After Bryan Singer jumped ship to Warner Bros. to direct the terrible Superman Return, Brett Ratner was chosen to direct 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand for 20th Century Fox. It attempted to bring in the villainous alter-ego of Jean Grey known as the Dark Phoenix to the big screen.

Still reeling from the supposed death of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) from the second film, Cyclops (James Marsden) is feeling grief to the extreme, so much so, Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) has asked Storm (Halle Berry) to take his place as the leader of the X-Men when he dies and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to stay on as a teacher. Jean soon returns, but manifests as the Dark Phoenix, killing Cyclops and Professor X in the process. Magneto (Ian McKellan) uses this to manipulate her into joining the Brotherhood of Mutants, the darker version of the X-Men.

Meanwhile, the government has created a “Cure” for the mutant gene, prompting former X-Man-turned-government official Hank McCoy aka Beast (Kelsey Grammer) to seek Professor X’s help in protecting him from mutants who want to kill the child who produces the cure from his own abilities.

There are so many problems with this movie. First of all, it reduces the Phoenix from a benevolent alien entity to a case of Grey’s frustration at her own powers. It is a definite watering down. It also starts the annoying trend of trying to paint Professor X as an “end justifies the means” kid-of character that is willing to hurt people to achieve his dreams. This is not going to work out later.

Aside from that, the special effects are decent and Grammer does an excellent job playing Beast. You do not expect him to do a decent performance in a comic book film, but he definitely brings it home in this film.

That is honestly good thing to say, the performances were good. Outside of that, the plot makes no sense, the advancement of the characters was poor, and the action was lackluster.

FAVORITE QUOTE:Charles Xavier did more for mutants than you will ever know. My single greatest regret is that he had to die for our dream to live.

PARENTAL CONCERNS: Foul language and violence

Check out the movie trailer below:

That is my review. What did you think? Let me know in the comments below and tell me if there’s a movie you’d like me to review. Check out my thoughts on X2: X-Men United. Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe for more posts like this one.

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This article has been updated from a previous version.