In the cinema: X-Men: The Last Stand

Being a childhood fan of comicbooks, especially Marvel Comics, and having been friendly with Dave Cockrum, the inventor of the X-Men, I knew I had to see this third installment of the franchise in theatres.

Before I even solidified plans to see it, I received several warnings from friends that I will be disappointed. I was told that the storyline wasn't right and that characters weren't the way they should be. My thoughts went to STARSHIP TROOPERS, an amazing book, but two horrible movies.

With that in mind, I saw X-MEN with no expectations. Anything better than pure garbage would've been fine in my book.

I guess when you have extra low expectations you can be pleasantly surprised. I really liked the movie quite a lot. I think it helped that I only randomly read X-Men here and there and really didn't know anything of the Phoenix Saga or the battle over the cure for mutations. What I didn't care for was the way that there were so many characters who went completely unused. In the final battle sequence the X-Men were represented by half a dozen, while Magneto's forces were a battalion of mostly nameless and faceless unknown mutants.

If you read the credits, there were even more characters in there, but you'd never know it. Bit roles.

Then the ending. A bunch of good guys are dead, who never died (forever) in the comics, and a bunch of other characters are left without their powers. Fini. This is supposed to be the final X-Men movie, so the ending just leaves questions. But from what I understand, the studios will be focusing now on movies based on Wolverine to still be played by Hugh Jackman. Funny. The three X-Men movies seemed Wolverine movies at heart to me.

So the verdict? It's a fun action movie. If you can live with departures from the comic book story line, then you'll be fine. But I liked it anyway. Fun. Great special effects. Moved fast. Kept your attention. Worth checking out.

More on IMDB:
http://imdb.com/title/tt0376994/