When a cure is found to treat mutations, lines are drawn amongst the X-Men—led by Professor Charles Xavier—and the Brotherhood, a band of powerful mutants organised under Xavier's former ally, Magneto.
The Last Stand is a hugely ambitious picture, and it would have been far more successful if Ratner had scaled it down to focus more on the interaction between the characters.
– Stephanie Zacharek,
Salon.com,
26 May 2006
rotten:
What a comedown, after the weirdly beautiful things Singer and his technicians did in the first two movies.
– David Denby,
New Yorker,
30 May 2006
fresh:
[I] found myself strangely moved by the sense of relationships, friendly and unfriendly, coming to an end in a dull return to normality in the world of humans and mutants.
– Andrew Sarris,
New York Observer,
7 Jun 2006
fresh:
X-Men: The Last Stand has shifted the shape of the franchise from pretty good, if uninspired, to terrifically entertaining.
– Joe Morgenstern,
Wall Street Journal,
22 Jun 2006
fresh:
Sillier than the Singer versions, Ratner's movie is also -- for this less-than-reverent X-Men fan -- more satisfying.