The third film in the franchise is rightfully the last, as the complex and continuity-gaffing plot, along with killing off way too many key characters overwhelms the various coolness moments of the film.
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Dave Hill’s ★★★ review of X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) on Letterboxd.com
The third (and last) of this particular film franchise, X3 goes big and nearly pulls it off. There are some remarkable set pieces, especially whenever Magneto (always the drama queen) goes into action…
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Agreed, although I always enjoy watching it just to see the performances by Stewart, McKellan, Page, and Jackman.
I loathed this movie, so, so much. Even without killing all of the characters, even their scripts are bad.
There's a ton of good little bits awash in a sea of "let's throw everything at the screen and see what sticks". I like Kelsey Grammar's Beast. Stewart and McKellan are always good, and Jackman as well. The others do as well as the script allows, but things like the de-cosmicking of Phoenix (see, kids? mutants do need to be registered because they are world-ending dangerous), Scott's fate, moping about the school, wasting use of half the kids they pull onto the team … it's just muddled as all heck.
If you read the history of the film — writing, directing, cinematography — and the revolving doors around it, the incoherent mish-mash is not at all surprising. I kind of wish they'd gone for a more straightforward Jean / Phoenix / Hellfire Club scenario as was originally drafted.
I knew about the departure and Superman Returns. The loss of David Hayter also hit hard.
Still, the script was bad – McKellen did well for having crappy chess analogies (he could have done far, far more damage than he did, as the "King" – though I think he's more like the Queen, in his versatility). The Juggernaut is … well, "The Juggernaut, bitch!" which I thought was a play on Dave Chappelle's "I'm Rick James, bitch!" until I saw this (http://youtu.be/bSuvOVH0aSQ), is infamous in its bad-ness. The only reason Shadowcat exists (and I love her actress) is because Nightcrawler magically disappeared – and with his makeup, anyone could have played him. Leech neutralizes mutant powers; I can't help but think he'd've been used to much greater effect than he was. The whole Phoenix plot felt really ham-handed. They kept it far more subtle in X2, and it really wasn't that subtle. I can't remember if/how they ever dealt with the cure (which is saying something), but I have my doubts.
Kelsey Grammar as Beast was fantastic – best casting choice they could possibly have made for that role. The return of Xavier, Magneto, and Wolverine is nice. There's just no way, with all the conditions they were under, they could have turned this into a good movie, and it shows. Painfully. I feel sad for the movie that might have been.