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X-MEN:
THE LAST STAND
For fans of the X-Men comic
book and film series, the final installment
of the film trilogy, X-Men: The Last
Stand, will
be disappointing. For those who enjoy
action films and did not follow the comics
series, X-Men: The Last Stand will
offer exciting moments of CGI and action.
However, both demographics of viewers
will leave the theater with a sense of
something missing from this much anticipated
film.
The
action begins a few years after the second
film ended, in the not-so-distant future:
most of the human population is now aware
of their mutant counterparts; the government
is no longer waging war on mutants; and
there is even a Secretary of Mutant Affairs,
Hank, aka Beast. We also get flashbacks
of Jean Grey as a child meeting Professor
X and Magneto for the first time; and
of a new character, Angel, and his shame
and fear of his father finding out that
he has wings. Life at Professor Charle
Xavier's School for the Gifted seems happy,
except that Scott is still depressed over
Jean's apparent death; Rogue is becoming
jealous because other women besides herself
can touch her boyfriend, Scott Ice Man;
and Professor X has a feeling that worse
troubles for mutants are yet to come.
His
fears are confirmed when Beast learns
that a chemical firm has found a "cure"
for the mutant gene X that can strip mutants
of their powers and turn them into human
people. This prospect splits the mutant
population: many want to be "normal";
others, namely Magneto and his growing
army, see the cure as the beginning of
genocide for mutants. Then it is
discovered that Jean Grey is in fact alive
but changed; her unconscious personality,
The Phoenix, has emerged and kept her
alive, with potentially dire consequences.
Sadly and shockingly, this development
marks the unraveling of a coherent and
believable script.
While
there are some amazing action moments
and special effects and it is always fun
to see new mutant characters introduced,
X-Men: The Last Stand failed
to establish an emotional connection with
the audience and failed to fully develop
its characters in the way that made X-2
so engaging. Final installments in
trilogies have the difficult task of wrapping
up a series in a finite way, yet leaving
room for audience imagination to explore
other possibilities and new directions.
X-Men: The Last Stand definitely
ended the trilogy, but in an unsatisfying
way. Expect to leave the theater either
thoroughly entertained, or shocked, upset,
and disappointed. There will be no
in-between.
Misa Dayson
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