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This was officially called, X-Men: The Last Stand, but for all intents and purposes, it’s X-Men 3.
The Main Characters
I just copied from my X-Men 2 review and added/deleted names where necessary.
--The X-Men are led by Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart). He runs an institute for to help mutants learn to use their powers. The X-Men are his best students and help fight evil mutants. The X-Men include Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), Cyclops (James Marsden), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Storm (Halle Barry), and Rogue (Anna Paquin). They are joined in this film by Shadowcat (the always awesome Ellen Page), Colossus (Daniel Cudmore), Beast (Kelsey Grammar), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), and Angel (Ben Foster).
--The Brotherhood of Evil mutants are led by Magneto (Ian McKellen). He knows full well how fear can lead to genocide since he was a Holocaust survivor. He wants homo superiors to rule the world while the X-Men want to peacefully coexist. The brotherhood is joined by Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), Pyro (Aaron Standord), Juggernaut (Vinnie Jones) and a whole bunch of people who show up once for a minor scene or two.
The Setting
New York City for most of the action, as well as Westchester (upstate NY to anyone who lives in the city).
The Film (1:44:00)
Being a mutant is something that you are born into. Genetically, you are born with the X-gene that makes you a mutant. Yet, people think that this is like a disease, something you can cure. It’s like saying, you can cure brown hair. But a “cure” now exists, and it can take away a mutant’s power. This is not something that Magneto or Xavier likes, but both choose different means to counterattack the serum (or cure’s existence). Magneto and the X-Men’s different ideological viewpoints can only mean one thing, a huge fight between the two sides to settle what to do about this “cure.”
Movie Review
The first thing you’ll notice about the movie is that it’s 15-30 minutes shorter than the first two films. There’s an easy answer to that, the story isn’t as fleshed out. People looking for things like plot and character development probably won’t find too much of that here. This is the definition of a popcorn movie. You watch the film, watch mutants fight for 90 minutes, enjoy it and go home happy. There are a ton of mutants here and a lot of great characters you can pick out that otherwise wouldn’t make it into film. Yes, the dialogue was corny at times (I’m the Juggernaut, bitch) and the story had some plot holes the size of Texas (How can you cure being a mutant? Is there a cure for blue eyes?) but it was an enjoyable fight movie and was entertaining as hell. Was it the best in the franchise? From a film standpoint it wasn’t, but in terms of fighting and action, there’s none better. ***.
DVD Features
A) Extras
The main page is really cool, giving you the option to Join the Brotherhood, or Take a Stand. They both give you the same options in terms of extras.
1) Writer/Director Audio Commentary
This commentary was recorded by Brett Ratner, Zak Penn and Simon Kinberg. Brett wanted to change the 20th Century Fox logo but couldn’t get permission. They say the frames chosen for the beginning comic panels were chosen specifically for this film. They talk about getting the Danger Room in there and making it cut-proof by introducing the Fastball Special. They say it was also influenced by the Days of the Future Past story. They mention that Callisto is played by Dania Ramirez, which I never realized. Dania was the useless Maya on Heroes, if you remember. Gambit was supposed to be in the scene when Mystique is broken out of the trailer. They say they don’t know how the movie got a PG-13 rating, considering all the violence, but it was really cartoony so I can see why it didn’t get an R. The San Francisco Bridge scene was originally the Brooklyn Bridge but they wanted to avoid NYC for obvious reasons. One jokes that he wanted to use the Throgs Neck Bridge. Of course, those who don’t leave in NYC would have no idea what the hell the Throgs Neck is. They talk about the person who Xavier’s mind inhabits, and it was actually the brain-dead twin that Xavier had. That is interesting. The guys had fun recording this and it came across that way while listening to it.
2) Producer Commentary
Avi Arad, Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter recorded this commentary together. They talk about the actors, the scenes, some of the more interesting moments of filming. It was a solid commentary, though it lacked the fun and energy of the first one.
3) Deleted Scenes (9:46)
These are the deleted scenes. Most just enhance what was in the film and if there’s anything notable I’ll mention it. You can also hear the guys from the Writer/Director commentary talking about why things are cut.
---A) Xavier Voice-Over for the Main Titles
---B) Jimmy In Laboratory
---C) Alternate Version: Beast Meets Logan
---D) Pyro Tells Magneto About the Cure Announcement- Clean Shaven Version
---E) Pyro Tells Magneto About the Cure Announcement- Bearded Version
---F) Alternate Version: Guard Yells at the President
---G) Extended Fight Sequence at Jean Grey’s House
---H) Alternate Version: Here’s Juggy
---I) Magneto Tortures Logan
---J) Extended Dark Phoenix Destruction
---K) Alternate Ending: New School Year Begins
---L) Alternate Ending: Rogue Returns
---M) Alternate Ending: Logan Returns to Alberta, Canada
The last two were the more interesting ones. Rogue returns and says she didn’t get the cure (a better ending in my opinion since that’s who the character is) and Wolverine back home kind of sets up his solo movie.
4) Trailers
These are just trailers for X3.
---A) Trailer A (1:36)
---B) Trailer B (2:27)
---C) 24 Season 5 (0:59)
I saw Season 1 and didn’t care for it, so I won’t be watching this.
5) The World of Marvel
These are just the trailers for the three Marvel movies. I saw all three in the theaters, actually.
---A) Daredevil (2:23)
---B) Elektra (1:42)
---C) Fantastic Four (2:24)
6) A First Glimpse of the Simpsons Movie (1:03)
Homer says this is an unfinished rough animatic from the film. I have this on tape but haven’t had a chance to watch it yet.
7) Night at the Museum (2:26)
I just can’t believe this is on the main page of the DVD titles. It definitely had a better box office than X3 I’d wager.
B) Audio/Video
The video is presented in anamorphic widescreen 2.40:1 ratio. The audio is heard in 6.1 DTS ES. The video and audio are both amazing.
C) Packaging / Liner Notes
This was a cheap way out, with no real liner notes and just ads. Nothing special in regards to the packaging at all, but that’s common nowadays.
D) Easter Eggs
1) X-Jet Lands in D.C. (0:33)
This was a shot used in the promotion of the film. To get this, head to the deleted scenes, highlight Extended Fight Sequence at Jean’s House and press up to highlight the logo and press enter.
2) Beast recites Shakespeare (1:09)
Here, the Beast recites Shakespeare, the Band of Brother’s speech. To get this, go to Scene Selection, go to Scenes 10-12, highlight scene 12 and press left to highlight the logo and then press enter.
Overall Review
We get some trailers to start this off: Ice Age The Meltdown (1:04), Behind Enemy Lines 2 (1:04) and Thank You For Smoking (1:24), which doesn’t look half bad. This is by a definition a bare-bones release. I guess there wasn’t much to say about X3? Sure there are two commentaries, which are mildly entertaining, but other than that there’s nothing. I guess 10 minutes of deleted scenes are something, but it’s nothing substantial like a making of or even a look at all the different mutants that are in the film. You can get this for pretty cheap nowadays and the movie is good enough to stand on its own, but really recording this on HBO or whatever channel it may be on is fine, too. There’s not enough on here for me to recommend it highly, but it’s not a complete dud either. It is a great popcorn film and that’s really all it is.
Overall Rating
7.0
10.0 Perfect
9.0-9.5 Near Perfect, Highly Recommended
8.0-8.5 Really good disc, Recommended
7.0-7.5 Good DVD, Mildly recommended
6.0-6.5 Above Average DVD. Mildest of mild recommendations
5.0-5.5 Decent all around disc, but catch it on TV
4.0-4.5 Great Movie but horrible DVD
3.0-3.5 Horrible movie but great DVD
2.0-2.5 There’s at least some merit to this DVD, but not much.
1.0-1.5 Horrible DVD, don’t even bother
0.0-0.5 Worst DVD ever
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