X-Men's Last Stand Just as X-cellent as Previous Efforts

I saw director Brett Ratner's X-Men: The Last Stand last night and I thought it was pretty good.

I really don't understand why a significant contingent of insiders out in Hollywood made it its mission to challenge the studio's decision to replace original helmer Bryan Singer (who opted to do the upcoming Superman Returns instead) with the guy who gave us the Rush Hour movies. After all, most of the same people were really far up Ratner's you-know-what in praise once.

I’ve met the guy (we talked for After the Sunset) and he could not have been any cooler. Sure, you can tell that this X movie didn’t involve the exact same team, but that is not to say it’s any less entertaining or satisfying. If anything, the movie has a different sensitivity, which only adds to the sense of urgency its plot calls for.

The Last Stand certainly stands apart, tonally at least, from Singer's efforts. It caps off the trilogy nicely in terms of tying loose ends from X-Men and X2: X-Men United, tells its own story, and sets the stage for potential sequels (though the studio doesn't really have any plans for a fourth chapter anytime soon but rather a Wolverine spin-off).

As you probably know, in this movie a vaccine to "cure" mutants has been developed – but can you really fix a gene (in this case the X gene) that makes you who you are? Anyway, it gives mutants a choice: they can retain their gifts, as Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart, pictured on set with Ratner) and his students call their powers, or give them up to become human.

But while Xavier understands why some mutants would consider this option – Rogue (Anna Paquin), I’m looking at you – the always-contrary Magneto (Ian McKellen) believes this "cure" is nothing but an opportunity for humans to obliterate all mutants.

And so, opposing viewpoints set the stage for one more battle, as Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Storm (Halle Berry), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), newcomers Angel (Six Feet Under's Ben Foster), Kitty Pryde (Hard Candy’s Ellen Page), and Beast (Kelsey Grammer) take a stand against Magneto and his Brotherhood.

What I will reveal at this point – the only thing I will reveal, actually – is that perhaps Ratner's movie lacks the sort of offbeat humor that was as predominant in Singer's entries as was the action, though it is there. As is the Dark Phoenix storyline (ish). And loss. There is loss in this one. Sad loss.

Having said this, in terms of mythology, I don't know much about what kind of research went into the script, but I was glad to recognize certain aspects from the animated series of the late-1990s. I’m confident that the X franchise will be revisited sometime soon in the future.

Photo: 20th Century Fox.