As you’d expect from any franchise that pumped out thirteen installments in 20 years covering sequels, reboots, prequels, spinoffs and pretty much everything in between, Fox’s X-Men series was hardly renowned for its consistency, even if it could typically be relied on to do solid business at the box office.
The highs of X2, Logan and Deadpool were offset by the lows of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Dark Phoenix, while the likes of Apocalypse and The Last Stand were perfectly acceptable without ever troubling the spectacular. However, the latter was added to the Disney Plus Marvel Legacy Collection yesterday, and it looks as though Brett Ratner’s threequel is undergoing something of a reappraisal, as you can see from the reactions below.
Hot take:
X-Men: The Last Stand is pretty good, actually.#xmen #xmenthelaststand #xmenmovies #filmtw #nyc #Brooklyn pic.twitter.com/ryhGFQFJ5Q— Felix Quinonez (@TheneonBulletin) May 15, 2021
https://twitter.com/KetracelBlack/status/1393251922652639232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1393251922652639232%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fmarvel%2Fnews%2Fdisney-plus-x-men-the-last-stand%2F
#nw X-Men: The Last Stand pic.twitter.com/baHjU0wLHf
— Taha Ramen 🇺🇦 (@BlueGangsta1977) May 15, 2021
Just watched X-Men last stand. I liked the action probably the most of the trilogy but I wish they let Jean stay dead and let the Phoenix be it’s own movie pic.twitter.com/dBBCmFxXpH
— Jokerz 🃏 (@Ravenz_CM) May 14, 2021
X-men the last stand was so good in fact all the X-men movies are 💯
— Marty Mar 🇹🇹🍫 (@Dashxrai) May 13, 2021
X-Men 2
— 2003 — pic.twitter.com/MGUS1UG3FZ— ℳ𝑜𝓇𝑔𝒶𝓃𝑒 | (@kafreych) May 12, 2021
https://twitter.com/fried_scaIp/status/1393252892845424643?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1393252892845424643%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fmarvel%2Fnews%2Fdisney-plus-x-men-the-last-stand%2F
https://twitter.com/omipm_/status/1393202444184719365?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1393202444184719365%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fmarvel%2Fnews%2Fdisney-plus-x-men-the-last-stand%2F
https://twitter.com/CruzDinosaur/status/1393193042811686914?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1393193042811686914%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fmarvel%2Fnews%2Fdisney-plus-x-men-the-last-stand%2F
I Just Found Out That X-Men The Last Stand Is FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY On Disney Plus!!!!!😝😝😝🥳🥳🥳🤩🤩🤩 pic.twitter.com/qDBu3IrEsm
— ObssessiveFangirl34 (@Ludwina98071180) May 15, 2021
X-Men: The Last Stand grew on me so much over the years. Didn't like it first time, especially killing off major characters. One death in particular, 'til I discovered on rewatch an extra scene post-credits. That alone won me over. It's such a fun movie, I grew to love it. 🙂👍 https://t.co/ijRVqcFK15
— Paul-B Loves Movies (@Paul_Berney) May 15, 2021
I like X Men The Last Stand pic.twitter.com/Uj1NuNalTY
— suge (@WhoisJY) May 15, 2021
Ratner didn’t have the easiest task when it came to The Last Stand after he stepped in as Matthew Vaughn’s replacement less than two months before shooting started on the $210 million comic book blockbuster with a cast and crew not of his choosing already in place, and it also happened to be the most expensive movie ever made at the time. Not only that, but he knew next to nothing about the X-Men mythology and had to rely on a combination of the script he was given and good faith to make it work, so the fact it turned out okay was a minor miracle in itself.
It might not be the best X-Men movie by any stretch of the imagination, but The Last Stand is far from the worst, and moves along at a decent pace to hit all of the required story beats, while the climactic third act action sequence still holds up pretty well, with Magneto’s Golden Gate Bridge renovation remaining one of the franchise’s most memorable visuals.
