X-Men III: The Last Stand

Hugh, Hallie, and everybody else. 2006, Twentieth Century Fox.

Overall, disappointing. Not because simply they've taken the Phoenix storyline and made it completely unlike the original comic book in the 80's . . . that would be a nostalgic criticism and completely antithetical to that which I have espoused lo these many blogs. No, disappointing because the storyline was weak.

And it was weak simply because of this: the people responsible for making this movie were OBVIOUSLY more concerned with star appeal than with story line. Not to put to fine a point on it: the X-Men is a team effort. Simply because Jackman, Berry, and Stewart are bigger stars than the others does not mean that you have to craft a story around them. This movie would have been a blockbuster anyway, and I am firmly convinced that it would have been even a bigger hit had it not so obviously raced certain characters out of the picture in order to give more space to the "names."

And the "losing the power" bit. Please. Like the mutant, though. In fact, I liked the fact that it did hint at other mutants - but these other mutants were only shown insofar as they complimented and illuminated the power/heroism of the actors aforementioned.

The first two movies were fantastic, the original because it didn't have the "star power" weighing it down. In fact, that movie MADE Jackman a star; he was unknown before then. Berry was a star, but she's a good enough actress that she doesn't mind playing any part and playing it well. The second movie still had a great story, even though we could see the writers struggling to push Jackman to the front and every other character back - and in this movie, they didn't even try to cover up their desire to make money simply off of star appeal.

If anybody has not gotten the point already, reread this post. This movie could have been the best. Could have been. There's nothing more sad than potential not only wasted, but completely ignored for the sake of agenda.

VG