X-Men 3: The Last Stand

If you've seen the first two X-men movies you may love the third and hate it at the same time. All of the main characters are back with the exception of Nightcrawler.

I was disappointed that the relationship between Nightcrawler and Mystique was not explored. I had the impression that it would be based on interviews done with the cast and filmmakers. As a matter of fact, none of the characters were really developed during this movie.

I thought the theme for this third movie was a good one. A mutant cure is created and mutants must choose whether they want to be "normal" or remain mutants. Of course things get out of control when the government plans on making the cure mandatory. Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) seeks to teach humans tolerance, understanding, and peace while Magneto (Ian McKellen) gathers together an army to fight a war against the humans.

If you are attached to the main characters you are going to be upset when 2 of them are killed off and 3 of them loose their mutant powers. I was extremely surprised by this since the ending scene seemed to suggest an X-men 4 movie was possible.

I think this movie could have taken a turn for the better if Director Bryan Singer had stayed on. Instead Brett Ratner took over the production. This movie is fast paced and full of action along with some pretty cool special effects. For those reasons I feel the movie is worth viewing.

I would stick with the PG-13 rating and not allow children under 13 to view it. Mostly because of the violence, but also because of a steamy scene between Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) who is now called Phoenix. Rebecca Romijn also has a nude scene when she looses her mutant powers and becomes human. Bad language is kept at a minimum.

You will be surprised by Kelsey Grammer's role as the Beast. It is hard to picture him as anyone other than Fraiser, but he does a good job. I found myself wondering why they made him blue. I would think brown or black would have been more realistic. In any event, his fighting scenes were some of the best in the movie.