X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

 

X-Men: The Last Stand was intended to be the final entry in a trilogy that also included, X-Men (2000) and X2 (2003). However, unlike those two films the director would not be Bryan Singer (who was busy working on Superman Returns (2006)) but Brett Ratner instead. Ratner had started off as a director of music videos includes ones for Mary J. Bilge, LL Cool J, Lionel Riche, Mariah Carey and Madonna. By the time of this film, he already had a couple hit movies including Rush Hour (1998) and Rush Hour 2 (2001). Ratner was still directing music videos at this time and the same year this X-Men film was released, so was a Jessica Simpson video directed by him (A Public Affair). This marked the only superhero film that he would direct. 

In this film, the government is developing a "cure" that will suppress the mutant gene. When Beast (Kesley Grammer), a mutant who has become the government's secretary of the Department of Mutant Affairs finds out about this, he comes to warn the X-Men. Meanwhile Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) finds a darker persona (named Pheonix) taking over and begins to align herself with Magneto (Ian McKellen). 

This may be the weakest of the original trilogy, but it is still a good movie. Though his films are often far from perfect, Brett Ratner really knows his way around an action scene. This probably has the best action sequences of the original trilogy. The action scenes are excellent here. They are very well paced and staged and therefore quite exciting and fun. The special effects have also come a long way since the first film, and they truly look fantastic here. The storyline (which heavily comes from the comics themselves) is quite a good one. The whole concept of a "cure" for the mutant gene is a great one that continues the very clever commentary on prejudice that was in the first two films. The returning characters here are also just as great as they were in the previous two movies. Wolverine and Rouge are essentially likable here and Magento remains the complex character that perfectly walks the line between anti-hero and villain.

This film certainly does have its flaws though. Jean Grey's storyline feels very rushed here and because of that the movie never gives us a real peak into her internal conflict. Because of this we never truly connect to her and her character arc doesn't hold the emotional weight that it should have. The film also suffers for some really bad and corny dialogue that can take you directly out of the movie. 

This film introduces quite a few characters. Some of them are very well handled like Kitty Pryde (who adds much of the heart to this movie) and Beast (Kelsey Grammer is perfectly cast). However, others are not as well handled here. Angel seems wasted and Juggernaut becomes just a typical bad guy.

Kelsey Grammer as Beast is one of the most praised casting choices in these movies and it is easy to see why. He is simply fantastic and is exactly how I picture the character when I read the comics. Kelsey Grammer wanted to play this character so much that he agreed to have an audition, the first he had an audition in over twenty years.

The writers for this movie were Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn. Simon Kinberg would go on to be a writer on the X-Men films, X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) and X-Men: Dark Pheonix (2019). His other work as a writer includes XXX: State of the Union (2005), Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005), Sherlock Holmes (2009), Fantastic Four (2015) and The 355 (2022). Zak Penn had previously worked on the Marvel movies X2 and Elektra (2005). He would go on to write the script for one of the most popular Marvel films, The Avengers (2012) as well as The Incredible Hulk (2008). His non-Marvel work includes Last Action Hero (1993), Inspector Gadget (1999), Ready Player One (2018) and Free Guy (2021). He would also write for the Marvel video games, Fantastic Four (2005) and X-Men: The Official Game (2006).

Though Bryan Singer is openly gay, and many believe that he drew upon homophobia that he had been the recipient of to show the persecution the mutants endure, Brett Ratner seems to have been homophobic himself during the making of this movie. Then-18-year-old, Elliott Page (who played Kitty Pryde) accused Ratner of sexual harassment and for making inappropriate comments about Page being a lesbian (this is before she came out as a trans man). Others on the set confirmed Page's statements.  

The movie grossed approximately $459 million worldwide and became the seventh highest grossing film of 2006 as well as the highest grossing film of the original trilogy. However, the film received mixed reviews from critics. Both Ebert and Roeper gave the movie thumbs up with Roger Ebert stating, "I liked the action, I liked the absurdity, I liked the incongruous use and misuse of mutant powers, and I especially liked the way it introduces all of those political issues and lets them fight it out with the special effects." Justin Chang called the film "a wham-bam sequel noticeably lacking in the pop gravitas, moody atmospherics, and emotional weight that made the first two Marvel comic book adaptations so rousingly successful." Peter Travers wrote, "Last stand? My ass. Billed as the climax of a trilogy, the third and weakest chapter in the X-Men series is a blatant attempt to prove there is still life in the franchise. And there is: just enough to pull a Star Trek and spawn a Next Generation saga." David Edelstein put it best though calling the movie "just another big-budget B-movie. It's a fast and enjoyable B-movie, though."