New Director, New Ideas Arrive With Latest ‘X-Men’

Although Tom Cruise kicked off this blockbuster season in early May with Mission: Impossible III, the summer truly went into high gear after the Memorial Day weekend release of X-Men: The Last Stand. This third film in the big-screen adaptation of Marvel Comics’ enduring saga about mutants (beings with extraordinary powers that set them apart from the rest of humanity), posted big numbers during its opening weekend and has gone on to post over $233 million, the most of any film in the X-Men franchise yet. But does that make it the best movie of the three?

Now playing at the Edmond Town Hall theater, The Last Stand features the return of idealistic mentor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), founder and father figure of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, a haven for outcast mutants and a safe place for them to hone their gifts. He’s also the leader of The X-Men, the crusading team forged from Xavier’s school.

Included in the lineup are loner, occasional berserker Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), weather-manipulator Storm (Halle Berry), and the younger contingent of Colossus (Daniel Cudmore), Rogue (Anna Paquin), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) and Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page). Still nursing the loss of one of their own, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), the weary group is further shaken when a West Coast laboratory announces it has found a potential cure for the mutant gene.

This news creates serious repercussions in the mutant community and spurs Xavier’s former friend and current nemesis, Magneto (Ian McKellen), to recruit his own mutant army to fight the impending war he foresees. All the while, Xavier and company discover that Jean, their fallen colleague, may not yet be among the dearly departed… but they might soon wish she were.

 If you couldn’t tell from the above paragraph, there’s an awful lot going on, plot-wise, in this movie. To its credit, this is a charged sequel that raises the stakes established in the previous two films and escalates matters to some semblance of finality (or about as final as one can get when talking about these kinds of money-making sequels). That said, I can’t get away from the sense that although they may have elevated the jeopardy, the filmmakers were actually too ambitious for their own good and ended up not giving themselves enough time to deal with all they’re trying to juggle. A major factor in that equation is the loss of director Bryan Singer, who helmed the previous two X-Men films.

Singer brought to this fictional world a particular, naturalistic style that dealt with its fantastical elements in a truthful way and made us care about the inhabitants of that world. Director Brett Ratner, who took over after Singer left to take the reins of the Superman franchise, seems to respect Singer’s vision of this world, but his storytelling style is quite different from that of his predecessor.

Whereas Singer might have had a more cerebral approach, Ratner is much more of a showman who loves to set up big, showpiece sequences and create big, dramatic moments. It all makes for an entertaining film, but one without the full logic and gravitas, if you will, of Singer’s films. The Last Stand is engrossing while it’s unfolding before you, but soon after the whiz-bang spectacle of it all, you might find yourselves asking, “But wait a minute…” 

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action violence, some sexual content and language, X-Men: The Last Stand works hard to give moviegoers their money’s worth. The cast gives it their all (including welcome newcomer Kelsey Grammer as the blue-furred Beast) and there are certainly some outstanding moments, but the packed storyline serves not to further engage us in this world but ends up giving short shrift to many of the characters who’ve endeared themselves to us over the last two films.