Those mutants are going out in style

DOES a last stand by the X-Men stand a chance against the return of Superman? As far as director Brett Ratner is concerned, the multicolored, weather-changing, shape-shifting mutants have it hands -- and knuckle-popping razor claws -- down.

For those keeping score at home, Ratner was originally one of several directors attached to this summer’s much-heralded “Superman Returns.” But the 37-year-old Hollywood veteran, whose directing credits include “Red Dragon” and “Rush Hour,” bailed from the “Superman” project after budget and casting conflicts.

“I was a little worried when I left ‘Superman,’ ” Ratner said recently by phone. “I put it out in the universe that I wanted to do another superhero comic-book franchise.”

The benevolent beyond answered Ratner with “X-Men: The Last Stand,” set for release May 26. The latest installment, last in the “X-Men” trilogy, features the dazzling pyrotechnics and elaborately choreographed fight sequences that typically come with the “us-versus-them” action-adventure story. But Ratner hopes to raise the emotional stakes compared with the previous “X-Men” films with a plot twist that offers all mutants the choice of being “cured” and becoming “normal” citizens.

“This is similar to ‘Return of the King’ in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ franchise,” said Ratner. “It’s not only going to be a huge movie, but it’s also going to be the last one. This is it; there’s not going to be another one.”

-- Martin Miller