X-Men: The Last Stand gets a lot of grief, and I get why. I still had a blast.
It isn’t X2. Brett Ratner took over from Bryan Singer, and you feel it right away. Everything is bigger, louder and faster. The quiet character moments that made the first two films special get squeezed, and some characters barely get room to breathe. Still, I was glued to the screen.
The hook is a great one. A company announces a “cure” that can switch off mutant powers, and every mutant has to decide: gift or attack? Rogue sees it one way. Magneto sees it another, and he raises an army to fight back.
Ian McKellen is fantastic again. His Magneto is tired, angry and kind of tragic, and you understand every move he makes. Patrick Stewart gives Professor X so much warmth that his scenes land hard. Hugh Jackman keeps it all grounded as Wolverine. Famke Janssen is quietly heartbreaking as Jean Grey, a woman losing a war with the Phoenix inside her.
Then there’s the Alcatraz finale. Magneto rips the Golden Gate Bridge loose just to get there, which is still one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a superhero movie. The real payoff is smaller and more personal. A final moment between Logan and Jean pulls together everything the film has been saying about loss and sacrifice, and it got me.
Rushed? Sure. Overstuffed? Probably. Didn’t matter. I loved it anyway.
It’s a big, loud summer blockbuster that still finds time to break your heart. If you love these characters, give it another shot.
See X-Men: The Last Stand on TMDB
