10 Comic Book Movies That Failed To Live Up To The Hype
6. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
Back during a time when people weren't totally sure that director Brett Ratner was, indeed, a hack, there was a palpable hype for the third X-Men movie. X-Men and X-Men 2, after all, were both deemed to be a major successes. The first movie - along with the original Sam Raimi Spider-Man flick - pretty much birthed the current superhero craze, whilst X-Men 2 (or "X-2" as it is annoyingly known) is an undeniable comic book movie tour-de-force. Bryan Singer, who helmed the first two X-Men movies, decided to jump ship when it came time for the third (he was offered Superman Returns over at Warner Bros.), and so - after a long and tiring search - 20th Century Fox gave up and handed The Last Stand to Brett Ratner, a man who - by his own admittance - had no knowledge of the X-Men mythos. Was it any surprise, really, that the man behind Rush Hour 3, The Family Man and Red Dragon produced such a mediocre film? X-Men 3's subtitle - that, is "The Last Stand" - teased a flick of insanely exciting proportions, but the final product is a slapdash affair that wastes its intriguing premise, helmed - clearly - by somebody who just signed on for the money. Nowadays, of course, Ratner films don't bother to come with any hype attached.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.