DVD Review
 
“X-Men: The Last Stand” directed by Brett Ratner
Rating:Three Stars
 
“X-Men The Last Stand” continues the cliffhanger story started in the previous series installment “X-Men United.” Dr. Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) returns from the dead, but there’s something very wrong with her.
 
 She’s been resurrected as the Phoenix, a monster of seemingly uncontrollable power with a taste for destruction. Meanwhile, the United States government has started to hunt down mutants and give them a “cure” that rids them of their supernatural powers and makes them human.
 
This creates an all-out war between mutants and humans, and the X-Men are caught in the middle. The mutant villain Magneto (Ian McKellen) recruits an army of mutants to stop the government’s cure, and eventually enlists Jean Grey/Phoenix to his side. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), who loves Jean Grey, tries to rid her of the Phoenix persona.
 
For most X-Men fans, “The Last Stand” might be considered a satisfying action-packed adventure. However, I felt the story was poorly developed and didn’t stand up to the first two X-Men movies.
 
Too many new characters — such as Beast and Angel — and subplots were introduced that took away from any connection with the main story. And I found the anti-climactic ending to be entirely unbelievable. There are rumors there won’t be a fourth movie, and I think that’s probably a good thing.
 
One of the selling points of the recent DVD release was the alternate endings to the film. I hoped that at least one of them would work better than the theatrical one, but they all were bad.
 
 Having shot so many endings makes me wonder if the director and screenwriters didn’t know where the story was going in the first place. In addition to the alternate endings, the DVD features the standard extras such as deleted scenes and filmmaker commentaries.
 
If you’re a big fan of the X-Men like me, then you’re probably going to enjoy this DVD to some extent. But if you’re just wanting to see a good movie, then I’d recommend watching something else.
 
By Ricky Riley / VOX Staff