“X-Men: The Last Stand”

Director: Brett Ratner

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart

Length: 104 minutes

Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of action violence, some sexual content and language

REVIEW: 3.5 / 5

Gone are the days when comic-book heroes had only to worry about saving the world from the next evil villain or impending destruction of Earth. Now they join the ranks of average Joes everywhere whose latest so-called enemy comes not from flaming balls of doom or never-say-die baddies, but themselves.

“X-Men: The Last Stand” is the final installment in the “X-Men” trilogy, and the mutant heroes are forced to confront their beliefs when the government releases a “cure” made from a boy mutant’s antibodies that permanently erase mutants’ powers. Magneto, played by Ian McKellen, clashes with peer Professor Charles Xavier, played by Patrick Stewart, and Xavier’s cohorts, including Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry, who reprise their roles as Wolverine and Storm.

Xavier believes mutants should be a normal part of society, but Magneto thinks they should fight assimilation, calling it “genocide.” However, each of the X-Men have their own personal demons that cause them to question their status as mutants.

Rogue, played by Anna Paquin, hates her inability to touch anyone, and both Cyclops and Wolverine face complications when Dr. Jean Grey, played by Famke Janssen, seemingly rises from the dead. Her unimaginable and unrestrained power appeals to Magneto’s militaristic campaign against the government, and soon the X-Men are left not only to fight anti-mutant people, but those just like themselves.

“X-Men: The Last Stand” is a movie that seems conflicted between its want to confront issues and its obligation to be an action movie. What comes to mind most in the plot’s basic premise is a comparison between the mutant cure and contemporary genetic testing, gene therapy and characteristics people try to link to genetics.

All this and the impending doom? It’s almost more than this movie can handle. Although it poses an interesting take on the whole perception of normalcy, “X-Men” becomes muddled amidst the onslaught of storms, rebel mutants and Grey’s newfound power to make people explode into millions of vaporous shreds. It veers between this story line and genetics and can’t quite seem to decide which it likes best.

As an action film, however, it has a great ensemble cast. The actors, particularly McKellen, Jackman and Berry, seem to understand that this isn’t the sort of movie to be understated. It’s big, it’s bold, it’s got flaming balls of doom and the acting is big enough to be absurd in any sort of film other than this.

Here, however, this flair for the dramatic seems realistic. Perhaps it is because the mutants themselves are dealing with a realistic issue. Of course there are those confident with their powers, but others – especially students such as Rogue – already suffer from teenage anxiety that is only compounded by being mutants. “Normal” is a powerful concept and an equally powerful draw for people, and the film does a good job of demonstrating that point.

The only problem is this side of the movie is underdeveloped in exchange for the action side. The X-Men, particularly Grey, get to display their powers in all their fury, and major fight scenes against Magneto ensue. Although the story may be distracted by its intense action, its issues are genuine at heart, and it’s even more entertaining to see these parts battle it out on the same plane.