January 1 2007: Review: X3: The Last Stand
Filed under Reviews
I join the leagues of people who were shocked beyond belief at the two crucial early deaths in the piece, deaths that served to set up the corruption and increase of power of Jean Grey. Thought to be dead after the events of the second movie, she returns reborn as Phoenix, the most powerful mutant known on Earth, with powers that are potentially powerful enough to destroy all human and mutantkind. When presented with the possession of powers as strong as these, what would you do other than to go insane, kill the man you love, kill your mentor, and join the dark side?
This third installment of X-men lives up to its predecessors well though. While the first installment had only a few mutants, and the second had only a handful more, this third installment introduced us to some of the pivotal mutants of Stan Lee’s creations. Along with the staple Wolverine, Storm, Magneto, Xavier, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Rogue, Iceman, Mystique, Pyro, etc, we find ourselves now greeted with Callisto, Juggernaut, Colossus, Jubilee, Multiple man, Kid Omega, the Beast, Leech, and my personal favourite from the comic books – Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde).
Along with a whole other host of unnamed mutants, these new and old mutants face the most dangerous threat to their survival yet – the discovery of a ‘cure’ for genetic mutations. With one shot of this serum (discovered in large part with the confinement and observation of one particular mutant, Leech, who has the ability to disable the powers of other mutants), a mutant will be turned immediately into a normal human being.
Mystique discovers the consequences the hard way as she takes a cure serum shot for Magneto, and finds herself devoid of her mutant powers, left as an ordinary human being without the support of Magneto. Other mutants (Rogue for example) willingly embrace this new cure serum, as she pines for the chance to have human contact. (An interesting moral for young women is suggested here, in regards to doing what you want to do, rather than what your boyfriend wants you to do).
While marketed as a voluntary cure, Magneto and other more supremist mutants see this as a declaration of open war between mutants and homosapiens. Thus begins ‘The Last Stand’ as six X-men (Wolverine, Storm, Shadowcat, Colossus, the Beast, and Iceman) take on an army of mutants who want nothing but to destroy both the cure, and the people who discovered it.
In the end however, the war is nothing. Mutants and humans are both killed, yes, but it is the redemption of Jean Grey, and the dilemma that Wolverine must face in the impossibility of killing the one you love, that drives the conclusion of the movie. It was, I will willingly admit, a scene that had me bawling in the cinemas.
I was disappointed by the role of Angel however. Despite the prominent role that he seemed to play in the promotions for the movie, the actual screen time he received was very poor. With what seems like less than five minutes of quality screen time, the Angel really is nothing more than a convenient way to give motivation to one of the more pivotal new characters – his father who was the scientists that discovered the ‘cure’ for gene mutations.
The special effects in this movie were outstanding. The demonstration of mutants’ powers, and the way that the filmmakers were able to display this was amazing. However, despite the excellent technical aspects of the film, what I found most interesting was the way they showed the personality development of the younger X-men. They showed how adversity can turn a teenager into an adult, ready to shoulder their burdens in the wider world. Bobby (Iceman) is an excellent example of this.
If you were one of those people who were smart enough to stay in the cinema until after the credits, you would have seen the final ten-second scene which would obviously hinted at another style of a rebirth of Xavier. So you know what? Ignore all those rumours of there never being another X-men movie. The way they ended the movie, with that split second scene, and the reopening of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters just obviously shows that a sequel is possible, and probably is already in the pipelines. I for one cannot wait. Bring it on Stan Lee!
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