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X-MEN: THE LAST STAND
Starring Hugh Jackman (Logan / Wolverine), Anna Paquin (Rogue), Halle Berry (Ororo Munroe / Storm), Famke Janssen (Jean Grey), James Marsden (Scott Sommers / Cyclops), Patrick Stewart (Charles Xavier / Professor X), Ian McKellen (Erik Lensherr / Magneto), Rebecca Romijn (Raven Darkholme / Mystique), Shawn Ashmore (Bobby Drake / Ice Man), Aaron Stanford (John Allerdyce / Pyro), Kelsey Grammar (Hank McCoy / Beast), Ellen Page (Kitty Pryde), Daniel Cudmore (Peter Rasputin / Colossus), Ben Foster (Warren Worthington III / Angel), and Vinnie Jones (Juggernaut) with a special appearance by Stan Lee
Directed by Brett Ratner
Produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter with Avi Arad
Written by Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn
Music By John Powell
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Run Time: 1 hour and 44 minutes
World Premier: May 24, 2006 (Cannes Film Festival)
Opening Weekend Box Office: $102 million (United States)
Worldwide Box Office: $459 million
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 57%
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Fun X-Men: The Last Stand Facts
Bryan Singer, who directed the first two X-Men films for Fox decided against directing a third film in favor of directing 2006’s Superman Returns for Warner Brothers. X2: X-Men United writers Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris followed Singer over to Warner Brothers and the Superman film. Matthew Vaughn was hired to replace Singer but would ultimately have to leave due to family issues. Brett Ratner was therefore hired to helm the project in the Summer of 2005. Matthew Vaughn would go on to direct X-Men: First Class for Fox in 2011.
Joss Whedon, whose Astonishing X-Men comic book run was used as inspiration for the plot of X-Men: The Last Stand (specifically the Gifted arc which introduced a “mutant cure”) was approached to direct The Last Stand, but turned down the offer, reportedly because he was working hard on the development of a Wonder Woman film for WB. Whedon would go on to direct Marvel Studios’ The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2012 and 2015, respectively.
X-Men: The Last Stand writer Simon Kinberg previously worked on Fox’s Marvel films Elektra and Fantastic Four. He joined X2: X-Men United co-writer Zak Penn in co-developing the plot for The Last Stand.
To bring returning cast members back for X-Men: The Last Stand, Fox had to work out a series of new contracts, as the original contracts that most everyone signed were for only two films.
Writer Simon Kinberg campaigned desperately for X-Men: The Last Stand to revolve around Jean Grey’s transformation into The Phoenix, which was teased at the end of X2: X-Men United and existed as one of the most acclaimed X-Men stories of all-time in the Marvel comics, highlighted throughout The Dark Phoenix Saga written by the legendary Chris Claremont and first published in 1980. Studio executives at Fox reportedly resisted this focus at nearly every turn, wanting the focus of the film to be centered on the mutant cure. Many executives considered the Phoenix premise to be too dark for mainstream audiences and theorized that it would only appeal to diehard fans of The X-Men. Though the Phoenix premise did ultimately make its way into the narrative, it was altered dramatically in comparison to the comics, with all allusions to its Cosmic origins and even the physical manifestation of the Phoenix Force as a firebird being completely abandoned.
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As X-Men: The Last Stand was developed, Fox executives insisted upon the controversial decision to kill off James Marsden’s Cyclops character after Marsden accepted a key role in Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns as Richard White, the fiancé of Kate Bosworth’s Lois Lane. The idea of killing off Cyclops off-screen was actually suggested, which would have removed him from the film altogether, but the filmmakers insisted that it would be more powerful to have Jean Grey kill Scott early in the movie due to their backstory as love interests in the first two films (and regularly in the Marvel comics). Marsden was therefore cast, and the scene was shot, and this decision would prove to be quite divisive within the fan community.
While X-Men: The Last Stand was being developed, Fox was concurrently developing X-Men Origins: Wolverine. This put restrictions on which Marvel characters could be used for cameo appearances in The Last Stand. Amongst the characters that were consequently declared to be off-limits were Gambit, who would be portrayed by Taylor Kitsch in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
The Nightcrawler character which had been such a hit in X2: X-Men United was scrapped from appearing in X-Men: The Last Stand as the filmmakers had no real case to make for including him in the film in terms of the narrative, and Fox reportedly didn’t want to invest in the long and costly makeup process that it took to bring the character to life previously.
X-Men: The Last Stand filmed from August of 2005 through January of 2006.
X-Men: The Last Stand was the seventh highest-grossing film of 2006, finishing two spots and around $70 million ahead of Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
On September 6, 2005, Marvel Enterprises became Marvel Entertainment; a reflection of the company’s new initiative to finance its own motion pictures through Marvel Studios. Two X-Men films had been made by Sony and Marvel Entertainment at the time of the announcement: 2000’s X-Men and 2003’s X2: X-Men United. X-Men: The Last Stand was already in active development at the time of this announcement. Marvel Studios would work in conjunction with Fox on The Last Stand, honoring the terms of their initial agreement.
Beyond X-Men: The Last Stand, the working agreement between Marvel Studios and Fox on the production of X-Men films as it had once been ceased to exist as the Marvel Studios team concentrated on the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe while Fox’s team did their own thing. The fourth X-Men film was released by Fox in 2009: X-Men Origins: Wolverine after which a decision was made to reboot the franchise with 2011’s X-Men: First Class. 2013 saw the release of The Wolverine, and then in 2014, the past and present X-Men Cinematic mythologies collied in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Ensuing X-Men films by Fox included 2016’s Deadpool and X-Men: Apocalypse, and 2017’s Logan.
On December 17, 2017, the Walt Disney Company announced that an agreement had been reached with 20th Century Fox that would see Disney acquire Fox’s television and film divisions, among other things. Disney had acquired Marvel Entertainment at the end of 2009, and Marvel Studios with it. The lucrative Fox deal therefore landed the film rights to Marvel’s mutants under the Disney / Marvel Studios umbrella. Fox shareholders unanimously approved the transaction on July 27, 2018, and the deal was finalized on March 20, 2019. In the meantime, Deadpool 2 was released theatrically in 2018, followed by Dark Phoenix in 2019, and New Mutants in 2020. New Mutants marked the thirteenth X-Men film and the last X-Men project produced by the previous regime at Fox.
2022’s Marvel Studios film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness saw Marvel Studios cast actor Patrick Stewart to reprise his role as Charles Xavier / Professor X under the Marvel Studios banner. Stewart’s casting was followed by the casting of Kelsey Grammer to reprise his role as Hank McCoy / Beast under the Marvel Studios banner during a mid-credits scene in 2023’s The Marvels. From there, Hugh Jackman was cast to reprise his role as Wolverine under the Marvel Studios banner in the 2024 film Deadpool and Wolverine. All three versions of the characters are Multiversal Variants (and in Jackman’s specific case, several Variants) of the characters they portrayed in Fox’s X-Men and Wolverine films.
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My X-Men: The Last Stand Review
X-Men: The Last Stand opens with Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr meeting a young Jean Grey and recruiting her for Xavier’s school. This scene was set in the mid-1980’s and featured a bit of de-aging for Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen while establishing Jean as a dangerously powerful mutant, the likes of which intrigued both Erik and Charles for different reasons. This scene served as our first time in this world seeing Erik and Charles working together, and that was pretty cool for me at least.
From there, we jump ahead about 10-years, and we’re introduced to a young Warren Worthington III manifesting a pair of angel-like wings and learning that he is a mutant. Young Warren knows what this will mean to his anti-mutant father, and he tries to cut off the wings, but to no avail. This is important to the plot, as we learn that in the present, the esteemed Mr. Worthington has been hard at work during the time since to develop a mutant cure. A breakthrough has occurred through the specific work of Doctor Kavita Rao and her revolutionary work with a young mutant boy named Jimmy, from whom the cure is devised.
The emergence of the cure generates major headlines and divides the mutant community with some seeing the cure as miraculous answer to prayer while others are appalled by the mere notion of it. Rogue is one of the mutants who finds hope in the announcement, as dating back to the first X-Men film, she has seen her mutation as a curse. Magneto meanwhile sees this discovery as a declaration of war. Everything that he has ever feared has come true, and he is certain that it is only a matter of time before the cure is weaponized. This leads Magneto to forming a new Brotherhood of Mutants amidst hopes of raising a mutant army that will fight together for their right to exist.
All of this sets up where this film is going and from there, we learn that since the events of X2, Mystique has been captured. Magneto conspires to free her from her armored transport where she has been locked up with other mutants such as Multiple Man and Juggernaut. As chaos ensues, Magneto discovers to his horror that the cure has in fact already been weaponized when a guard fires an injection at him from a gun, only for Mystique to sacrifice herself for him. Mystique is instantly cured, changing from her blue-skinned shape-shifting appearance into a normal looking human. Magneto is repulsed by the sight of her and casually abandons her, despite her sacrifice.
Meanwhile, a depressed and distraught Cyclops ventures to Alkali Lake to further mourn the loss of his beloved Jean. There, he discovers that she is still alive, but she is of course drastically changed, now existing as the malicious Phoenix. Jean kills Scott and the event psychically registers with Xavier. He sends Logan and Storm to assess the situation and they discover Jean’s body and bring her back to the X-mansion. There, Logan figures out the extent of Jean’s change after ignoring Xavier’s warnings against interacting with her. As it turns out, Jean’s current state is the realization of Xavier’s fears, as the Phoenix persona is a sort of alternate personality within Jean that Xavier previously used his abilities to subconsciously bury within Jean, without her consent. Logan is disgusted by what he views as a gross invasion of Jean’s privacy and a violation of her trust, and this, combined with Logan’s lingering love for Jean, leads to Jean awakening and fleeing the X-Mansion.
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Both Xavier and Magneto with their respective forces venture out to find Jean, who has returned to her childhood home. Magneto is anxious to recruit Jean for his Brotherhood while Xavier simply wants to control The Phoenix. Magneto therefore provokes Jean and chaos erupts with Xavier’s mutants fighting Magneto’s mutants and ultimately, Jean obliterating Xavier via disintegration, to Magneto’s horror. He nonetheless welcomes Jean into The Brotherhood while The X-Men mourn the loss of their inspirational leader.
In the meantime, a scorned Mystique assists the FBI in their campaign against Magneto, revealing imperative details about Magneto’s whereabouts. Also, with Xavier dead, Logan ventures out to find Jean while Rogue becomes increasingly frustrated by the bond that she sees developing between Ice Man and Kitty Pryde, fueling her lingering desire to be cured so that she can be what she believes a girlfriend is supposed to be for Bobby.
Jean decides against leaving with Logan and Logan refuses to align with Magneto, who launches his plan to storm Alcatraz Island and declare war on the developers of the mutant cure. Magneto orders Juggernaut to kill the young boy from which the cure was derived and uses his abilities to reposition the Golden Gate Bridge. Meanwhile, the FBI raids Magneto’s previous encampment, only to discover that all of the mutants that they thought would be there were mere copies of Multiple Man.
War breaks out on Alcatraz Island with The X-Men fighting alongside non-mutants against Magneto’s army.
A lot happens here in a small amount of time. Several mutants are cured, leading Magneto to unleash his most powerful weapon – The Phoenix – against mankind and The X-Men, but Jean quickly proves too powerful to control and she begins using her abilities to obliterate mutants and non-mutants alike. Doctor Rao is killed during the battle and Kitty Pryde saves Jimmy from Juggernaut, also, Magneto gets cured, courtesy of a “Fastball Special” from Logan and Colossus.
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The fight ultimately comes down to Logan vs Jean. Wolverine is the only person capable of posing a threat to Jean due to his healing factor, and she relentlessly tries to obliterate him over and over again, but he eventually makes his way to her, and the undying mutant declares his undying love for Jean. This temporarily snaps Jean into a moment of clarity, and she begs Logan to kill her, and he begrudgingly brings himself to fulfill her wish.
Wolverine has saved the world.
From there, Rogue voluntarily receives the mutant cure and begins a new kind of relationship with Bobby while huge strides for mutant rights are made on Capitol Hill. Storm has become Headmistress of Xavier’s school, and we soon catch up with the cured Magneto and the film ends with the reveal that perhaps he has not been wholly cured after all. There is then a post-credits scene that suggests Charles Xavier has transferred his consciousness into the body of a previously comatose patient (Xavier’s twin brother as it turns out) under the care of Doctor Moira MacTaggert.
X-Men: The Last Stand is a film that was hindered by a rushed production, a significant amount of Studio interference, a run time that was far too short, and a narrative that tried to juggle too many storylines.
Was it all bad? I don’t think so, but it certainly had its flaws.
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I loved seeing the glimpse of the Danger Room that we got at the beginning of the film, and I loved seeing the “Fastball Special” with Colossus and Wolverine in live action. I also adored Kelsey Grammar as Beast, from the look of the character to Grammar’s take on it. And it was really cool to ever-so-briefly see a full-bodied Ice Man!
In fact, all of the special effects were very well done. Angel looked cool. Multiple Man was well executed. And the big San Francisco fight was certainly a spectacle, with The Phoenix reducing people to dust left and right 12-years before Thanos did it in Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War.
However, most of the positives were overshadowed by the negatives, which included the gross fumbling of the Dark Phoenix storyline and the Phoenix character in general, the poor decision to strip Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique of her mutant powers, the terrible performance of Vinnie Jones as The Juggernaut (“I’m the Juggernaut, bitch!” … Ugh!), and several instances of awful casting in the supporting role departments of Magneto’s Brotherhood.
On top of all of that, after showing everyone’s viewpoints and ideologies almost flawlessly throughout the first two films of this series, the filmmakers seemed to go out of their way here to just make everyone selfish jerks. Magneto’s abandonment of Mystique after she saved him reduced him to generic supervillain fodder in an instant. It made him cruel and un-loyal, and it made him a hypocrite and as a viewer, you don’t care anymore about whether he’s right or wrong, you just want to see him get his comeuppance. That just goes against everything that makes Magneto so great as a character, and I hated it.
Same thing with Xavier. Despite the reasons for why he did what he did, Xavier really did violate Jean’s trust and he handled the entire situation with The Phoenix very poorly. Charles Xavier isn’t just a psychic; he’s one of Marvel’s smartest characters … he’s brilliant! However, he is presented as pretty much an idiot here, seemingly oblivious to how right Magneto is concerning how the cure will be used and ignoring the consequences of his previous actions with Jean to such a point that he delivers a very cruel line to Logan about being judged. Xavier’s benevolence is an important part of his character, but he wasn’t very much of a leader in this film, and I pretty much hated everything that they did with him.
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I also didn’t like how Storm just could not bring herself to understand why Rogue felt the way that she did about the cure, nor how Bobby seemed to constantly put Rogue’s feelings on the back burner. There were just a lot of instances of characters not being true to what we’d come to know and understand about them, and that was a huge miss for me.
I also hated that Nightcrawler wasn’t in this film, and yes, I thought killing off Scott the way that they did was a miss. I guess it’s better that it didn’t happen off-screen at least, but Cyclops sort of always deserved better in each of these first three X-Men films in my opinion, and his death was just the end to what was a very unsatisfying arc for a character that should have been so much more.
In the end, I think X-Men: The Last Stand was a film that should have been so much more than it was. Bryan Singer ended up being sorely missed in the director’s chair after defying stereotypes and making a sequel in X2 that was better than the original in every measurable category. Without Singer, Fox fell back into stereotypes by making a third film that was far and away the worst of the trilogy, even though it managed to make the most of the three at the box office.
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Highlights of X-Men: The Last Stand:
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine
Kelsey Grammar as Beast
The Danger Room Sequence
Ice Man vs Pyro
Outstanding Special Effects and Visuals
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