X-Men 3: The Final Stand The most frustrating of the X-Men films so far. The two main stores (The Dark Phoenix and The Cure) aren't integrated well at all. There are a who bunch of new mutants, but only Beast, an impressively blue Kesley Grammar is memorable. Magneto now get a whole band of mutants, but none of them are as interesting as Mystique The Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix plot gets a lot of exposition in the first part of the film, but after she, in a rather impressive scene destroys Xavier, the character is reduced to standing alongside Magneto until the very very end of the film. (It's obvious the writers had no idea what to do with this character.) The cure plot actually has some interesting scenes, but it ends in a climactic battle done according to Ebert's Idiot Plot Syndrome. Both Magneto and Jean Grey are more powerful then any mutant or human in that battle field. We just saw Ian McKellen dump The Golden Gate Bridge onto Alcatraz. He virtually does nothing in the battle. Jean Grey does even less, until she unleashed....because the plot suddenly shifts gear to her story again (you can actually hear a clunk). The Cure story live also never gets resolved. There's a destructive war. Which the humans seem to win...and everything is dandy? Is that because all who opposed to the cure are destroyed? The film raises questions about identity and personal choice and never comes close to actually addressing them. However the action scenes before the big war are impressively mounted, the acting is decent (apart from Vinnie Jones). The special effects are a huge step up from the first two, which look strangely crude now. and John Powell's score really lifts some of this material. There was a good movie buried here. But none of the material is wrapped up in any satisfying way.