

Navigate to Film Reviews by Alpha
Navigate to Film Reviews by date posted
Navigate to Reviews Index
X Men: The Last Stand
 What did I expect? After the towering brilliance of X2,
revisiting the exact same theme with 2500 characters was bound to be an
exercise in special effects, trite dialogue, vast violence and guest stars.
And so it has proved.
But the theme of prejudice in terms of ‘doing away with the feared
mutants’ takes a new twist; this time they are not simply to be
destroyed, but cured of their mutation, as if it were a disease. So this
time it’s people who are HIV+ that come in for a kicking, and end
up on the winning side. Oh, sorry, should have realised that mutation
is good; that being different is the same as being better.
The character
that gives the lie to this rubbish is of course the one with the lips – Rogue.
She wants to hold and kiss her boyfriend, buy cannot as she hurts anyone
who touches physically - he certainly has my sympathy – so she volunteers
for the cure, which means she gets to hold his hand at the close of the
movie. She understands that her ‘powers’ decrease her freedom.
Morality Confusion
That’s the trouble when good is bad and bad is good and wrong things
are held up to be the right things… Mutation can, I suppose be positive,
but the way it’s affected the delicious Dr Jean Grey (terrible character
name) is to make her megalomaniacal and lose her looks (except her fantastic
mouth, which is her best feature). Mutation is excused a ‘being
different’, and in X2 it worked well as an analogy for race, religion,
sexual preference and disability. But here the point is stretched way
too far. Against a destructive human foe, the X-Men are heroes with values
to defend. Against each other, they are very slightly less dangerous and
wicked than the bad guys.
And the climax with Wolverine killing Dr Jean ‘because I love you’ to
save her from the demon Felix within while being fleetingly upset left
me wondering if I’m supposed to conclude that mercy killing is good
or that basically good people make poor choices, or if mutation (and whatever
it stands for) drives you a little bit bonkers or if being sidelined by
society is preferable to being ‘normal’ and ordinary… But
then it’s further complicated by the Felix character, able to withstand
2000 guns firing at her at once, but who gives way to wobble-lipped Jean,
who welcomes the simple stabbing from Beardweird Scissorhands, which despatches
her soul to heaven or something. I’m lost! Quite lost!
Good line
Sir Ian McKellen as Magneto is far and away the best thing in this whole
piece, acting everyone else off the screen. His apparent friendship
with Dr X, his control when faced with comicbook dialogue and Anthony
Hopkins/Donald Pleasance-style delivery make him a truly chilling
enemy, while his cohorts and minions (pawns, he calls them) are mere
stormtroopers,
cannon fodder and mostly, dead meat. The best line (out of only about
three decent ones, but this is a corker) comes when the cure for mutation
is administered to Magneto, and he is clearly about to say ‘I’m
done for’ or ‘I’m only human’. He gets as far
as ‘I’m…’ and Wolverine says ‘One of them’,
which got a big laugh, knowing what we know about Sir Ian McKellen’s militant
homosexuality.
One gets the feeling this is the final film in this strand,
as by the end the following have been wasted (many of them literally):
Prof X (Jean-Luc
on wheels), Jean Grey (the pneumatic Famke Jannsen), and Cyclops (who cares?).
Plus
the gorgeous Mystique (Rebecca Romijn), who one might describe as a clothes
horse if only she ever wore any, and the pouting skunk-haired Rogue are
both rendered power-free, as is Magneto (McKellen). Or is he?
Spectacular, but like Matrix 3 and Star Wars Revenue of the Sixth, that’s
all.

Navigate to Film Reviews by Alpha
Navigate to Film Reviews by date posted
Navigate to Reviews Index |