X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
Directed by Brett Ratner
When a cure is found to treat mutations, lines are drawn amongst the X-Men led by Professor Charles Xavier, and Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants.
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What critics compared X-Men: The Last Stand to
For an origin film like "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" (2009) and a prequel to "X-Men" (2000), "X-2" (2003), and "X-Men: The Last Stand" (2006), "X-Men: First Class" is surprisingly brisk.
After a noisy, cluttered third sequel (2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand ) and a dreadful spin-off (2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine ), the X-Men superhero series was looking pretty worn, and a prequel featuring an entirely new cast seemed like the wrong way to set things right.
That sociopolitical dynamic had been largely lacking from the last two X-Men films, which included Brett Ratner’s X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), and its re-emergence in First Class helps bolster its character arcs and the action sequences, which Vaughn orchestrates with a sense of both grandeur and coherence.
Screenwriters Mark Bomback ( Total Recall ), Scott Frank and Christopher McQuarrie ( Jack Reacher ) are burdened with trying to maintain continuity from X-Men: The Last Stand (see also: the second crappiest X-Men movie).
He also has nightly dreams of his true love, the late Jean Gray (Famke Janssen), who, fans will recall, died by his hand at the end of X-Men: The Last Stand.
“The Wolverine” (mostly) rights the ship by telling a pared-down, character-driven story that makes no reference to the events of the earlier movies other than the title character’s guilt over having to kill his beloved Jean Grey in “X-Men: The Last Stand” (2006).
Once again played by Hugh Jackman, the man with the nigh-unbreakable, retractable claws is haunted by the events of 2006’s “X-Men: The Last Stand,” in which he had to kill the woman he loved, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), because she had been overtaken by a terrible, evil force that threatened all humanity, etc.
This movie takes place after the events of “X-Men: The Last Stand,” in which Logan (Hugh Jackman) had to kill Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) to destroy the Dark Phoenix.
Consider just a single scene from the film, the one in which Juno (Ellen Page, X-Men: The Last Stand) tells her father (J.K. Simmons, Spider-Man 3) and stepmother (Allison Janney, Hairspray) that she’s pregnant.
This faddish Sundance fave features up-and-coming actress Ellen Page ("Hard Candy," "X-Men: The Last Stand") giving another intriguing performance as the title character, but director Jason Reitman of the overrated "Thank You for Smoking" cannot shape the funny dialogue and outrageous set pieces of newcomer (and ex-stripper) Diablo Cody into something resembling reality to ground his film emotionally.
Ellen Page is most recognizable for playing Kitty Pryde (the one who can walk through walls) in "X-Men: The Last Stand," though certain audiences will remember her performance in the disturbing thriller "Hard Candy," where she played a girl who turns the tables on a would-be pedophile.
After this essence of pugnacious energy so impressed me with her turnabout role in "Hard Candy", her all-too brief cameo in "X-men: The Last Stand," and as lead in the somewhat unsatisfying "Mouth to Mouth" I've been waiting anxiously for her next shot at inevitable stardom.
The only thing I'd seen Ellen Page in before this was X-Men: the Last Stand as Kitty Pryde, although she'd also done the independent film, Hard Candy .
While there’s none of the same intensity she brought to “Hard Candy” here, there’s still some of the (barely used) tenderness she brought to Kitty Pryde in “X-Men: The Last Stand”.
As was the case with the third X-Men film (2006's X-Men: The Last Stand), Spider-Man 3 is regarded by just about everyone as the distant third-place finisher in this franchise.
"Spider-Man 3" suffers from the same things last summer's deeply flawed "X-Men: The Last Stand" did: the theory that bigger equals better.
Even the recent X-Men: The Last Stand, which while not exactly the train smash as some fan boys made it out to be, was inferior to the excellent X2.
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For character actor Ben Foster, a familiar face who has appeared in films as diverse as X-Men: The Last Stand (where he played Angel), Hell or High Water, and Hostiles, this is an opportunity to show that he can shine in a lead role as well as a supporting one.
In bedtime story mode, narrator Ian McKellen ( "X-Men: The Last Stand" ) tells us of the wall, a stone structure that separates the real from the unreal, England from Stormhold, a magical kingdom ruled as much by a king as by witchcraft.
And to think director Matthew Vaughn (responsible for the heralded Brit crime flick Layer Cake) actually turned down a chance to helm X-Men: The Last Stand to make this movie.
Matthew Vaughn by the way, was the guy who infamously wrote an X-Men 3 script in seven days and was slated to direct the third mutant film before being replaced by playboy director Brett Ratner.
Or maybe Brett Ratner was tapped to lend a hand, since this picture most resembles X-Men: The Last Stand in its desire to include everything that popped into its creators' heads, regardless of whether there was enough running time to adequately cover all material.
Best friends Joe Lynch (Shawn Ashmore, "X-Men: The Last Stand," "The Ruins") and Dan Walker (Kevin Zegers, "Wrong Turn," "50 Dead Men Walking") are spending their first time together with Dan's girlfriend Parker O'Neil (Emma Bell), something Joe's not altogether thrilled about.
He gets decent work from Kevin Zegers ( Dawn of the Dead ) and even better performances from Shawn Ashmore ( X-Men: The Last Stand 's "Iceman", hah!) and newcomer Emma Bell.
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…atthew Vaughn hasn't had the greatest luck with comic book movies – first, he walked away from "X-Men: The Last Stand" mere weeks before filming began, and more recently, he was replaced by Kenneth Branagh as the director of "Thor" – so it's nice to see him finally find a little success in the genre.
By the end it suffers quite a bit from “X-Men: The Last Stand” disease as a gaggle of unknown, uncharacterized robots show up just to wail on each other.