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X3 had a tough job to live up to the previous sequel (although I think that film suffers slightly on repeat viewings) and it isn't as successful, but I still thought it was pretty good entertainment. The main flaws for me were that it didn't flow particularly well between scenes in the middle section, and some of the dialogue was clunky, something that the previous instalments mostly managed to avoid. Also I thought the important death of a major character was too sudden and poorly handled. There were numerous smaller problems too, but most of the action scenes were brilliant. I even would go as far as to say that the final half hour or so contains the best action set-piece in the whole trilogy. It was in fact this third act that shifted my score up to four stars from three. I also thought the new characters were generally successful - Kelsey Grammer was ideal casting for Beast, Vinnie Jones' questionable acting skills were redeemed by some great fight scenes, and Ben Foster's Angel was fine but severely underused. Surprisingly I didn't feel that the fairly short running time was a mistake; I think the longer length is one of X2's flaws. I would still have liked to see Bryan Singer's vision for the film but what we got was a generally satisfying substitute.
The summary
X-Men: The Last Stand squanders some of the massive potential from the first two films, relegating the Dark Phoenix storyline to a subplot, but it's still an exciting and exhilarating ride.
