X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) - Review

Director: Brett Ratner

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Kelsey Grammer, Ian McKellen

Country: United States

Rating: PG-13

Run Time: 104 Minutes

While both X-Men and X2: X-Men United are widely regarded as great works of superhero cinema, the same cannot be said for X-Men: The Last Stand. Few superhero sequels have as much hate and disdain attached to them as The Last Stand. The film is typically included in the same breath as Spider-Man 3, Fantastic Four, and Ghost Rider when it comes to disappointing superhero films. And while I disagree with the popular opinion that the film sucks the big one (I think it's rather decent), it is important to understand what went on during the film's development in order to grasp why the film was met with such disdain by comic book fans upon its release.

Bryan Singer directed both X1 and X2 to critical and commercial success in 2000 and 2003. When it came time to finish off the trilogy though, Singer chose to cash in his X-Men clout and jump ship to Warner Bros. to direct the further along Superman Returns instead. Therefore, X-Men 3 was left without its X-helmer as well as James Mardsen, the actor who portrays Cyclops. 20th Century Fox eventually settled on Brett Ratner, the director of the successful Rush Hour films. Unfortunately, Ratner had no knowledge of the X-Men franchise and chose to leave the story entirely up to his screenwriters. The screenwriters also found themselves clashing with the studio heads as they wanted to tell a story that combined elements of both Singer's original script and one entirely focused on a mutant cure. With a replacement director, a muddled script, and the largest budget of any film to date, X-Men: The Last Stand pressed forward to release in 2006, the same year as Superman Returns.

What resulted was two superhero films with mixed reviews and good but not astounding box office receipts. Many people to this day blame The Last Stand's failure and the near collapse of the X-Men franchise on Singer's departure. The X-Men film franchise is an interesting piece of history on its own, as Singer eventually returned to the franchise in 2014 with a time travel film that undid the events of both The Last Stand and X-Men Origins. It was as if Singer understood his mistake in leaving the series and realized that he had to undo the errors that Brett Ratner committed. However, that film and its story is for another review, as we are here to review The Last Stand.

Keep your eyes closed Scott, you're not going to want to see this next part.

After recently binging on the initial X-Men trilogy, I can honestly say that The Last Stand is not as bad as everyone says it is. Yes, this is a flawed film. And yes, there are things in this film that piss me off. However, The Last Stand is an all around entertaining and solid superhero experience that only falters every now and than. The Last Stand is not great superhero cinema, and definitely not the film that should have closed out the initial X-Men trilogy, but at least it's not a train wreck. There are far worse superhero films out there, and The Last Stand should not be bunched with them.

X-Men: The Last Stand continues the series' themes in a natural way with a plot that focuses on a newly developed mutant cure. The mutant community is thrown into disarray with the announcement of the cure, as several mutants choose to cure themselves while others, like Magneto and his brotherhood, decide to take the fight to the people who created the cure. As tension builds within the government and amongst the general public, the X-Men must deal with an emotional blow of their own, Jean's reappearance. Jean was believed to be dead after she sacrificed herself at the end of X2 to save her friends. She apparently protected herself with the use of stronger powers that accessed her repressed side, the dark Phoenix. Magneto eventually gains control of Phoenix and attacks Alcatraz, the home of the cure, in order to put a stop to the pharmaceutical meddling. The X-Men eventually arrive at the island and engage in the long awaited mutant war that Bryan Singer himself had hinted at within the scenes of his first X-Men.

X3 is a frustrating piece of superhero cinema because it commits as many wrongs as it does rights. The final film in the initial X-Men trilogy is a solid piece of entertainment that delivers the kind of intelligent themes, thought provoking conversations, and memorable action that defines both the X-Men franchise and the superhero sub-genre. Unfortunately, the film feels incredibly rushed in comparison to its slower paced predecessors. The Last Stand's biggest faults are that it features far too many characters and plots to juggle for one run time, let alone an hour and forty four minute film. I was shocked upon re-watching The Last Stand for the first time in many years to discover that the film was shorter than two hours. If any X-Men film was to be longer than two hours, than it should have been this one, as the film contains essentially two plots.

Cool guys don't look at explosions.

It's a shame that screenwriters Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn couldn't choose one plot to stick with. It's clear that the two wanted to honor the arc that Singer had been building up too in his initial X-Men films while also telling a new story based on one of Joss Whedon's X-Men arcs. Squeezing both the Dark Phoenix Saga and Whedon's "Gifted" arc into one X-Men film was a big mistake, as neither story is given its due. If anything, the Phoenix saga should have been teased throughout the film and set up for the fourth film, while the cure plot should have been the primary focus of the film. After all, the Phoenix plot of the film adds little if anything to the film's proceedings. The Last Stand could have been far stronger and less muddled if Jean herself were removed entirely.

There is no doubt in my mind that the script for The Last Stand had to be envisioned as the final film in the franchise upon its conception. After all, how could any screenwriter kill off this many major characters and drain several major mutants of their powers and think that the franchise could continue on after? It's no surprise that the X-Men series retreated into the past for two prequels (X-Men Origins: Wolverine and X-Men: First Class) after The Last Stand. It boggles my mind how penultimate the events of The Last Stand are still, as the film more or less hammers the nail in the sequel coffin. However, film history has taught us that few films entitled "Final" are ever the final chapter in their respective sagas. Brennan Klein of Popcorn Culture knows this better than any one, as he encounters numerous horror films with the word "final" in their title all of the time. Therefore, X-Men: The Last Stand stands as truly one of the most torturous "finales" in any franchise, as it more or less kills off and under represents fan favorite characters.

While two plots is bad enough, The Last Stand also features a ridiculous amount of characters that no film should ever be burdened to carry. Many mutants within the film are either under developed, rushed, or used purely for gimmicky visuals. Mutants like "multiple man," "the super fast mutant," "the wind mutant," "the fat shrinking mutant," and "the spike mutant" have no character beyond their powers and exist purely for unnecessary visuals that add nothing to the film. Other mutants, such as fan favorites Juggernaut (Vinnie Jones) and Angel (Ben Foster), are horribly under represented and given minimal, if any screen time. Fortunately, Kelsey Grammer's fantastic turn as Beast helps balance out the pain that results from some of these horribly mistreated characters.

Oh my gosh...

I know that I say this all of the time, but here goes. After laying out many of The Last Stand's flaws, I do not dislike or hate this film. In fact, I rather like it. If you take out the Phoenix sub-plot entirely, remove all of the gimmicky mutants, and erase Juggernaut and Angel's mistreatment from your mind, than The Last Stand is still a solid trilogy capper. You just have to tough it through the painful character deaths, that's all.

As I stated before, the cure plot is a fantastic continuation of the themes established in Singer's X-Men films. The cure itself offers up an interesting dilemma and debate. Are mutants genetically flawed and in need of a cure? Or is humanity afraid of them and using the cure as a way to neuter their fears? The film's plentiful discussions of the cure and its implications to the mutant community are typically the film's strongest points. The cure plot offers up an even more interesting thematic dynamic than even Stryker's hatred of the mutants in X2. The Last Stand also further explores the true crux of the series: Magneto and Xavier's friendship. While a particularly edgy topic to discuss, Magneto and Xavier's friendship leads to the only place that it could have led to for two men with such different ideals.

I also greatly enjoy Bratner's eye for action. He opens the film with a fun training session that finally introduces the danger room and even drops an easter egg in the form of a Sentinel's head. The film also features an awesome action scene around the mid-point where Wolverine lays waste to several of Magneto's "brothers" in a wooded setting that further racks up his kill count. The long awaited final battle is also pretty decent. Wolverine's awesome entrance and rousing words of encouragement to his fellow mutants makes the battle's proceedings all the more epic and entertaining. It should come as no surprise to readers that I am a huge Wolverine fan and consider just about anything involving his character excellent in some way. However, nothing in the entire film compares to the very final shot. The final shot itself is a master stroke of filmmaking and quite possibly Ratner's greatest contribution to the franchise.

The man, the myth, the Wolverine.

When I initially reviewed Singer's X-Men, I felt that I covered just about everything that needed to be said about the film in my average sized review. However, I feel that my review for Ratner's The Last Stand barely scratches the surface. There is just too much to cover in this film for one review. What is most shocking is that X1 and X3 both have the exact same run time, except that X3 features about two movies worth of material.

Few comic book superhero films are as controversial as X-Men: The Last Stand. The film suffers from a particularly uneven tone; bouncing between cheap comedy and disturbingly painful death as if it were nothing. The Last Stand clearly suffers from Singer's absence too, as I doubt the man would have allowed so many major characters to die and for two plots to run concurrently with one another. Ratner clearly does not care for any of these characters and it shows. He truly does deserve the title of "rent a director" after stepping in to replace Bryan Singer in what should have been an excellent trilogy capper. For all of its flaws, The Last Stand still features the same solid cast, intelligent themes, and awesome action scenes that made the X-Men series one of the defining superhero sagas. It's just a miracle that the studio, the series, and the fans survived all of the pain and torture that this film delivered...only to experience it all over again with Gavin Hood's X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Rating: 7/10 - An immensely flawed but undeniably enjoyable piece of popcorn entertainment burdened by unfortunate production problems and a director who did not give a crap.

Reviews In This Series:
X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000)
X2: X-Men United (Bryan Singer, 2003)
X-Men: The Last Stand (Brett Ratner, 2006)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Gavin Hood, 2009)