Special FX-Men 3

Of all the comic book movie adaptations, the X-Men movies have been my favourite (oh except for the original Darkman movie, which rocked!). This chapter tells the story of a company that market a cure to the mutant gene by tapping into a mutant boy called "leech", who should have had green skin if they were staying true to the comic.

With the mutant community divided on whether to take the cure or not (including some of the X-men team) Magneto takes the opportunity to begin an uprising against the "homo-sapiens". Seeing this as a threat the military then decide to fight back. Who will prevail this time?

Along with the main thread you have some side stories too. Jean Grey is back after apparently dying in the 2nd movie, but she's come back as someone, or something else. You can tell this by her moody pout. There is the fire and ice rivalry between Iceman and Pyro. Some jealousy from Rogue towards Shadowcat (who I like in this) and the obligatory "is Wolverine part of the team or not" thread.

There are some surprises in the film, noticeably the writing out of some of the major players; not that I'll mention them here, go and see the film if you want to know. There are plenty of new mutants in this film, they've really crammed them in, its just a shame that some of them are fodder in the final scenes. My favourite character from the comics was Psylocke and she's in this but blink and you'll miss her. Nightcrawler who was introduced in the last movie isn't even in this one at all. Mystique isn't in this too much but we do get Beast to restore the blue character balance. Angel who features prominently in the trailer and posters isn't in this too much either. What you end up with is lots of material spread thinly.

With so many characters, the film does become a bit cluttered but what it lacks in character back stories it makes up in effects. They've gone ridiculously over the top in this film. The final sequence with Magneto moving the Golden Gate Bridge is stunning, but wasn't it the Brooklyn Bridge in the comics? Some of the Jean Grey/Phoenix morphs are cleverly done too.

Is this the last of the X-Men movies? I'm not sure. Whilst the film is being marketed as such there is plenty of material to tap into to keep the franchise going and some new characters introduced this time round to develop in the next should there be one. Be sure to watch the film to the end of the trailers though, there's an extra scene which may shed some light as to whether we see another film or not.