X Men The Last Stand
It is directed by Brett Ratner, who took over when Bryan Singer dropped out to direct Superman Returns. The movie revolves around a "mutant cure" that causes serious repercussions among mutants and humans, and on the mysterious resurrection of Jean Grey, who appeared to have died in X2.
The film is loosely based on two X-Men comic book story arcs: writer Chris Claremont's and artist John Byrne's "Dark Phoenix Saga" in The Uncanny X-Men and writer Joss Whedon's and artist John Cassaday's six-issue "Gifted" arc in Astonishing X-Men.
The film was released May 26, 2006 in the United States and Canada. Despite mixed reviews from critics and fans, the film did well at the box office.
Its opening-day gross of $45.5 million is the fourth-highest on record while its opening weekend gross of $103 million is the fifth highest ever.
Plot
A pharmaceutical company called Worthington Labs announces that it has developed an inoculation to permanently suppress the X-gene that gives mutants their powers, offering the so-called "cure" to any mutant who wants it; the cure is derived from a mutant boy named Jimmy. In response to the news, the X-Men's adversary Magneto raises an army, warning his followers that the cure will be forcefully used to exterminate the mutant race.
Cyclops, still heartbroken about the loss of Jean Grey, returns to Alkali Lake, where Jean sacrificed herself to save the X-Men.
Meanwhile Magneto ambushes a military transport and frees Juggernaut, Mystique and Multiple Man, during which Mystique blocks a shot of the mutant cure aimed at Magneto, only to be left behind because she is not "one of them" anymore.
Xavier explains that the majority of Jean's power is seated in her unconscious mind and that, as a result, her powers are largely fueled by instinct, and not under her complete control. In fact, when Jean was a little girl she was so powerful that he had to put telepathic blocks on her mind to help keep her powers under control.
Her bottled up powers manifested themselves as an id-like alternate personality called the "Phoenix" — a purely instinctual creature, ruled only by its own violent desires. Wolverine is disgusted to learn that Xavier has kept Jean in check telepathically, but when Jean awakens, he realizes she is not the Jean Grey he knew.
Wolverine asks about Cyclops, but she cannot remember and fears she killed him. Jean pleads with Wolverine to kill her before she harms anybody else, but when he refuses and offers to have Xavier help her, the Phoenix surfaces and telekinetically slams Wolverine into a wall.
Magneto, also aware that Jean's powers are loose, meets Xavier at Jean's house. The two men plead for Jean's loyalty until the Phoenix resurfaces, unleashing her devastating power.
Furious at being caged within Jean's subconscious for twenty years, she destroys her family's house and engages in a psychic battle with Xavier. She eventually overpowers and disintegrates Xavier then leaves with Magneto, temporarily weakened.
Jean Grey unleashes her power
Following the losses of Xavier and Cyclops, and pained by her inability to get physically close to her boyfriend, Rogue decides to take the mutant cure.
The battle begins when Magneto moves the Golden Gate Bridge to land at Alcatraz Island, which is being guarded only by a company of soldiers. The Brotherhood's first charge is ineffective as Magneto is unable to destroy the soldiers' plastic weapons.
During the battle, Kitty Pryde leaves to save Jimmy and at the end of the battle, Iceman goes one-on-one with Pyro, where he transforms his entire body into ice and ends up defeating him, Beast injects Magneto with the cure, nullifying his mutant powers. The Phoenix quickly emerges and begins to disintegrate everything and everyone around her, vaporizing the soldiers.
Telling Jean he loves her, Wolverine reluctantly kills her with his claws.
Despite the X-Men's losses, life goes on. Rogue returns and tells Iceman she had to take the "cure." The two reconcile and continue their relationship now able to touch each other.
Magneto, now an ordinary man, sits at a chessboard and reaches out toward a metal chess piece that trembles slightly — indicating that the cure might not be as permanent as originally thought. Moira MacTaggert checks on a comatose patient who greets her with Xavier's voice, implying that he has transferred his mind into this new body.
Cast
X-Men
The X-Men are a special ops team from the Xavier Institute, charged with protecting both humans and mutants and trying to prevent a war between the two.
Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine: Logan can regenerate spontaneously, a talent which allowed the painful implantation of a metal coating on his bones and metal claws that emerge from each hand.
Halle Berry as Ororo Munroe / Storm: She can control the weather with her mind.
Henry McCoy / The Beast: A former student of Xavier's School who is now the Secretary of Mutant Affairs in the U.S. He is a brilliant scientist and researcher with vast intelligence and insight into mutant genetics.
Shawn Ashmore as Bobby Drake / Iceman: He can control the temperature of the moisture in the air around him to create constructs of ice or blasts of cold.
Under extreme conditions, his body may take on many of the characteristics of ice in addition to those of a human.
Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde: She can "phase" through matter, which allows her to walk through solid objects.
Daniel Cudmore as Peter Rasputin / Colossus: He can transform his skin into an organic metal, granting superhuman strength and a resistance to damage.
The Brotherhood Of Mutants
The Brotherhood is Magneto's personal strike force, whose goal is to ensure mutant supremacy.
Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto: Leader and founder of The Brotherhood, this incredibly powerful mutant can manipulate any form of metal. He is a criminal who joins the Brotherhood upon their releasing him.
The Omegas
A group of mutant outcasts which exists as part of an underground network that stretches across the nation.
Dania Ramirez as Callisto: Callisto is the leader of The Omegas, a group of mutant outcasts.
Cayden Boyd plays Warren as a child.
Michael Murphy as Warren Worthington II: The head of Worthington Labs, the corporation developing the "cure". Marine Corps non-commissioned officer who became a military adviser for films and frequent military character actor, best known for his appearance as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the Stanley Kubrick film Full Metal Jacket.
X-Men co-creator Stan Lee and writer Chris Claremont have cameos in the film's opening scene as neighbors in Jean Grey's old neighborhood.
Respectively, they are credited as "Waterhose man" and "Lawnmower man".
Despite playing a key role in the secret ending and portrayed as having close personal ties to Professor Xavier, Moira MacTaggert, portrayed by Olivia Williams, was not listed in the official press notes' cast list and goes uncredited in the finished film.
Alan Cumming was reportedly uncomfortable with the long hours he had to take with the Nightcrawler makeup, but still planned to return for X-Men: The Last Stand. The DVD release features a deleted scene in which Phat is frozen solid by Iceman and then shattered by Colossus.
The character Spike, portrayed by Lance Gibson, battles Wolverine in the forest, where he was depicted with the ability to extrude and hurl bony spikes from his flesh.
When Professor X is teaching his class one of the students is Kea Wong reprising her role as Jubilee.
Production
Bryan Singer, the director of the first two X-Men films, left the project during preproduction in order to direct the film Superman Returns. Overwhelmed by her powers, Jean makes Cyclops kill her, but her spirit survives and becomes a god-like creature, which Dougherty compared to the star child in A Space Odyssey.
Simon Kinberg was hired as writer soon after Singer's departure, and speculation arose to Joss Whedon directing the film. Whedon turned down the offer because he was working on a Wonder Woman film. Rob Bowman and Alex Proyas were also rumored, though Proyas personally turned it down. Zack Snyder was also approached, though he turned it down due to his commitment to 300. Despite the controversy over Singer's departure, the cast and producers were still clearly keen to return. Matthew Vaughn was hired as the new director for the project.
He cast Kelsey Grammer as Beast and Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut, but family issues reportedly led Vaughn to withdraw before shooting began. Vaughn was replaced by Singer's friend Brett Ratner. Ratner had coincidentally been set to direct Superman: Flyby.
Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen were made to look 20 years younger through "digital skin grafting".
On June 13, 2005, a review of an incomplete early draft of the screenplay posted by Drew McWeeny from Ain't It Cool News sparked controversy from fans, due to certain main characters' storylines; however, that was the very first of over two dozen drafts of the script. A technique called "digital skin-grafting" was employed to make them look 20 years younger in the first-scene flashback.
The film has extensive wirework, where many of the actors performed some of their own stunts.
The whirlwind wire-stunt performed by Halle Berry during one fight scene reportedly caused Berry to become so nauseated that she vomited. The website The Numbers notes that the film's weekend gross "equals the record for the fewest number of days taken to earn $100 million, joining four other movies that achieved the feat in three days." However, the film suffered a significant drop of 66.9% in its second weekend, when its box office take fell to $34.0 million. Nevertheless, the film has grossed over $234 million in North America (fourth-highest of 2006) and over $459 million globally (fifth-highest of 2006). It is the fifth-highest-grossing comic book adaptation, and the highest grossing of the X-Men series. It became the first film of 2006, and the 67th film on record, to pass the $200 million mark at the North American box office, which it accomplished on the weekend of June 9, 2006.
If only the rest of X3 had followed suit." Matthew Vaughn, who was once set to direct the film, heavily responded with negative feedback to Ratner's direction.
Adaptations
Novelization
The novelization of the film, written by comic book writer Chris Claremont, was released on May 16, 2006.
The novelization of the movie differs in some areas from the film. Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Alan Cumming, Eric Dane, Shawn Ashmore and Tyler Mane reprise their film roles in this game.
On the first day of its release, errors were reported with the DVD.