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80Surprise, surprise. X-Men: The Last Stand, the third big-screen convocation of mutant shape shifters, weather changers, ice makers, energy suckers, healers and telepaths from Marvel Comics, has shifted the shape of the franchise from pretty good, if uninspired, to terrifically entertaining.
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75I 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.
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75Ratner is unable to maintain the emotional intensity that has made this series so deeply epic. But he sure knows how to put on a show.
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75The happiest news about the third (and final?) X-Men movie is actually quite sad: headstones. Yes, The Last Stand brings the lamentable deaths of several major characters.
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75It delivers pretty much what's expected.
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75Love it or hate it, X-III packs more action and razzle-dazzle visuals into its 104-minute running time than "Mission: Impossible III," "Poseidon" and "The Da Vinci Code" combined.
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70Though the picture is not without its wow-inducing, SFX-driven moments, that potent X-factor is considerably diminished in Singer's absence.
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It's a fast and enjoyable B-movie, though, and Hugh Jackman's Wolverine brings some good stormy drama to the proceedings.
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70If little else, the third and supposedly final entry in the X-Men mega-franchise suggests that some movies -- or at any rate some formulas -- are not just critic-proof, they might even be director-proof.
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70If this really is the last stand, it's a stylish farewell indeed.
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70Ratner seems to have found a theme that he can relate to: A terrifying trio of angry, undomesticated women who all but run away with the movie.
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70Ratner's version is friskier, shallower-and more fun.
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70The result, though it delivers only in fits and starts, is still sharper and more inventive than most comicbook-adapted fare, and eventually gets the job done as far as action buffs are concerned.
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67This is interesting stuff. So why does The Last Stand feel driven to dumb itself down, as if embarrassed by its own ideas?
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67I suppose it's asking too much of Ratner to impart some kind of visionary flourish to the proceedings. But without it, these comic-book movies all tend to look the same.
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67Whether the entry is good, great or (in this case) indifferent, it's always stimulating to return to the high-flying X-Men series.
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63Disappointingly, X-Men: The Last Stand slides back between the first two episodes. It's not stuporous, and it's not super.
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63Mostly about extending a Hollywood franchise with ever-diminishing returns.
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63While I didn't love it, I enjoyed The Last Stand because it made me imagine the mutant powers I want to develop. I'm thinking along the lines of merging Rogue's suction abilities with Storm's controlled-rain skills.
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63But for all the sound, fury and spectacle, the film feels vaguely hollow and unsatisfying.
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63Has a couple of emotionally resonant scenes that build on the first two story lines. But it lacks the intriguing moody quality of the previous films. The mutants are more pumped up and angry this time, rather than misunderstood and conflicted.
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63Comic-book enthusiasts can breathe a sigh of relief: Brett Ratner hasn't completely ruined the X-Men series a.k.a. "The Franchise that Bryan Singer Built."
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63With more superheroes, more action and more stuff blowing up than ever before, X-Men: The Last Stand has the climactic oomph that suggests a finale, though not the gravitas to suggest a resolution.
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63Director Brett Ratner can't make chicken a la king out of chicken droppings, and that's what writers Simon Kinberg ("XXX: State of the Union") and Zak Penn ("Elektra") supply.
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60Singer's absence is felt but not fatal. By adding too much new blood Ratner loses some of the original DNA, but with its nifty set-pieces and a few nasty surprises, X3's still a worthy enough sequel to ensure it's no Last Stand.
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60Only half a mess -- and even with all its flaws, it's an enjoyable diversion that shows both respect and affection for the formidable legacy of the "X-Men" comics.
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58Following two superior entries, Ratner's slick placeholder of a sequel lacks that crucial X-factor called inspiration.
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50Last 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.
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50It's a disappointing chapter in what until now has been a highly entertaining, even thought-provoking series.
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50Almost as mindless as "Fantastic Four," but more annoying in that this one has philosophical pretensions.
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50There's much to enjoy here – Ratner's pacing is fluid and fast and the film rushes along its busy, cluttered way with something approaching melodramatic snarkiness – but it's also terribly busy and cluttered.
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50Mostly, as so often with these types of empty entertainments, you are left to wonder why companies that hire so many fine actors to run around under latex and foam and have the best technological wizardry money can buy seem to spend so little attention to the screenplay.
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50An uninspired hodgepodge.
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50Ratner makes a hash of the story and characters his predecessor brought to such complex, sympathetic life, delivering a pumped-up exercise in mayhem, carnage and blunt-force trauma.
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50Despite all the grand gestures of climax and resolution, there's a pronounced sense of autopilot; the only person who seems to be having a good time is Ian McKellen as the scheming Magneto.
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40Has a few high points, but feels far too disjointed and slapdash to favorably compare to what came before.
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40Long before the movie's climax, in which Magneto (Ian McKellen) turns smashed-up automobiles into fiery projectiles to be hurled at his enemies, those in the audience will know what it means to behold a flaming hunk of junk.
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40What a comedown, after the weirdly beautiful things Singer and his technicians did in the first two movies.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 105 out of 203
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Mixed: 41 out of 203
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Negative: 57 out of 203
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JamesH.10It was the perfext way to end a series. I still hope for X4 though.