One thing I've always liked (the one thing?) about Michael Bay (Pearl Harbor) is his willingness to own up to the consequences of his oversized vision. He realizes that if he wants to dream of collapsing buildings, car chases, and asteroids hurtling into New York City, then he's also going to have to confront massive property damage and the loss of innocent life. It's not much, but to a certain extent, I admire a director who's willing to dispense with hollow assurances that no one was hurt and let a little vengeance into his adolescent God-fantasy.

In X-Men: The Last Stand, director Brett Ratner takes a page out of Bay's playbook and weaves an apocalyptic tapestry unlike anything I've ever seen before. He imagines an epic showdown between Professor Xavier's (Patrick Stewart) X-Men and Magneto's (Ian McKellen) rogue resistance mutants. For this to be "realistic," there must be casualties and Ratner's up to the task. The arbitrary fervor with which he rips apart the X-Men film universe by dispatching beloved characters right and left (and a veritable platoon of soldiers guilty of nothing more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time) is breathtaking.

The film begins with the resurrection of Dr. Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) who died saving the lives of her comrades at the end of the last film. She's returned as the Dark Phoenix with an unbelievable power that poses a danger to herself, the X-Men, and the world. Meanwhile, an outfit called Worthington Labs has created a "cure" for mutants from the DNA of a character called Leech (Cameron Bright) who has the power to neutralize other mutants' powers. Magneto uses this as an excuse to wage war upon the species homo sapiens, but of course he's opposed by Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and company. And thus the stage is set.

Like the other X-Men films, The Last Stand touches upon a garden variety of issues of the day. Genetic engineering (and stem-cell research, perhaps), terrorism, and affirmative action all make cameo appearances. Unlike the franchise's two previous films (which were directed by Bryan Singer), though, this installment never pauses to consider the implications of its potential timeliness. Instead, it rushes forward at a breakneck speed that is mindless, but also exhilarating.