just bad. Although laboring under the delusion that the film has something to say about politics or society, Ratner seems to miss the point. The themes of alienation, persecution, and exile still set the tone for this cinematic confusion, but they lack the impact they had in the two previous films. Singer used the mutants' rather wistful desire for acceptance to evoke a level of understanding and sympathy from his audience. In Ratner's hands, these thematic undercurrents are merely platforms from which to launch pyrotechnics.
The cast, as a whole, is significantly better than the script. Old standby Ian McKellen is incomparable as Magneto, selling melodramatic lines with his usual understated conviction. And of course, Vinnie Jones (Snatch) is always a good choice. His appearance as Juggernaut, while not inspired, is certainly enjoyable. Unfortunately, in what seems to be an attempt to deepen Wolverine's character, writers Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn have produced a mere caricature of complexity. The result is a murderous sociopath one minute, a mewling kitten the next, when they might have been well-advised to just let Hugh Jackman do some acting.
The star of this film is really the special effects team, who pull off some dazzling displays to cover up the fact that the movie is often built upon flawed logic and riddled with . . . let's just call them strange editing choices. Most notably, when highly climactic events are about to take place, apparently it's only natural that day turns to night (and no, it has nothing to do with Storm). As the fog rolls in and the cloud-cover thickens, we are reminded that prejudice and intolerance are very bad, that the government should not have the power to impose genetic alteration on its citizens. That Magneto is helpless when confronted with plastic weapons. Or maybe just that summer is truly the season for moviegoers in search of those really massive explosions.
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