Wednesday, April 27, 2016

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006, PG-13)

 
*Update: Fixed an actor's name.*
 
Ah, the time-honored genre film/show trap of going “too big.”  Obviously, fans love flash and exciting moments, but they also love compelling stories and strong character development.  This movie trades too heavily in the former at the expense of the latter (premise spoilers.)

Two main plots here.  In the world at large, society has been rocked by news of a medical breakthrough, a “mutant cure.”  Opinion is divided as to whether the cure is a gift to make mutants “normal” and end their oppression, or a threat to their right to exist as unique, powered individuals.  Meanwhile, on a more personal note, Professor X introduces Wolverine to a long-buried blast from the past.  Jean’s tremendously powerful, highly unstable alter personality from adolescence, Phoenix, has reemerged and is leaving a trail of destruction in her wake.  The X-Men have a duty to stop her, but at what cost?  (If you’re wondering how these two storylines come together, it involves a certain silver-haired mutant supremacist who can manipulate metal.)

In essence, there’s a lot thrown in the pot here that doesn’t get much time to actually develop.  The mutant cure idea is an interesting one, but the main characters are so busy dealing with Phoenix that we see little of the issue from their perspectives.  Speaking of Phoenix – I don’t know what she’s like in the comics, but here, she feels like a lazy depiction of a suped-up “evil” twin/split personality, complete with stone-cold sociopathy and increased sexual aggressiveness (seriously, guys?)  Most of this story is from Wolverine’s viewpoint.  We don’t get much of a glimpse into the mind of Phoenix herself (or Jean, who’s still in there,) and due to plot developments, we also don’t get much of her with Professor X, whose history with the character has potential. 

Characters are similarly wasted.  Some are discarded in service of the plot, and others don’t get the chance to resolve the stories set up for them in the last film.  And that’s just the characters we already know.  A large part of the film’s “too bigness” is the ridiculous number of new mutants it introduces apropos of mostly nothing.  There are huge swathes of new characters brought in, but for the most part, we don’t get to know any of them.  They’re cool mutant powers that can walk and talk, but they’re not really people.  Movies with comic-book craziness going on need grounding moments, and we’re short on those here. 

Plenty of new cast members, a number of whom are good for “hey, look!” moments (though, for many, it’s less “hey, it’s that guy!” and more “hey, they were in X-Men before they did _____________?”)  Most prominently, we have Kelsey Grammer in a nice turn as Beast, and Elliot Page appears as Kitty, even getting a new moments of actual cool.  Minor roles are filled, variously, by Ben Foster (Russell from Six Feet Under,)Vinnie Jones (Gareth from Galavant,) Dania Ramirez (Maya from Heroes,) and Ken Leung (Miles from Lost – love him!)

Warnings

Comic book violence, language, and sexual content (including naked Mystique.)

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