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Video reviews: True X-Men fans may sit out 'Stand'

Mike Pearson, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 6, 2006 at midnight

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X-Men: The Last Stand

Fox. DVD. 100 min. Rated PG-13. $29.98.

Grade: B

X-Men fans tend to be divided into two camps: Comic-book aficionados and those who just want some fast-paced sci-fi action.

The Last Stand is likely to disappoint the former and play to the tastes of the latter. It's got plenty of action but also a sense of finality that would never work in comics. It's OK to kill off characters on the page, because they can always be reborn.

The Last Stand does some resurrecting of its own. When last we met the motley band of mutants with super powers, they had bested a villain in the Arctic and were mourning the loss of comrade Jean Grey (Famke Jansen), she of the telekinetic powers. As this film begins, Jean is back, somehow having survived.

Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) realizes a demonic version of Jean has returned. Her sense of self-restraint has been lost and she abandons her fellow mutants to take up with Magneto (Ian McKellen), the rogue mutant who is waging war on the government. Why? Because the U.S. has developed a vaccine for mutants and wants to wipe out the species.

Whatever you think of the political overtones - some have described the plot as a metaphor for AIDS - the execution is brisk and compelling. Halle Berry is back as Storm. Hugh Jackman returns as the tenacious Wolverine. And Kelsey Grammar joins the cast as the blue-furred Beast.

Can one define the appeal of the X-Men movies? "I think there are many reasons, foremost that they entertain on different levels for different audiences," says Jansen by phone from L.A. "The cast alone ranges from 17 to 65 and I think the audience is the same.

"It's not just entertainment, but (about) a group of people who've been ostracized their entire life. The subject matter is something we can all relate to, whether it be cultural differences or whatever. It's especially prevalent for teenagers, because in high school it is all about belonging and how being different makes you feel."

X-Men 3 may not please the purists, but for the rest of us it's a rousing ride.

Thank You for Smoking

Fox. DVD. 98 min. Rated R. $29.98.

Grade: B+

The title may not be politically correct, but Thank You for Smoking delivers more caustic comedy than the average independent film. The plot is only cursorily about smoking; the real subject of writer-director Jason Reitman's film is spin control.

How do you convince people that something science says is bad for them is good? Hire a lobbyist to spin the facts to your advantage.

Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is such a spin doctor. He represents big tobacco. He is the charismatic face of the industry, facing off against foes on talk shows, and standing up to a senator (William H. Macy) who wants to slap a skull and crossbones on cigarette packs.

Nick's personal life is a more-difficult spin. He tries to bond with his 10-year-old son by taking him along on business trips. He is also bedding a reporter (Katie Holmes) willing to use sex to get her story.

Does the most hated man in America (Nick's description of himself) have friends? Yep: The chief lobbyists for the alcohol and gun industries. Their weekly lunches to talk about who has logged a higher death toll are priceless.

Smoking isn't just an anti-smoking film, it's an anti-manipulation movie. Reitman wants to show how big business and politicians spin issues, shading the truth and lying if it justifies an end. What no one seems to consider is the intelligence of the public.

There's much truth buried in this biting satire, and Reitman has a first-rate cast. Eckhart is great as a dapper devil whose job isn't to question his message, just to deliver it. Fine supporting work from Robert Duvall as a tobacco baron, Rob Lowe as a smarmy agent and Macy as a senator trying to manipulate the manipulators.

Thank You for Smoking is nearly as clever as it thinks it is.

The Butterfly Effect 2

New Line. DVD. 92 min. Rated R. $19.97. In stores Oct. 10.

Grade: C

Does every film that makes more than $50 million deserve a sequel?

The producers of The Butterfly Effect 2 must think so, since they piggyback on the 2004 Ashton Kutcher thriller about a man able to transport himself to the past to fix his mistakes. The trouble is, everything he changes affects the future.

And so it continues in this sequel. When Nick Larson's (Eric Lively) girlfriend is killed in a car crash, he discovers the ability to stare at old photos and transport himself to before the crash. He then averts it.

Back in the future, something else goes wrong, so he transports himself to another time to fix it. Guess what? There's more future shock.

The problem with Butterfly Effect 2 isn't the premise; you either buy into it or not. The real problem is execution; the first hour of this film is paced so sluggishly you're convinced it should have been titled The Caterpillar Effect. In the final minutes all hell breaks loose.

It's a valiant attempt to redeem a mostly pedestrian picture. The plot is still novel, but our emotional involvement is left slogging its way up a steep hill.



Mike Pearson is features editor. or 303-954-2592

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