A Geeky Viewpoint

The X-Men was originally conceived as a Trilogy of Films way back in 1990 and the head of 20th Century Fox Studios, Thomas Rothman, was extremely and actively involved in these movies.   It is Rothman's decision to ditch Sentinels, X-Men Uniforms, X-Copter, ....  The idea was that if the first movie was successful than there would be three movies.

The year was 2006, the top movie in the box office was Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest by almost 2 to 1 over second place Night at the Museum, followed closely by Cars and X-Men: The Last Stand.   How did a movie with such success financially become so notoriously bad that people utter the director's name as a verb to describe bad movies?

Even before a director was named Simon Kinberg was hired by 20th Century Fox to pen the third installment of the X-Men universe.    A this point it is time to put in some issues that were going on concerning the script.   While it was about to change but at the time Dark Movies were failing, the paying audience wanted light and happy films.   

 

X-Men: The Last Stand was originally set to be directed Bryan Singer.  Director of the first two installments, he suggested filming two movies in essence back to back to have a bigger story arc an a conclusion to the story that were being told in the X-Men movies.  20th Century Fox was watching a budget that was too big at $110 Million for X2 double for X3 an many elements were being red flagged for cost reasons.   However in December 2004 he backed out to take on the Superman sequel Superman Returns for Warner Bros.   20th Century Fox quickly lined up Matthew Vaughn who was signed on in January and out by June due to "personal" issues.   Brett Ratner was a last moment replacement.

Avi Arad, President of Marvel Studios at the time, was immediately put on the defensive by the decision to bring in Ratner.   He defended the Ratner Choice by pointing out Ratner was the other finalist when Bryan Singer was hired for the original X-Men, he made Red Dragon, Rush Hour, the Family Man.   It was inferred that at this late date he really wasn't going to have much power anyways.   I never understood the hiring of Brett Ratner, hew was doing well in his Action Comedies but that wasn't what X-Men as about, it was almost a desperation hire, anyone with a pulse who may have considered film an action movie.

Principal filming of X-Men: The Last Stand in August of 2005 for a May 2006 release dates, a mere 9 months.   Contrast that to X-Men filming started in December 1997 and X2 November 2000 both of which had about 2 years to complete yet X3 had 9 months.

X-Men: The Last Stand had another problem, who's in who's out of filming.   Halle Berry was the first of the principal characters to sign in March 2005.  Ian McKellen (Magento) didn't sign until April 2005, and he was a primary villain, because he wasn't asked.  Allen Cumming passed on returning as Night Crawler, Patrick Stewart and Famke Janssen in Mid May.   Hugh Jackman signed somewhere June/July.    Can you imagine the difficulties assembling a script without knowing who was going to be in it?

The script however had other problems.  When people look at X3 today we automatically assume the "Dark Phoenix Saga" is the central story being told.  The original story laid out all the years ago was the conclusion of the  Xavier vs. Magento with the Civil Rights duel in mold of Martin Luther King Jr. vs. Malcom X mold set around "the cure".     The studio had to finish that story, but Bryan Singer had presented the Dark Phoenix saga and the Studio wanted that too.    Hey its going to be the conclusion...   The Dark Phoenix storyline is the bolt on not "the cure".

As have always wondered if the Danger Room scene with Sentinel head at the beginning of X-Men The Last Stand is  "F U" statement to Thomas Rothman.

The other problem with the script is 20th Century insistence not to waste time telling the viewers what was happening, the audience had just watch X2 of DVD for crying out loud.

So you have 9 months to create a movie with a director who holds little actual power, an incomplete script that supposed to be two movies at least, telling a dark story in a nice happy way, with no idea who is acting to be in the movie, and while we are giving you $210 Million budget it had better come in well under budget.   And just in case you forgot; no Costumes.  See the problem? Did I forget to mention that Rothman wanted no pop culture references in the movie?

The other problem that is often forgotten is X-Men: Evolution, the TV series which by the time of filming had concluded its TV run of Four Seasons.   The show created as a "Teen Drama" had introduced the next generation of fans to the X-Men.   The show spent multiple years setting up and telling The Age of Apocalypse story line, and when the show ended the fourth season there was a strong indication that the next season was meant to be the Dark Phoenix Saga.   20th Century Fox clearly took notice and whether or not they forced the issue many of the characters from the show, Spyke, the Morlocks, were added to the X3 movie.  

So with all those limitations, requirements, and other activities we got a movie; X-Men: The Last Stand.   Many people blame Brett Ratner for the failings of the movie, I look at Thomas Rothman and Avi Arad as the principal players in this fiasco.     I could post a review of the movie and tear it to shreds for all its problems but there is more to the story.

 

I personally rated X-Men: The Last Stand as the 18th best out of the 32 Marvel movies released (19th of 33 as of today) and will honestly say that if the final climatic fight scene, which is what the three movies had been building towards, had been better it would have moved up this list immensely regardless of the rest of the films fault.   I know many people think I am crazy rating the movie this high, but I am not alone, Audience and Critics place this movie at 13th to 15th of 32 as it clearly has the top score of the bottom group of films when you look at the composite scores from multiple sources.   It was the 5th most seen movie in the Marvel Universe in terms of domestic tickets sold, and when you factor in finances it was just above the middle of the road.    

 

That's not saying the film couldn't have been better or that it shouldn't have been better.  I have jokingly suggested I would love to see the B-Roll film for this movie, would love to have access to the CGI to improve the climatic fight scene and this movie has the potential to be top 10 in the Marvel Universe.   I have always wondered why there isn't a extended version of this film out there.