Another Look at X-Men: The Last Stand

A few weeks ago, I watched X-Men: The Last Stand for the second time. I saw it in the theaters, liked it a lot and got the DVD but never watched it. I know this one didn't get the best reviews but I think it stands up with the first two. Most people's complaints about this one stem from too many fight scenes and less emotion throughout the movie.

The main reason I love it is because of all of the mutants! We spent the first film getting introduced to the core characters, then the second brought us more new ones. That opening sequence with Nightcrawler was amazing and made the fanboy in me quite happy. Plus, we got Lady Deathstrike, Shadowcat and Colossus.

And what does the third one bring us? Even more mutants! Beast, Madrox, Juggernaut, Callisto, Arclight, Kid Omega (Quill), Psylocke, Angel, Leech, Spike, Moira MacTaggert and Phat! To me, that's the best thrill of comic book movies - seeing these characters come to life. So I'm a dork and I just want to see more, more and more. I think that's why I got so psyched about the Wolverine trailer, which shows us glimpses of Deadpool, Gambit and Blob.

Getting back to TLS, I also like the death factor. Cyclops is always annoying and I think the actor wanted to go work with Bryan Singer on that crappy Superman movie, so good riddance. Phoenix's death was expected and Professor X's was still shocking. Even at the end, when they're killing mutants left and right, you're like, who's going to survive this thing anyway? It truly does feel like a last stand. I know it's not a popular opinion but I love this part of the X-Men franchise.

By the way, as I was reading up on the X-Men film franchise on Wikipedia, I came across this quote on the X2 page: "Shaquille O'Neal wanted a role in the film but was ignored by the filmmakers." Excelsior!