Opened: May 26, 2006

Directed by: Brett Ratner

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin, Kelsey Grammer, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Vinnie Jones, Elliot Page, Haley Ramm, Daniel Cudmore, Ben Foster, Cayden Boyd, Michael Murphy, Dania Ramirez, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Josef Sommer, Bill Duke, Eric Dane, Meiling Melançon, Ken Leung, Cameron Bright, Olivia Williams & Stan Lee

As a conclusion to the original X-Men trilogy, The Last Stand is full of big battles and blow ups but lacks the emotional conviction that its previous installments had.

When Worthington Labs creates a “cure” to turn mutants into normal humans, Magneto (Ian McKellen) unleashes his wrath on the U.S. Government. Surviving her supposed death, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) is taken over by her dark personality Phoenix, which both Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Logan (Hugh Jackman) try to thwart.

Though the film features great performances from Jackman, Janssen and McKellen, and gives more material to the deserving Halle Berry, the thin plot drags everyone down. There’s not enough focus on the “cure” and its mutant counterpart Leech (Cameron Bright). Instead, the story is just focused on destroying it before it destroys the mutants.

Final say: A weak final chapter. ★★★☆☆