The Reel Rejects - X-MEN: THE LAST STAND (2006) MOVIE REVIEW!! FIRST TIME WATCHING!!

Episode Date: August 7, 2024

THE DARK PHOENIX RISES!! X-Men: The Last Stand Full Movie Reaction Watch Along: https://www.patreon.com/thereelrejects/ With Marvel's Deadpool & Wolverine setting Boxoffice Records, Andrew Gordon & Tara Erickson continue their Marathon of the 20th Century Fox X-Men / Marvel movies - today giving their REACTION, Commentary Analysis, Easter Eggs, Breakdown, & Full Movie Spoiler Review for the culmination film in the original X-Men Trilogy as the mutants face growing public backlash, a potential cure for the X-Gene, and the transformation of Jean Grey into the infamous Dark Phoenix. X-Men 3 features the return of Hugh Jackman (Logan, The Greatest Showman, Prisoners, The Prestige) as Logan Howlett aka Wolverine along with Patrick Stewart (Dune, Star Trek: The Next Generation) as Professor Charles Xavier, Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings, The Da Vinci Code) as Erik Lenshher aka Magneto, Famke Janssen (Goldeneye) as Jean Grey aka Phoenix, Kelsey Grammer (Frasier, Money Plane) as Hank McCoy aka Beast, Halle Berry (Monsters Ball, Catwoman) as Ororor Munroe aka Storm, James Marsden (Sonic The Hedgehog, Westworld, Enchanted) as Scott Summers aka Cyclops, Anna Paquin (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, True Blood) as Rogue, Shawn Ashmore (Frozen) & Aaron Stanford (The Hills Have Eyes) as Bobby & Johnny aka Ice Man & Pyro, Vinnie Jones (Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels) as the Juggernaut, Elliot Page (The Umbrella Academy) as Kitty Pryde, Ben Foster (30 Days of Night) as Angel, & MORE! Andrew & Tara REACT To all the Most Exciting Moments, Best Fight Scenes & Action Sequences including Phoenix Shatters Xavier, Magneto's Bridgework, I'm the Juggernaut, One of the Team, Phoenix Falls, & BEYOND! Follow Andrew Gordon on Socials:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MovieSource Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/agor711/?hl=en Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Agor711 Follow Tara Erickson: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TaraErickson Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/taraerickson/ Twitter:  https://twitter.com/thetaraerickson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Don't worry, though. Sierra also has yoga gear. It might be a good place to find your zen. Discover top brands at unexpectedly low prices. Sierra, let's get moving. Tara, what are you really quickly? Just give the fine folks over here without watching this. What is your quick thoughts so far in the first two thumbs? Very, very quick. Oh my God. Shut up. I'm an X-Men girl now. I'm wearing a cupcake thing on my head because I'm just so excited. It's like a party up here. and it's going to be a party on screen because I'm loving it. I got to say, this is,

I didn't even know this whole time I was here. You didn't notice this? What is, who could not know? I got to get new glasses. This is extra. That is awesome. Okay. Anyways, we're going to get started.

X-Men the last stand. Commence. Yay, let's do it. Okay, day. You guys, that chess piece It was moved a little bit, y'all, which means that vaccine or the cure doesn't work for very long. Oh, my goodness. Could be too.

He's super strong, so we shall have to see. Or he just like, oh, my God, or he could just fight it. It wasn't enough for him because he's level five. We all know that. Oh, my goodness. Well, guys, we just watched X-Men the last stand. Make sure if you are listening on Apple or Spotify, you use those Wolverine Clause of yours. and smash down those ratings.

Give us five stars, please. We would really appreciate it. Also, if you want cool teas like these, RejectNationshop.com. Roxy and Tara have some amazing new gear. She Jax gear. I just got one for my birthday. And we're coming out with T-shirts soon too.

Oh, I can't wait. I can't wait. Yes, please get some. You will look super sexy in it. Tara, we've watched the first two. And now the third one after this one, what did you think of X-Men the last stand? I loved it. I really did. But honestly, it was, it's a lot of people dying in this one, which I did not appreciate. I loved Elliot Page in this. I did not expect to see him in this, which I know then was Ellen Page. But thank you for reminding me. That was out. That's Elliot Page now. I just only remember him from Juno, which is great. But mostly I really loved in the, in the beginning,

that they showed us Magneto and Xavier's relationship, which is why it made it a little bit harder on me when Magneto got hurt and got the cure. I was like, this is still kind of sad because, you know, they were buddies in the beginning. And they had, um, even though Magneto's playing for the wrong side, they had a connection. And I enjoyed seeing how much they highlighted that throughout this film. And, um, also seeing, ah, that bond that I want. I wanted that kiss between Wolverine and Gene to happen throughout the last two movies. Like, obviously, I'm like, he loves her and she loves, I keep wanting to call him Cyborg, but it's Cyclops. And then when we got that kiss, obviously, I was losing it.

And of course, at the end, he has to tell her that he loves her. I knew that that would be just the one thing that he's, anytime he looks in her eyes, you're like, I know you love her, and it's just so sad that that was exactly the right move for him to make that he had to kill her. He had to tell her he loves her and then kill her. It's so sad. This movie was brilliantly written. The effects really hold up.

And all of the powers and obviously that, you know, the special effects and the explosions, everything is just I've never had a problem in any of the movies with any of it. It looks brilliant. Awesome. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Before I get into my thoughts, I did see in the credits.

It said Chris Claremont was the lawnmower man. I'm guessing that was the scene where we saw Stan Lee and Chris Claremont. Just in case you didn't know, he's... I don't know. I'm sure many of you do know. He's a famous X-Men comic writer. So really cool that they got him in the cameo. I didn't recognize him.

I'm sure Coy immediately would have recognized. I'm sure most of you did. But again, re-watching just been, it's been many years. I never knew Chris Claremont was in that. So that's cool. I will be honest. I did not like this movie. the first, I think I've seen this movie two or three times in the past. It's been, again,

it's been quite a long time since I've rewatched this film. I, again, after the amazing second film and the really good first film, I just thought this was a very, I didn't hate this movie. I just thought it was a very mixed bag. And watching it this time, I still would go a mixed bag on the gooder end on this one. I think there's a lot of things. Let's just really quickly get out my, my negatives. I still think Cyclops, uh, is really done on the short end. Again, he's not in the movie. Understandably so. I get it. James Martson was working on Superman returns with the director of the first two films who had switched over to that. So I understand why they cut his character. But again, he's the, he's one of the main leaders of the X-Men. So just for

that purpose, I really didn't like that. Um, I would say there was just a couple CGI shots that were just a little bit noticeable. I would say the, the de-aging again, they were at the very beginning stages. It was 2006. I'll be a little bit forgiving and there was just one or two other shots that were a little bit noticeable. Other than that, I agree with you. The visual effects were fantastic. Drama-wise, this was very well balanced. Like, there was, again, because we're so emotionally invested in these characters, especially the relationship between Gene or I guess Phoenix now, but Gene and Logan, like, you really feel those intense moments and, you know, you feel the sadness and the drama, not only for Gene, because she wants to die, because she

knows what she's unfortunately capable of, but you feel Logan's pain as well for what has to be done. And also flipping drama-wise as well with Scott, who I wish would have been in the damn movie more, I really feel Scott's sadness as well, just everything he's going through before he realizes that she is alive again for the two minutes he's in the movie. Yeah. Again, I really wish that would have been more of a focal point. I think there could have been some even more intense drama between Logan and Scott throughout the picture, like vying for Gene in that way, like, you know, should I kill her? No, it's my girlfriend. I just, I think that would have been an interesting dichotomy between the two and the contrast, like, you know, and fighting for Gene.

I don't know. I think, but again, I understand that James Marston was super duper busy with Superman returns, but I just, I think that was a missed opportunity, personally for me. Having said that, again, there was a lot of things I really do like in this movie. I think we are about to get an after-credit Xavier. Yes, here we go. Morning. Hello, Moira. Oh, my God. See, he, they put

him, they put him. Xavier is in that guy's body. I told y'all. I told y'all. That's Xavier's voice. Oh, my God. He's back. I called it. I called it. You're a genius.

You guys, I called it. was like if jean can do the telekinetic and save herself in that then he can't too and then he talked about what if we can put someone into the body of this guy at the very beginning i love it again it's been so many years since i rewatch it's been so many years since i rewatch this movie as we were watching that scene i was like i did remember this after credit scene not going to lie being transparent i did remember the after credit scene as we were watching that scene where he's talking about I was like, I never knew that they foreshadowed that scene in the after credits. And I will also be transparent about this.

When I saw this movie in theaters, I had no idea this after credit scene was in. I had to read it on the internet one day that this after credit scene was in there. So for years, I didn't know Xavier survives or it transferred his consciousness over to another body. Into another person. Yeah, I never knew that. And I also never knew until watching it this time that Mora was at his funeral. Because that doctor that you just saw Mora, she was at his funeral. She was sitting, I think, next to Hank at the funeral for Charles. So I just little details.

That's why I love on rewatches. You get to pick things up. But yeah, no, you made some very educated and good guesses, as you always do. But no, like I said, honestly, rewatching it this time, I did not, again, still mix back on the good side for me. I wouldn't say it's as strong as the first two, but I really enjoyed it a lot more this time than the last two or three times in the past that I've watched this. For sure. Yeah. I will say this too.

I did not like, and again, I might get some arguments here. that's totally cool. I did like the whole thing with the dad not, you know, accepting his son. Because again, that's grounded in reality and how parents feel about, you know, in situations like this. But I would have liked a little resolve there. And I know his facial reaction kind of said it all with Michael Murphy's, you know, emoting there with like, oh my God, son, thank you for saving me.

I don't know. I just personally feel like that. We needed a little conversation. I would have just liked a little conversation. I agree. Even when they landed, just said, oh, my God, son, thank you so much. I accept you for who you are now. Exactly. I agree. Just like some closure on that. Just something quick. Just for me personally. That's just how I felt about that. It's just because you made it a big

deal. The whole film and just a catch, which was, again, a beautiful earned moment from, you know, with Angel, which I loved. I just would have liked that closure and that thing. If you make it the whole point of the film with why he created this cure was because of his son. I just would to like that personally. That was just a slight negative on a beautiful situation of the catch and all that because I thought that was a really earned moment. Yeah, I agree. I liked it. But yeah, and again, visual effects great, wonderful performances. Again, I love to just really quickly pointing out all the actors did a phenomenal job, especially Hugh Jackman and Halliberry and all that. Yeah, go for it. And I did want to point out, which I did in the reaction. I think it was incredible

how scary. You know guys, you know me how I mispronounced names all the time and I get made fun of all the time for it even here, which is fine. I accept it. Sam Jansen, I hope I'm pronouncing that right, Tara, who plays Gene Gray Phoenix.

I love how she can flip on a dime and go from Gene Gray, which is a very compassionate. She's got a moral compass. She's a very kind-hearted human being. She's very giving to Gene Gray, a scary evil mutant who will destroy anything in her path.

And like, again, whenever Gene is on screen, it literally, too, not only can she go from like one to ten in terms of scary as an actress, which is an impressive thing to do. It's not easy. You know this as an actress. But also, too, the film can go from one to ten in terms of like fun action adventure comic book film to like horror film when she's disintegrating Thanos snap style. Right. When she's disintegrating characters, like it actually, again, I hadn't watched this movie in 10 years probably. It felt like a horror movie at times. Oh, yeah. So, I mean, it was scary. There was a

couple jump scares to that, again, just really got me. But again, I like the balance there from the drama to the action adventure of the comic book field to the horror. Not the best film of the three, but again, a lot better than I remember, honestly. Yeah, I mean, when Black Phoenix comes out, ooh, baby. She's scary. The Dark Phoenix. She rises. Okay. So you were right, but Rebecca, Mystique and James Mars and Rolls were reduced because when this movie was rushed into production, they had already had prior scheduling conflicts. So that's why they both their roles. So guess what this was budgeted at? And at the time, it was the most expensive movie ever made.

Ever made, okay. I'm going to go, because I know Terminator 2 was $100 million. I'm going to go with $200 million. $210. Oh, it was so close, Tara. You were very close. $210 million. And get this, Kelsey Grammer was so keen to play Beast that he agreed to do an audition.

This was the first time Grammer had auditioned in guess how many years? I'm going to go with 15 years. 20 years. I'll just buy a little again. Just by a little. Okay, here's a long one, but I'll read it. And he was great, by the way, Kelsey Graham. He was great.

I loved doing this. When Brian Singer was going to direct, he and his writer, Dan Harris and Michael Doherty, wrote a treatment solely based on the X-Men's storyline, the Darks Phoenix saga. The deceased Jean Grey returned to the new more destructive personality called the Phoenix. She would manipulate into joining the Hellfire Club by their telepathic leader, Emma Frum. So Gorni Weaver was intended for the role. A three-way battle occurs between the club who want to take over the world, the X-Men, who want to save their comrade, and Magneto's brotherhood. I said it right that time, who want the Phoenix for their own plans. At the end to save everyone, Jean kills herself, but her spirit lives on and transcends into a divine being, which already compared to the Star Child in 2001, a space odyssey.

Wow. That sounds insane. Yeah, by the way, you said it wrong. It's Magneto. I know. And number two, that sounds fast. Again, I enjoyed what we did get here. That sounds extremely fascinating.

And again, I know I'm not a fan of the director with whatever, you know, happened and his personal life. But I'd love the first two movies. And I really wish we could have seen the finishing touches on his trilogy. But I guess we'll never know. But that does sound fascinating, especially with Sigourney Weavers, Emma Frost. That would have been interesting. Okay, so you know how we see Hallie Berry do her twist or storm up? In my brain, I'm thinking, yeah, she used to do some of it, but most of it's probably CDI.

Okay, the whirlwind wire stunts performed by Halle Barry made her so nauseated that she vomited. And the crew had to bring in buckets before her, before shooting her fight scenes. I got to say this. That would make me vomit, too. As an actor, I want to do physical stunts and crazy shit. but when it comes to spinning, no, no, no. I've, like, I've been on roller coasters and rides where, you know, like, where you're turning and like that, and I've felt nauseous.

I'm like, no, I'm not going to do the nauseous feel. I'm good. Right. Let the stunt guy, like, let them do that. Exactly. We can hide me on a spin-around shot like that. Absolutely. In June 2009 interview, Brian Singer admitted that he regretted declining to direct this movie

in favor of Superman Returns, 2006, confessing that he realized his mistake. before I was watching the third X-Men movie during watching it, after watching it. Yeah. Again, I really think he would have done some major justice with... I don't hate Superman Returns. There's a lot of good in that movie.

There's a lot of I don't care for either, but yeah, I would have loved to see what he could have done with this. Yeah, I'll read one more here. It says that Hallie Berry had initially decided not to reprise a role of Storm for the movie, citing lack of character development in the previous two installments

an intense relationship with Brian Singer. However, after Singer's departure and suffering a major box office flop with Catwoman, Barry agreed to return on the condition that her role be expanded, smart girl. Consequently, in this movie, Storm replaces Cyclops

and as Professor Xavier as team leader of the X-Men, which is keeping with the comics, where four times Storm served as team leader in Xavier's absence. Wow. I'm very happy for how to, Sally Berry, like she deserves to make a lot of mice.

She deserves to get her script. And again, Storm is a phenomenal character. I know, but you love Cyclots. I'm just saying, like, after what happened to him in the second film, like, and I think you can agree. And again, if you disagree with me, Tara, that's totally fine. But I really think, like, you had an opportunity, especially dramatically speaking with him and Logan, like, what the decision to do with Jean is, like them fighting over her.

I think, God, dang, that would have been some amazing drama. Oh, it would have been great. Because we got a taste of it in two a little bit, like the way. that they respond with each other playfully. Yeah. I think that still would have existed. But I do believe that the tension from two carrying over is a type of chemistry that Gene can't deny that she has with Wolverine.

It was undeniable, even though she loves Cyclops so much. And that was very much like cemented in stone sort of there. Wolverine, he's such a great character that he just went, it doesn't matter. He's going to love her either way. and I would have liked to see that carry out. Yeah, no. I would have. I'll see if I can read one spoiler.

The last scene was to have Magneto retaining his abilities as he plays chess with a stranger whom he discovers is Professor Xavier in another man's body. So that was going to be that. Neither were available for filming their scene together. So instead, two separate scenes were filmed. I would have loved to see that. Yeah, no, that would have been amazing. That would have been great.

Yeah, the only thing is because when you had to have, that after credit scene again this is before like the MCU because the MCU started two years after this with Iron Man and then all those after credit scenes right so again many maybe many of you might have known about this after credit scene but I did not know right away initially until I read about it on the internet but let us know in the comments first of all what you thought of this film did you know about the after credit scene when you were there in theaters like did you stay and just know where you told about it or like because I'm very curious because again this is before the MCU. And that's a big

drop. Oh, yeah. Because I again, when I left the theater, I thought Charles Xavier was dead. Yeah. I mean, yeah. I loved it. Yeah. But again, let us know in the comments. Where would you rank this? Again, don't go on the whole thing because Tara has not seen them, but just go with the

first three, at least, in the first the trilogy, I guess you would say? But would you think so far of the first three, which, what would you rank that? As we go further along in the film series, we'll ask you to rank those. But would you think of this film? We are going to continue. I believe X-Men Origins Wolverine is next.

Oh, that's exciting. We are going to do that. So make sure you do all the YouTube stuff so you don't miss out when we drop that video. Yeah, like, comment, share. Like, and don't forget to. Ring the bell. Ring the bell. Okay, and we shall see you guys on the next one.

Much love.