X-Men: The Last Stand (4½ Stars)

This film, often referred to as "X-Men 3", is the third film in the X-Men trilogy. It suffers from what I call "telescoping" in Marvel films. What I mean by that is that comics are written regularly over a period of years, whereas films about super-hero characters only appear once every two or three years. There are important things in the history of a character that the screenwriter wants to present to comic book fans to make them happy. This leads to events that happened years apart in the comics taking place within a few days of one another. The events are telescoped.

The film's plot is based on two storylines in the comics. These were the Phoenix Saga in 1976 and the Dark Phoenix Saga in 1980. In the Phoenix Saga Jean Grey, who was considered dead by drowning, returned to life with greater powers. She was no longer Marvel Girl, she was Phoenix. In the Dark Phoenix Saga, one of the most critically acclaimed X-Men storylines ever, she lost control of her Phoenix powers after being manipulated by the mutant Mastermind and turned into an amoral destructive force capable of destroying billions of lives within minutes (which she actually did while flying through space in X-Men #135). In this film the two sagas are telescoped; Jean Grey becomes evil soon after becoming the Phoenix, without any external influences. She can't be corrupted by Mastermind, because he was killed in the second film.

The film shows Jean Grey's Phoenix powers as being innate, powers that Professor X recognised when he first met her. Once more this clashes with the canon of Marvel comics continuity. In the comics we find out that the Phoenix is a primary force of the universe which only temporarily occupied Jean's body, and later moved on to other hosts.

"X-Men: The Last Stand" has two main plots that are running in parallel. One is the Dark Phoenix Saga. The other is an attempt to cure all mutants on Earth by harnessing the power of the young mutant Leech, whose power is to remove the powers of other mutants. At first Magneto teams up with the X-Men to fight against the enforcement of the cure, but then turns against his allies.

One character who was treated badly in the film was the Juggernaut. In the comics he is Professor X's half-brother, and his initial appearance in X-Men #12-13 portrayed him as the most dangerous foe the X-Men had ever faced. His power is that once he is in motion he is unstoppable; while he is undoubtedly very strong, it is mystic powers that make him unstoppable, even when he is moving against people or things stronger than himself. There seems to be some confusion in the comics whether he's a mutant or not. He is given his Juggernaut powers after finding the gem of Cyttorak. In X-Men #12 Professor X's Cerbero reacts to him as if he's a mutant, but a lot of X-Men fans insist that he isn't a mutant and only has mystical powers. Whatever the case is -- and I appreciate both sides of the argument -- in the film he acts more like a comedy character, whining whenever someone manages to stop him and stupidly running the wrong way.

Overall it isn't a bad film. In itself it's very good, but it doesn't do the Dark Phoenix Saga justice. Can anyone spell "reboot"?