Directed by the blandly competent Brett Ratner, the third X-MEN feature hauls out the heavy special-effects artillery and takes no prisoners on the story front, but lacks the pop gravitas that distinguished the earlier films. It opens in flashback, when mutant supremacist-to-be Eric Lensherr/Magneto (Ian McKellen) and Dr. Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) are still allies in the two-front war against antimutant bigotry, and are teaching mutants to harness their gifts and convincing a hostile world to accept them. They recruit adolescent Jean Grey (Haley Ramm), whose raw telepathic power is mind-boggling. Flash forward to the present (or more precisely, the near future...
Released:
2006
Rated:
PG-13
Length:
115 mins