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Submitted by cinemascope on Sat, 2006-05-27 16:07. :: Contemporary
Movie title:
X-Men: The Last Stand
Starring:
Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Famke Janssen
Directed by:
Brett Ratner
Written by:
Simon Kinberg & Zak Penn
Genre:
Comic Book/Superhero
Year:
2006
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Runtime:
104 minutes
Imdb:
Rating:
Synopsis
When a 'cure' is found for mutants - essentially rendering them human - the mutant community is divided. The X-Men, led by Professor Charles Xavier (Stewart) must face off against the Brotherhood, a band of powerful mutants organized under Magneto (McKellen).
When a 'cure' is found for mutants - essentially rendering them human - the mutant community is divided. The X-Men, led by Professor Charles Xavier (Stewart) must face off against the Brotherhood, a band of powerful mutants organized under Magneto (McKellen).
Review
When Bryan Singer, director of The Usual Suspects, was announced as the director for the original X-Men, he was acclaimed as just the right man for the job. His work on both the original and its sequel, X2, proved that his grasp of character and grounding in the real world, as well as his fanboy enthusiasm for the source material made him the ideal director for the X-men franchise. Once Warners seduced him to direct Superman Returns, the third X-Men movie was in trouble. Hiring Brett Ratner - a journeyman director whose films are without exception awful, but make a ton of money - was a bad move. Allowing Halle Berry to insist on her character, Storm, getting more screen time was another mistake. New characters, including Kelsey Grammer as Beast and Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut, are on the whole misconceived and have to be seen as failures; while the film's greatest asset - the Phoenix storyline featuring Famke Janssen as the reborn and slightly scary uber-mutant - is limited to just an couple of (admittedly impressive) setpieces. The script is poor and for the first time the X-Men franchise succumbs to the curse of comic book movies - it all seems rather silly. Jackman's Wolverine is still the best thing in the X-Men series, which is why he'll be getting his own movie. The question is, will Fox see the writing on the wall for the X-Men and gracefully retire them as a team now?
When Bryan Singer, director of The Usual Suspects, was announced as the director for the original X-Men, he was acclaimed as just the right man for the job. His work on both the original and its sequel, X2, proved that his grasp of character and grounding in the real world, as well as his fanboy enthusiasm for the source material made him the ideal director for the X-men franchise. Once Warners seduced him to direct Superman Returns, the third X-Men movie was in trouble. Hiring Brett Ratner - a journeyman director whose films are without exception awful, but make a ton of money - was a bad move. Allowing Halle Berry to insist on her character, Storm, getting more screen time was another mistake. New characters, including Kelsey Grammer as Beast and Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut, are on the whole misconceived and have to be seen as failures; while the film's greatest asset - the Phoenix storyline featuring Famke Janssen as the reborn and slightly scary uber-mutant - is limited to just an couple of (admittedly impressive) setpieces. The script is poor and for the first time the X-Men franchise succumbs to the curse of comic book movies - it all seems rather silly. Jackman's Wolverine is still the best thing in the X-Men series, which is why he'll be getting his own movie. The question is, will Fox see the writing on the wall for the X-Men and gracefully retire them as a team now?
