Today we have the lovely Melissa of Filmtruthsblog who is going to tell us all about her impression of Last Stand. Thanks for taking part, Melissa! (PS: Go follow her blog here if you haven’t yet!)
The third film in what was part of the original trilogy of the franchise tells the story of a threat for mutant kind. A newly discovered ‘cure’ that can rid them of their genetic disposition they see as ‘not normal’. This leads to a collision of opinions from both sides, and more pressure is put on mutants whose abilities affects them physically. It forces them to choose between giving up their unique abilities to settle for being ordinary, and pledging allegiance to the human race, who see them as a threat to mankind or continue to be victimised for being different. When you summarise the story like this, the plot actually sounds pretty good. Especially considering the success of the first two installments, I think I speak for a lot of Marvel fans, who expected this one to be the icing on the cake to a great franchise. However, something always felt lacking with this one and I wasn’t 100% pleased with how things turned out.
The film was directed by Brett Ratner who stepped in for Bryan Singer. If I had to judge this film alone without the previous films already ingrained into my mind, then this film is decent – yet somehow feels more silly. I think its because of some of the mutants involved, we saw Vinnie Jones as the Juggernaut : with his only memorable line being “I’m the Juggernaut, bitch”. The film itself is filled with action packed scenes where more focus was on the use of mutant powers, it may not have led to an in depth story development, but the thrills and excitement that comes from watching the mutants was entertaining .
What we have to remember is that at the time, we had no clue the X Men universe would be expanded, to two Wolverine films and now a prequel franchise of the mutants in their youth. Therefore, X Men: The Last Stand was supposed to be the climax to the trilogy, yet annoyingly it failed to reach the pinnacle point of satisfaction. It irks me that I can’t quite decide why it is I didn’t fully enjoy this film, but it has to be the fact that the story was very two dimensional and predictable. With a superhero film like this, there should have been twists and turns until the final moment, keeping the audience on the edge of their seat.
It’s by no means a bad thing to have an entertaining film, but in this instance the arrival of new characters after the loss of original members such as Nighcrawler, made it difficult for me to appreciate the new arrivals. However there were amazing visual effects, especially the scene with the Golden Gate Bridge – that was pretty spectacular the first time I saw it. Another highlight, was the return of Jean as the Phoenix. I’m not going to pretend it didn’t sting little, when she sacrificed herself at the end of the second film in order to protect her mutant comrades. When she returned that was the best and only twist of the film.
However, I was less than enthused with how the Jean Grey storyline played out. If your going to bring back a character of such significance, then make her be the most bad-ass character, don’t just sit her on the sidelines watching. I think that was a complete mis – step and lost opportunity to add something more to the story.
It’s evident that this installment is merely a shell of of its predecessors, who managed to pull of something brilliant, but the true potential was never fully realised. What’s even more annoying is that since the expansion of the X Men universe, its made the narrative irrelevant thereby making this film completely obsolete.
Thanks for taking part, Melissa! You are a star!
Life of this city girl 