Movie Review: X-Men: The Last Stand

First of all, I want to say I enjoyed this movie. It was worth the $6.00 I paid, and I suggest you see it, especially if you've seen the first 2. Now, I will spend the rest of this post basically telling you why I didn't like it.

So, being a Marketing major, I have grown to look for all of that stuff, and noticed some things this movie that were subtle, then not so subtle product placement. Sure there were Dell's everywhere, but what interested me the most was the headrests of the plane embossed with "PS3". It was subtle, but then the very next scene had kids on the Golden Gate Bridge playing PlayStation in the back seat of a car. It was cool to spot, and obviously worked. Ok, so now to the review.

First of all, this plot was made up. The X-Men comic books laid out a plot line, and this movie took it and butchered it. There was no reason to deviate from the plot either, because the original plot of these events worked well. They have a plot that calls for the apocalypse, yet they don't have the character "Apocalypse" in the movie. This character is true to his name in that he has infinite power and can grow infinitely large, can destroy the universe, he's the freakin' apocalypse. This character (from the comics) had large potential as an arch villain for this movie, but it was just left out. I'll chalk it up to difficult conveyance on screen, but seriously, if you know the plot, it calls for "Apocalypse". Plus, "Apocalypse" creates the 4 horsemen, one of which is "Arch Angel", who better show up way more in the next one.

Now, the boy that has a force around him that eliminates the powers of the X-Men is totally made up. This character was not necessary from the beginning, but was written in for who knows why. The spiritual overtones? Maybe he'll show up in the next one, but he's made up, and I just don't see why.

Now, I will submit some quick criticism. I will keep all of this short and sweet, because I'm sure anyone who's seen it feels the same way.

• Jean Gray was not badass enough for a class 5 mutant, period. The argument could be made that she didn't know how to control her powers, but when she was destroying the Professor, it seemed like she had a pretty good grip.
• The spiritual overtones are good, but this movie needed more emphasis on "Angel", soon to be "Arch Angel" (hint). They didn't do a good enough job setting that character up for next movie.
• Magneto was a badass, and I appreciated that, but where was he the first 2 movies?
• Jean shouldn't have gotten ugly when using powers, because she's so hot when not using them, but rather should have glowed red as she does in the comics.
• Halle Berry allegedly asked for more face time, and got it, but it was rediculous! Nothing happened when she was on screen, and she (Storm) is not the leader she is made out to be in this movie. Hopefully that stops when the Professor comes back (spoiler?).
• The director was good, but not good enough, so I expect a new one next movie.
• The movie was 104 minutes long! What the hell can you do with this kind of a movie in 104 minutes? Well, apparently some stuff, but definitely not enough. This sequel needed to have bulk. It needed at least a 2 hour running time, I would even say 3. It was made out to be an epic, but fell short in that respect.
• Juggernaut was badass, and they need more of him in the next one. I guess that's not criticism, just advice.
• The made up mutant extras that were meant to be killed off were not effective enough. They needed either better powers or a bigger role. Plus, who the hell was scared of Porcupine or whatever the hell he was? Big deal dude, that power sucked!
• Mystique is hot, and even hotter when lying naked on the floor as a human. More of that. Again, I guess that's advice; bad advice at that, but hey, she's hot.

Now, I have to conclude by saying a few last things to spark interest/spoil the movie for those of you who haven't seen it. If you don't want to know this stuff, and it is spoiling, then stop reading here.

Scott is not dead! No way. They didn't show his death, never confirmed it, just alluded to it and put up a headstone. Jean would not kill the man she loved, regardless of how powerful she was, this is just the opposite story as in X-Men 2 when Jean "died", so Scott is coming back. Also, the cure wears off. Everyone stuck with those needles gets their powers back (as seen at the end with Magneto). Also, Professor X lives! (Hopefully you all stayed for the scene after the credits). I could speculate about the next movie with these things in mind, but I think I'll hold off in case they make up another script.

On the Reganometer, I give it a 7.5 out of 10. I say see it, enjoy it, and wait for X-Men IV.