by The Duke

Created on: February 23, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

Questions were always going to raised about X-Men 3 with the departure of director Bryan Singer to the hugely anticipated "Superman Returns". In his place came (eventually) Brett Ratner someone who, from my perspective, not only had to produce something as good as Bryan Singer's previous X-Men movies, but had also to erase the travesties that were Rush Hour 1 and 2 (I cannot stand Chris Tucker).

Ignoring the somewhat pointless "20 years ago" intros, "X-Men 3: The Last Stand" starts with the announcement of a Mutant cure developed by a bio-tech firm. The firm, which has set up a research facility on Alcatraz Island, has produced this cure with the "help" of a mutant child named Leech.

The mutant population is obviously quite distressed about this cure and Magneto (Ian McKellan) is having none of it. He pulls together a mutant army from the population, including a few new faces in Juggernaut (Vinnie Jones), Multiple Man and Callisto. Callisto has the ability to trace mutants, and Magneto puts this to good use to rescue his loyal companion and friend, Mystique.

Meanwhile, at Professor Xavier's school for "gifted" children, Cyclops (James Marsden) is still having a hard time coming to terms with Jean Grey's death. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) has been called to fill in with the training of some of the more promising training while Cyclops mourns.

Cyclops ends up back a Alkali Lake, the scene of Jean's death, and in a fit of frustration, fires his energy sight thingy into the water. This manages to awaken something from the water, which turns out to be Jean... or so we think.

Professor Xavier's psychic abilities alert him to potential danger at Alkali Lake and he despatches Storm and Wolverine to investigate. Upon arrival, they find an unconscious Jean Grey but no sign of Cyclops save for his protective glasses. Something is definitely amiss, and it's up to Professor X and the X-Men to sort it out before Magneto starts all out war over the 'cure'.

There are quite a few differences between The Last Stand and the previous X-Men movies. While X-Men and X2 both delve heavily into Wolverine's history, The Last Stand is more about Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix and this strand interweaves with the main story thread of the mutant cure.

The issue I mainly have with the film itself is the script. As the final chapter in this particular trilogy, it almost seemed that it was in a hurry to finish. The story had potential to really explore the moral dilemma of the mutant cure and why a mutant

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