X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) Rated PG13 Starring: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, and Ian McKellen Rating: out of

X-Men: The Last Stand picks up where 2003's excellent X2: X-Men United left off. This time around, a "cure" for mutants has been manufactured by a pharmaceutical company. Extracted from a mutant who possesses the power to eliminate other mutants' powers, this cure is offered as a choice to those mutants who feel their powers keep them separated from society. Magneto (Ian McKellen) has seen such "solutions" before as a survivor of the Holocaust and starts to recruit an army of mutants that will rise up and stop the "cure" from ever getting to such a point. Meanwhile, Scott "Cyclops" Summers (James Marsden) longs for his departed love, Dr. Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), and returns to Alkali Lake. Much to his surprise, she appears to him, but something's very different about her.

That's where things should start to get interesting but they don't. The pacing of The Last Stand is completely out-of-whack. The action comes in fits and starts which provide a few interesting glimpses of what certain mutants, namely Juggernaut (Vinnie Jones) and Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page), can do, but the film does not provide any character development whatsoever. The humorous tug-of-war between Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and his teammates that was so much fun in the first two films is completely missing. Storm (Halle Berry) is pushed into a more prominent role this time out but remains as charmless as she was in X-Men.

Director Brett Ratner, who replaced Bryan Singer, the director of the first two films in the series, doesn't fumble the ball here but he doesn't score a touchdown either. Many feared he'd botch things up and, while he doesn't completely ruin the X-Men franchise, he does not live up to the standards set by the two previous films. The special effects, however, do provide a lot of gee-whiz moments. One sequence in particular, featuring Magneto and a convoy of police vehicles, is spectacular. Other, involving the Golden Gate Bridge, misses the mark, but is still visually entertaining. Unfortunately, whether it's Ratner's fault or a logistics issue, the movie falls prey to the style over substance pitfall.

With an ensemble cast of mutants fighting for screen time, I can understand that it's going to be difficult to devote much screen time to each one but X-Men: The Last Stand seems like a string of mutant cameo appearances rather than a convincing entry into the series. It's possible that I feel more disappointed than some because it was the original X-Men movie that introduced me to these characters and made me interested in them. The second film built on that interest and turned out to be one of the best comic book films ever. Without spoiling the movie, the action in X-Men: The Last Stand is life-altering to some of my favorite characters but, without earning my emotional investment, I just didn't care like I feel I should have. The interest that I had in the characters going into the theater was gone when I walked out. When the series' characters are as interesting as those in the X-Men, that's just not acceptable.

Still, as an average escapist action film, X-Men: The Last Stand works. It's just a pity that that's how I have to summarize one of the most-anticipated movies of the year.

Trivia: Instead of high-dollar CGI to create Colossus' transformation, a reflective form-fitting bodysuit was created for and worn by Daniel Cudmore. (Source: The Internet Movie Database)