I am a big fan of X-Men, the comic books, the cartoon in the 90s and the first two films. I was looking forward to X-Men 3 when it came out and I had high hopes, unfortunately they was dashed after the first half-hour. This film has a number of problems. Firstly the lost of Bryan Singer. He gave the film character development, the society context and made it as realistic as possible. Brett Ratner came from an action background and he just focused on the action. They was no character development and they were too many characters in the film, so it was hard to care for some of them. The lost of Singer's writing team was also an important factor and Simon Kinberg was brought in to write the third film. He writes with major plot holes and under developing many aspects in films. Examples of his work are XXX: 2 State of the Union (a very bad film),Mr. and Mrs. Smith (a good film, but I think it ends too abruptly) and Jumper. If I was a producer of the film I would have fought tooth and nail to keep Singer and his writing team.

My other major criticism is that X-Men 3 strays too far from the comic books and the first two films. Cyclops and Xavier were both killed off very early in the film, which never happens in the comics. Cyclops was only killed off because James Marsden ended up being in Superman Returns which ironically a Singer movie. Mystique was also removed from the film with little screen time. This was because Rebecca Romjin ended up in Ugly Betty. She ends up giving up Magneto to the US government which I don't see as realistic because I can't picture someone like her changing ideology that easily: it would be like a senior member of Al-Qaida walking into the headquarters of the FBI and telling them where Bin Laden and everyone else was. Rouge also had little screen time in the film and hardly featured in it at all. Nightcrawler was not present in the film which was a shame because Alec Cumming played the role very well and the storyline of him and Storm together could have been built on from the second film. Characters were added but I wonder why with some of them. Angel was added and in the advertising for the film he was set up as a major character. He added NOTHING to the film. Juggernaut was also in the film, but he was played by Vinnie Jones, who just can't acted. I also felt X-Men 3 was not loyal to the first two films. At the end of X-Men 2 the Dark Phoenix story was set up as the major storyline for the next film, but it was just regulated to a side story in the third film. The whole point of the Dark Phoenix story was absolute power corrupts, but again this was not shown and she was shown to be a schizophrenic. I also felt that the way they were going to set it up was the machine in the first film made Jean Grey more powerful because it was shown slowly in the second film that her powers had growth, and it was even mention at the beginning of the second film.

They are many other criticisms of the film and many other people have already mentioned them. The only one that I will add to is Haile Berry demanding more screen time, I personally would have casted another actress to put her in her place, because I don't think she's anything special.

The film is still fun in places, Beast and Colossus were good additions and the actions was good, especially Wolverine in the forest.

I personally think that the third film should be ignored and redone by the studio to give the fans what they need. I would have also liked to have seen more of the mutant discrimination on the ground level of society (i.e. normal people),or seen a storyline involving groups like Friends of Humanity. I would have like to see Gambit in the film because he is a more dark and complex character and the film-makers could have added a love-triangle story involving him, Rouge and Iceman.

EDITED: Why do people keep reporting me for spoilers?! There isn't a single spoiler in this review. That Jean Grey is back? The trailer showed that! Idiots.

The war between mutants and humans rages on – as well as between mutants and other mutants – and the spark that lights the fuse in this X-Men installment is the government-funded "Mutant-cure" project that is taking place on Alcatraz. Magneto and his fanatic followers are appalled by this idea ("They want to cure us? I say we ARE the cure – for homo sapiens.") and go into military mode to fight the humans. Because we all know the best defense is a good offense. This conflict pins Xavier and his academy somewhere in between, raising questions such as how far should we go for social conformity? Is mutation a disease, or is it part of who we are?

I think that X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) has got it all right when it comes to ethics and message because it is not in-your-face or preachy at any point. It is an objective study how this cure changes people and mutants alike (not just the ones it is injected to). Magneto cannot stand the prospect of losing his mutant identity to a human cure while Rogue wants it and Jean needs it. Director Brett Ratner neutrally navigates the themes of social conformity and ethical values with effortless skill in the film which I find impressive since it is a heavy topic and he only recently jumped onboard the X-Men fare. So "well done" here is an understatement. He does a great job.

The problem is that at some point greedy hack producers deemed this well-sketched template of mutants vs. humans going to war over ethics "insufficient" for a long action-feature. More was needed, they thought, and slapped on extra-template love-stories, reborn-stories and offputting attempts at establishing moods that reeks of cheesy character development Kodak-moment. The latter manifests itself at several points in the film, mainly in scenes with Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) coming to terms with his love for Jean. He does this by brooding and exchanging meaningful glances.

Jean's woeful reborn storyline is X-Men's fatal flaw. Sloppy writing. When reaching the point when Jean's miraculous survival from the impact of the water needs to be explained by some brainy scientist (in this case Xavier),he simply offers the explanation: "Her powers wrapped her in a cocoon of telekinetic energy." OK, so no we now. Idiotic. Poor Famke Janssen gets to inhabit a truly badly-written character as The Last Stand plays on, and she plays it badly too. She has come back super-powerful and super-sexy (logically??). Most of the film she is not really doing anything, but stands aside looking imposing while the other characters remark how superhuman she is and how powerful she has become: "She's so strong." - Xavier (yes, he actually says that -- it's a joke). When she finally does get to shine, she does not really shine at all but her scene becomes completely over-the-top and desensitizes you to the action.

Luckily, X-Men: The Last Stand is not Jean Grey's show. Curiously enough it is not Wolverine's show either. Instead the central characters take a backseat to the wide montage of new, eccentric, colourful mutant character from both Magneto and Xavier's camp – such as Juggernaught ("...bitch"),Arclight (hands down the coolest mutant power) and Callisto. Whenever there is a showdown between the two camps it is absolute gold. Even early in the film in Jean's house when they meet and fight briefly for the first time, you know you're in for a cinematic ride of vivid special visual- and audio effects as the characters blow ice, shoot metal, stir up storms and walk through walls. They mess up the house so much that it looks as though its walls are made out of paper that they just tear down and walk through. It's brilliantly handled with creative new scenarios.

However the single most poignant scene is only a few minutes into the film – in a flashback of sorts that zooms in on a little mutant boy who has locked himself in the bathroom, cutting off his wings. He cries and there is blood and white feathers everywhere and it is just a staggering image. This little boy is Angel. This scene convinced me I was in for one hell of a ride – and I was because there is a lot of the cinematic "big, bigger, epic" formula but ultimately it is a terribly uneven film with poor dialogue (lines you can guess before the character says it),mediocre acting and plain silly extra-template story lines.

6 out of 10

The third and thankfully final entry in the interminable X-Men series is actually my favourite of the three. I'm not a comic book follower and I have no real interest in seeing creations brought to the screen, but I always felt this series was more highly lauded than it deserved to be. At the end of the day, the X-Men films are just straightforward adventure romps with bloated budgets and sci-fi imaginings. I liked this one the best because it was the most bombastic out of the three, and pretty much every minute is packed with great CGI effects and tons of action and fighting.

Director Brett Ratner is far from a favourite of mine but he knows how to handle action here, ranging from a vicious fight in the woods as Wolverine tackles multiple foes to a wonderful scene where Magneto takes out a convey of vehicles. This is a film all about smashing things up and blowing things apart and it moves a lot faster as there's no necessity for ponderous back stories or character introduction. Things are also mixed up a little, which I liked, as central characters are killed off and there's a whole darker tone – I've never seen people exploding in a 12 certificate film before!

The actors have less to do here than previously, as they're all just cardboard cut-outs. Everyone here gives exactly the same performance as before, although Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, as the experienced elders, dominate the proceedings. I barely noticed Halle Berry, her role as Storm is so small. Kelsey Grammar and Vinnie Jones are a couple of new mutants, although I think Jones would have been more effective if he'd just kept his mouth shut and refused to speak the rubbish dialogue they give him. Things end up with a massive action spectacle, a full-on mini-war between humans and mutants, and it's great stuff – the best the trilogy has to offer. So, yeah. I'm glad I watched the series, and I liked it for all the cool CGI effects (some of the best are the anti-ageing they've done on McKellen and Stewart) but I know I never need to go back here again. Once is enough with these shallow comic book thrill-rides!