X-Men 3: The Last Stand – Egotastic! Approved!

Well, I just got back from the 12:01 am screening of X-Men 3: The Last Stand. No, my Elite Blogger status did not grant me access to any special sneak peeks, but my Elite Nerd status made sure I was waiting in line 3 hours before the show started.

So, was it good? Well, if you are a fan of the first two X-Men movies, you have nothing to fear going into this one. Yes, it's true, in the case of X-Men fans vs. Brett Ratner, the director aquitted himself nicely. It could be the post-movie adrenaline talking here, or the caffeine from that 1.5 litre Coca-Cola, but I might even go so far as to say it's better than the others. Yes, I really did just say that.

The action was great, but there was still a lot of the character development, and pacing that made the first two movies what they were. Story-wise, this movie takes a lot of chances, and they pay off, big time. Sure, there were a few cheesey lines, but they were few and far between, and the best characters are still the best characters.

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine was as good as ever, Ian McKellen once again kicks ass as Magneto, and no one can replace Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier. Even Halle Berry as Storm finally got her moment to shine, though the lameness of the character was hard to overcome, so it's not really her fault, though, she could have tried to bring a little more life to it. New characters like Kitty Pryde played by Ellen Page, Juggernaut played by Vinnie Jones, and, of course, Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Hank McCoy (aka Beast) were great additions that added new life to the series. There were also a ton of secondary mutant characters that were pretty cool too.

I'm not going to spoil any plot points for you, but I will say this: Stay till the end. Stay past the end. After the credits there's an extra scene that you don't want to miss. Trust me.

Of course, it wouldn't be Egotastic! if we didn't have a ton of pictures of sexy stars, so here's Halle Berry, Rebecca Romijn and the rest of the cast at the X-Men premiere in Cannes. And check out Shawn Ashmore (Bobby Drake aka Ice Man) totally scoping out Halle Berry's cleavage in the first pic. That's classic. Way, way more pictures after the jump.