X-Men: The Last Stand

0:00 I mean, I'm not going to ask you who your favorite is. Instead, I'll ask which of the X Men has the coolest costume and or design. And the comics are from the film, because they all look the same in the film. Well, I'm talking. I'm talking comics. That's you know. I'm glad you said that. I'm glad you said that. But I'm talking comics. You know, animation, that kind of stuff. Okay, because comics, I can talk all you want about that. Well, here do you get I can get it problem. I'm definitely I'm gonna choose Photax because I just absolutely love our costume. I think it was one of the best designs. Okay, just make the film never using it. Well, yeah, I gotta say Colossus, Uh, you know, the resident strong man of the team. I like that the red and yellow colors of his uniform are kind of like a nod to his Russian heritage, his ability to change formed or into organic steel. It always made him look good in the comics or the cartoons, even in live action, if I'm being fair. Yeah, but I think one place where the design and cool costumes of the X Men has struggled is probably on the silver screen.

1:09 And one film in particular served as a bit of a segue to improving this despite falling short of fan expectation. So let's talk about a film by a director that's no longer welcome in Hollywood, his two thousand and six entry in the X Men franchise X Men The Last Stand.

2:02 Hello everybody, I'm Jeff Johnson and I'm Wayne Whited, and this is a film by podcast Wayne Star Trek. Fans who follow our phasers set the Stun series definitely know who you are. I know the new season of Strange New Worlds doesn't premiere until summertime. What do you guys? What are you guys keeping busy with? Right now? Well, right now, since this is the sixtieth anniversary of Star Trek, we are going back to the beginning and talking about the original series with Kirk, Spock and McCoy and the others. We've covered the pilot and the first three episodes, and we're going to continue until we get to the very end. You're gonna are you gonna do every episode? Is this?

2:45 Every episode? Yep? All seventy nine of them? Oh wow, okay, so not like a starter Trek's because I love those You know that's got me into several of the Star Trek shows. But I'm a fa Wayne. You know, I'm a fan of the OG track. So if you're gonna do them all, I'm excited. Oh we're going to talk in depth with each one of them, go into behind the scenes to talk about the cast, the crew, everything. Well. Another thing I was excited for the trailer for X Men The Last Stand. I think twenty years ago. It looked incredible. I watched it. I watched it the other day. It still looks incredible. It's going to close out the trilogy. It makes a big promise, the war to end all wars, you know, Humankind. What do you think? Wayne?

3:34 I was so excited for this film because the fact that the second one, X Men United, was so good. I thought it was the best, even better than the first one. So of course, and of course the rumors about what story they were going to be adapting. I was incredibly excited because it was my personal not only my personal favorite X Men story, but in my opinion, the greatest comic story ever told, and that was the Dark Phoenix saga. Absolutely, I know we're get into that before we do. There is one thing I want to address because right about now is where we like to do three things you may not know about this director in a quote. So at the opening of the show, I purposely didn't name the director of X Men. The last stand. I'm not going to share three fun things about this director.

4:21 I'm not going to quote this director, and I'll tell our listeners why right now. The truth is, while doing research, I became aware of some truly disgusting behavior this man has committed outside of how he treated Elliott Page on the set of this film, which was confirmed by cast member Anna Paquin, and the claims of sexual assault made by actresses Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge. I'll simply say that if you choose to google this man's name, you'll read some disturbing things. You'll see multiple stories and articles citing phrases like me too. You'll discover allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault made by at least six women, and you'll see photos of him posing with absolute scum like Roman Polanski and Jeffrey Epstein, men he considers close friends.

5:16 So I just had I had to get that out of the way. Wayne. But on a happier note, I'll say, this director was effectively blacklisted from Hollywood in twenty seventeen and ultimately fled the United States. So good writtens, I say, as it's highly doubtful we'll ever discuss another film he directed. Now, Yeah, had to get that ugliness out of the way and onto something much cooler, the five word synopsis. Now, Wayne, you have not been on the show this season. You've been busy, you know. I mean you've been Phaser's set to stunt has just it's taken over and you we've been at all the comment have been busy. We've been at the cons. So I know this is your first time doing a five word synopsis. We're not doing the long drawn out explanations of what these movies are about. Now.

6:11 I want to shout out, I'm gonna give you some help here, Wayne, or I should say some of our listeners are gonna give you some help. I want to shout out several of our listeners right now that support the show on Patreon. They're getting our episodes early, ad free and more often than not in extended editions, and several of them have recently had some awesome five word synopsies for films we've covered and I'll share them with you. So for our Pirates of the Caribbean dead Man's Chest episode, Steve Cooley gave us Jack runs from literally everything which I guess say I have. I cracked up laughing when I saw that one. I had a good one. That was a good one.

6:55 Yeah. For our blow episode, Brad Moore offered leaving Mary Jane for Pablo. That is absolutely brilliant. Brad knocked it out of the park with that one. And for the along came a Spider episode which happened to be an exclusive video episode with Angela Norris on Patreon. James Buckley gave us detective and Psycho cross paths, and Wayne Bonus points to James because he happened to use the character's name in that five word synopsis. So wow, Wayne, I've given you some amazing examples from some of our our most awesome listeners. So if I ask you what is X Men the Last Stand all? About? What is in Wayne using exactly five words?

7:53 Well, I mean this actually has a double meaning if you really think about it. But my five words are there are too many mutants, both both meaning, you know, it could be that's how the story. I mean that's part of the story, and it's exactly how I feel about the film. Okay, Wayne, you have you have just done an amazing job your first time out with the five words snapsis so you give us one. It's five words, so congratulations and double meaning because you're absolutely right, there are too many of me. Yeah, that totally works. I'm going to give you one. I think I think you and I are going to be simpatico here on how we feel about this movie overall. Most likely how about mutant here storyline doesn't work.

8:42 I agree with that too. Now all right, well, I'll tell you what. Let's take a quick break, and when we get back, we're going to talk about three reasons this film wasn't a satisfying conclusion. Welcome back. We are talking about X Men, The Last Stand. It's celebrating its twentieth anniversary. The film absolutely looks great even now, but just doesn't hold up as far as the story goes. Wayne, I've got three things I want to talk about, three reasons why I feel this movie wasn't a satisfying conclusion to this trilogy that Brian Singer initially had set out to do when he gave us the first two movies. So number one, and if I'm wrong, you tell me, Wayne, but you know, chime in here.

9:37 Number one. First reason, I think adapting two of the most famous X Men comic storylines and mashing them together was a huge mistake. I agree that that's my biggest problem with the film. Okay, so for non comic book readers, let's call it so we've got the dark Phoenix saga and then we've got the mutant Cure story line. Yes, just pick a lane, because either one of these stories would have worked great on their own. And the fact that the fact, Wayne, the fact that we have less than two hours of film, I think it leaves major emotional beats with a real lack of development. That's my main problem. Jean Gray, becoming Phoenix is a major moment, and not just an X Men history, but in Marvel's history. Right this is? This is one of your favorite storylines of all time, right Wayne?

10:29 It is? You know, I consider it the greatest comic story ever written, and for good reason. A lot of people think it's that way, and I was really looking forward to them at least doing a partial adaption of that story. It would have translated beautifully to screen, but cramming it with Gifted, which is the other story, was just too much. It was too much going on, and unfortunately the greater of the two stories, the Dark Phoenix sug I, kind of got pushed off to the side. Yeah. I feel like this, what what the film does is really half assed because Jean Gray she feels more like she's not Phoenix. She's not She's not Jean Gray.

11:10 She's not Phoenix. She she kind of feels like Carrie taking revenge on her classmates, and there's no depth. There's no depth to her. Really. Yeah, and not only do they half asked the Phoenix story line, they get it wrong. Uh, Wayne, is it the Phoenix like a cosmic force? Yes, it's it's a cosmic force. That well, what the storyline was, And this goes back to X Men one hundred. They had just finished their fight with the Sentinels and were in space and they were trying to get back to Earth and they were the entire X Men was they were going to die. There was no way they were going to make it back, and the Phoenix force, this force out in the cosmos found Jean Gray hooked with her, you know, mentally hooked with her, realized her her the inspiration, and merged together. At least that's what we thought at that time. Merged together gave the powers of the Phoenix to Jean Gray so that she could save them. But as we learned later on, as the years went by, the power started to become too great.

12:16 It's too much power for one person to handle. And that's where the Dark Phoenix and the Dark Phoenix saga began. The whole split personality concept they're doing in the movie. It just doesn't work, you know, it's almost like she's possessed and I don't like it. Well, that's probably the only part that they got rather kind of accurate to the comic. The comics storyline and the reason why she became Dark Phoenix is so much better, but it at least matches a little bit. They're missing a major element of it. But you know, well, okay, second thing, major characters whose story arcs have developed for two films are taken away from us in the laziest way possible. Yeah, to make room for many nameless, faceless characters that we just don't care about. Now, let me let me run down. Let me run them down here, cyclops very abruptly killed off and pretty much off screen, like we can't even give him a proper sendoff, Professor X, what are we midway through the film? Like we're an hour, not even an hour into it?

13:24 Yeah, it was about the halfway. He's he's obliterated. Mystique who we get a good start, like she's prominently featured in the trailer. We the good start with her character, and then that's okay, we just shoot her with a dart. She's now, she's supermodel Rebecca Remain and she's off. She's done. Yep, she's out. She's out of the movie. And then Rogue, you know, Rogue who is say what you will? I love Rogue in the X Men ninety seven animated series. I think we all do. Uh Anna Paquin. I always liked her performance, but she chooses the cure, you know, and then she's gone for pretty much the entire movie until the very end when she comes back and she's like, oh, hey, I took the care. I can touch you now, Bobby.

14:10 It just and I kind of feel like that flies in the face of the whole accepting us for who we are, you know, like Stormy Eman says, like there's no we don't need a cure because there's nothing wrong with us. And then meanwhile, aside from Juggernaut, who is it admittedly fun to watch, the rest of Magneto's army are a bunch of tattooed hobo goths living out intense in the woods. I don't care about any of them. Wayne, Well, that, yeah, that's the problem with this film. And you know, every one of those characters, every one of those nameless people, and you know are from the comics. But none of the characters get any enough screen time.

14:50 There's too many of them. And unfortunately, when you have such a huge cast, so many characters get thrown off to the site or even forgotten. And that's what happened with this It's a waste of so much great talent. It's so much great storylines, but the talent, I mean, why, you know, why would you bring this van Ky Janssen is the worst. She's such a fantastic she's probably the best Gene Gray I've seen, and she's wasted in this film. She's so wasted. Well and look like I said, you know, at the beginning, kind of talking about how this film maybe is a segue towards improving the costume and the look the design of the X Men. I get it. In two thousand, we didn't know like is it okay to you know, we're trying to go for like a more realistic vibe.

15:40 Is it okay to do this? No, let's just put them on black leather, you know, And it's boring looking. But at least with this movie, we're seeing Bobby Drake take on the form of ice Man. We're seeing like the Juggernaut kind of has like a Juggernaut look to him. You know, some people are starting to it a little bit closer to comic book accuracy. Yeah, and I understand why they didn't. You know, we didn't want to see him in tights. You know, that was their big reason. You know, well, we can't have them in tight Well, we didn't want to see him in that. We know that's not going to work. I just don't want to watch them in regular clothes, like like pyro is just like you know him and a lot of these these nameless faces. Man, And it's like, okay, well, just give him a gift card, a hot topic, let him go and get some clothes, and then we'll be fine.

16:29 We'll see that and that's that's what we get. I don't like. You know, the producers thought that we wouldn't be able to accept the bright colors and the you know, costumes that look like they're comic forms. We all know that's that's incorrect. Now, yeah, because you know, look look at you know, Deadpool and Wolverine. You know, all these years of Hugh Jackman being in black leather. You put him in a costume that's similar to his uh comic form, and everybody goes crazy. You know, we love it. It looks fantastic. So you can do that with the rest this movie. Uh, not too many years after this movie, we get the Wolverine you know where where he's like it's uh, it's it, you know, in continuity, it takes place after the last stand remember that eastrig at the end where he's getting on the plane and he opens the case and there's the Wolverine the mask, and we lost we lost our damn minds because we're like, wait, are we gonna get this? We want we wanted we wanted that. Yeah, all right.

17:25 Uh. Third thing that that makes this movie lack in satisfaction, the shift in tone from the first two movies is very apparent. Yeah, so, Brian Singer had intended to direct all three of the films in this trilogy. And despite X two being lauded as one of the best superhero films to date, Wayne, you said it, it was so, it's incredible. It is such a good film, one of the get I think it's one of the best superhero movies of all time. And despite that, progress on the last Stand moved at a very slow pace, and the Fox executives were at odds with Singers vision, like they're having creative differences.

18:07 We make that joke all the time on this show, like creative differences. But the guy has given you back to back home runs with the X Men. Yeah, get out of his way. Just just sign the check and get out of his way, because meanwhile, Warner Brothers is doing their best to win him over to revive Superman, which happens to be his favorite character someone you know, some property that he adores. He considers it his dream job. Listeners, if you haven't done so yet, go back to last week's episode where John Reid of the thirty somethingter Movie podcast joined me for our supersized Superman Returns episode. That was a lot of fun. John, if you're listening, thank you, thank you again for that great Oh thanks Wayne Singers departure, though, directly results in a decrease in character driven story and exploration and complex themes in favor of a big CGI spectacle.

19:05 You know, hey, why is why is Phoenix willingly becoming a stooge for the Brotherhood? Who cares? Magneto is ripping the Golden gate Bridge into pieces and he's riding it to Alcatraz? Wait? What what you know? Just well, the first two films I think do a great job of exploring themes of prejudice and acceptance, identity, fear of being seen as different. This third film abandons all that in favor of like epic disaster on what it's what's almost an Irwin Allen scale. That's That's where I'm at with it. Yeah, I mean they're trying. I can see what they're trying to do. But and this happens so many times with films. There's too many cooks in the kitchen with this.

19:56 You know, you got the studio trying to pull the strings, you got the producers trying to pull the strings, you got the director wanting to do what he wanted to do. And you know it, just when you have that many people trying to put their own input into a film, it becomes a mess. And that's what this film is. It's a mess. Well you got yeah, writer, Yeah, I mean they this film could have been saved. There are bits of it, elements you know, they're coming from source material that's absolutely incredible. So this could have been saved. But the problem is too many people had different ideas and this is an amalgamation of everyone's ideas and it just don't work when you try that. I mean, I'm not even gonna not like Simon Kinberg, you know who he's he's writing. I'm not gonna knock him, because no, he's a good writer, he's a great he's a good script writer. But even he's like, what are we doing here, Like, give it another forty minutes, let's flesh it out, let's let's do something right. I know, I know, I'm you know, I kind of went on a rant there. I know. Normally we'd be talking about the cast and we'd be talking about you know, behind the scenes stuff. But I just I watched this movie and don't get me wrong, I'm I'm glad that we're talking about it, and I'm happy that we're covernant. It's it's like, you know, like this is this is we're kind of closing out the month of the dep in Marsden month, and you know, last week we're talking Superman Returns, which happened to have James Marsden in it. This week we're talking about X Men The Last Dam which happens to have James Marsden in it. You know, the guys in

21:27 two of the biggest superhero franchises of all time in the same summer of the same year. So it's it's fun to kind of kind of link that together like that. But I don't know, now I got that out of the way way and I'm you know, I thank you for letting me, letting me rant a. Little bit there. I agree with you. It's you know, had this been made maybe ten years fifteen years later, I think it could have turned out to be probably a lot better. There wouldn't have been so much studio involvement, I believe, and we may have gotten a lot better story than been a few more rewrites. But basically, what I think they could should have done, the most important thing is they could have made arrangements, you know, to to if Brian Singer. If they were having problems with Brian Singer, they could have allowed him to direct this film.

22:19 You know, the dates change. If they were having problems with with uh psych Clops Marson, they could have made arrangements for him to do both films that you could have this could have been delayed. And if delaying it six months meant we had a better story, then they should have done that. Hey, Ultimately, they let they let Singer leave and he takes some of the creative talent with him, you know, he takes some of he takes his writers, and then all of a sudden, scheduling issues start happening. Some of the actors are like, I'm not available, and then we're gonna those some pos in at the last second to like, you know, sit in the director's chair. Uh yeah, all right, I'll tell you what. We're gonna take a break, and then when we get back, we're gonna talk about a scene, talk about a couple of scenes. Maybe all right, it's time to talk about the scene. So Wayne, again, things are a little different this season. So we're gonna we're gonna talk about a scene. We're not talking about the pivotal moment, unless you happen to choose the pivotal moment.

23:23 But the scene you want to talk about before we talk about it, tell me why you're choosing it? Is it? Is it because of a strong performance? Is it? Is it the cinematography? Is it something you think pissed Amber Lewis off? What? Why are we talking about the scene that you want to talk about? Wayne, Well, I mean, thinking of all the scenes, and there are some pretty good scenes in here, it's just the whole thing together is kind of a mess. But the scene where they go to the Grays House to find Gene this, of course is a scene where she kills Professor X. But that is probably the closest to the original Dark Phoenix story without the death that they ever got to the original, you know, to the story in this film. And I really do like that scene minus the death. I like the scene and I like the way it's done.

24:14 Okay, So, I mean there's a lot happening here. We've got got some pretty good cinematography. Oh it is I think the score. I know we're I know we are going to talk about the score of this film here in a minute. I hope so because you're Wayne Whiteen, like if we don't have a soundtrack session, you know, but the music, the music's really intense. The c G I is is looking spectacular. There's a lot of tension. Let's walk walk me through this scene though, Like what you know what about it that it really stands out to you? Well, if you did bring up the cinematography, and you know the cinematographer and his film was Dante's Spinatti. I've always liked his work. He's on a lot of this director's films, but he's also done some really goods and he did a film from back in the nineties that I absolutely loved. You might be surprised that I really liked this one, but La Confidential I thought was an absolutely phenomenal film. I only went to the theater to see that because a Goldsmith's score, But I just fell in love with that film and it's beautifully shot and he brings a lot of the talent that he did on that film to this film. And you really see that in this in this scene. His camera angles, his movements, everything there are just absolutely beautiful.

25:34 Wayne, I cannot agree more with you, but I'm gonna I'm gonna call it. I'm gonna warn you you may have inadvertently just given yourself more work to do. And here's why. Here's why. A couple couple episodes ago, we we mentioned LA Confidential and it was kind of in the kind of like offhand and kind of challenged our Patreon supporters and was like, oh, well, you know what, we'd talk about that one if you wanted to hear about it. And several Patreon subscribers were like, yep, bring on l A Confidential, So.

26:17 Oh, I'd be willing to talk about it. I love that. That's good because now that they're hearing you talk, now that you've been brought it up, you know anyone that may have forgot because hey, look, Patreon family, we are going to get to it. But now that Wayne has dropped the LA Confidential title again, I guess we'll we'll have to move that up in the lineup and get that one out here sooner than later. And I'm okay with that, Wayne, I love I love LA Confidential. But but back to X Men, the Last Stand, Yeah, I don't know if it pissed Amber Lewis off, but it should have. It definitely pissed me off you you you mentioned a scene that that's seen the death of the supposed death of Professor X. Can we talk about the the Birth of Phoenix, which which happens to be the death of Cyclops for a minute.

27:09 Yeah, I mean the scene is it's a beautiful scene once again. Yeah, it's beautifully shot. The visual effects are outstanding. It's kind of similar to what was in the comics in a very twisted way. But then you got his death and that just like destroys the scene for me. Okay, So it's great seeing Marson's getting a chance to kind of delve into some emotional pain, some trauma. He is at the beginning of this movie. He's mourning the loss of Jean Gray. He is not himself, doesn't care about teaching at the school. He's not really stepping into the leadership role that Charles Xavier had had assigned him. Yeah, and you know, he goes back to was Alkali Lake the you know, the scene, the heartbreaking scene, the climactic moment of X two X Men of United, and I don't know, it just feels like, you know, like you said, like it's it's reminiscent of the comic. But all of a sudden he just you know, he gives a laser blast of the water and then boom jeans.

28:26 But it doesn't it doesn't make any sense. No, it's just I mean, why did I I understood what they're trying to go at, but it's not working. It just doesn't work. It doesn't come across on screen. You know why she killed him? You know the whole thing they're trying to They're trying to avoid the cosmic entity possession and could make it some sort of like multiple personality thing in her head. I don't like that. That really sours this film for me that they did that. But still even with the multiple personality, think why why did she kills. Why do you have to just just straight up murder him immediately right? You know? And again I'm not trying to pick it apart, but can I get can I get something a little more concrete as to how she's back or you know, why him going months later to that to that to that location and hitting it with an optic blast like stirs the water and like creates it like her return, like it's the last like you know, think about that, think about you know what what probably is the shittiest movie. In the Star Wars saga, you know, the last Jedi, we get somehow Palpatine has returned. Yeah, or maybe maybe it wasn't that one. I don't know.

29:50 The sequel trilogy is trash, but it it's like, what do you mean, what do you mean somehow he returned. It's like it's like somehow Phoenix returned. Yeah, there's no explanation, no, no, no explanation that I'll accept in this film. She's just seriously, she just we're supposed to expect to accept that and now and now she's evil. You know, she's fighting her own mental Why White, why are you doing this? Just everybody story? And she's back home, you know, just just give us the original story. Professor sedated her, you know, like, hey wait, someone got her. You know, we got her on the operating table. She's in her sports broader, her short shorts. She's subdued, she's she's catatonic. We we're building mental barriers in her brain.

30:35 Again. Ah, that's awful. It pissed me off. It's just the fact that they just lazily explain how she's back, and then on top of that, you you kill Cyclops basically off screen. Yeah, waste of a character. Waste, waste of a character. This is the leader. Yeah. Absolutely, I don't want to. I don't want to be completely dark like Dark Phoenix. I'll can we I'll say. Let me. Let me talk about three SAT three scenes I want to highlight real quick, just noteworthy. First off, the d aging on Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen during the opening scene in nineteen eighty six. Oh that was that was well done. Looks really good for twenty twenty six, and downright amazing for two thousand and six.

31:17 Yeah, yeah, I was. I was like, even watching it recently, I was like, wow, they I mean, they really knew what they were doing back then. Wahene, How excited were you to see the Danger Room in live action? We have waited forever hoping that we'd see that. Yeah, I mean it was a It's a great opening, and they were kind of giving us a little bit of the scenario from Days of Future Past, and I love that, I find, you know, finally we get to see a proper sentinel, We get to see some some proper action that matched the comics. I I that's in my opinion, actually, that's my favorite scene of the film. The comic book nearded me when when we get the uh, the Colossus Wolverine fastball, I'm like.

32:02 Yes, we've been waiting for that. We've been waiting for that. So definitely a fun scene. Love that scene and then mystiques breakout. I don't care. It's always fun watching Magneto flip squad cars and eighteen wheelers off the road. Yeah, that's that whole scene is just a fun time. And you know, we get like the introduction of Juggernaut and you know, some other nameless masses. But I don't know. I like I said, I there's a lot of good things going on in this movie, so I didn't want to I didn't want to be completely negative. Oh he's right. I mean there are some good stuff and bits if we tear it apart, you know, seen by scene, there are some really really good things. I will admit there are parts of it I.

32:46 Do like, Yeah, there's a lot I really love. But I think I think more than anything, I'm just I just it could have been so much more. And I think that's why I kind of took the the tone that I that I've taken on this episode with it. But let's talk numbers. Wayne released on May twenty six, two thousand and six, with an official runtime of one hour forty four minutes. Yeah, Wayne, Wayne, do you remember the days when a superhero film was anything less than two and a half hours. It's it was a long time ago. It feels like a completely different life's time. There's there's rumors right now Avengers Doomsday. They're saying like three hours, twenty minutes.

33:28 Yeah, right now. Yeah. I don't have any problem with longer films. I don't need to. You know, Shorter films are kind of nice too. I just like when I when I cued this up, I was like, wait, an hour and forty four minutes. That can't be right, you know. Okay, well you know that. Yeah, And I think that also is a little bit of a problem. You know, when you're talking about Avengers dooms Day, there are a lot of characters going to be in that film and they're going to need the extra time. Well, there are a lot of characters in this film, and they didn't have that extra time. They probably didn't use They definitely could have used it, because, like I said, there was a lot of wasted characters here. And I think probably other than Jean Gray, The one character that I was really excited to see that I feel was very wasted in this film was Angel Warren Bob So. I was really excited about his appearance in this film because he was like the one major X Men that had been missing so far, and Beasts as well.

34:21 Don't forget me, we got to bring that one up. We'll talk about that. But I was really excited about Angel, and I feel she he was wasted. But if they had an extra fifteen to twenty minutes more on his story, I would have been very very happy. Yeah, to finally see Angel on the big screen. I mean he's one of the og X Men, right, Yeah, we have all five of them now, we got all Yeah, they're all there. Love seeing love seeing him. It's just but he's also it's like three scenes total. Yeah, that's it. That's my problem. I mean, great character, very important X Men, and we rarely ever see him. Yeah, his dad who is U? He's like a politician, yeah, I'm like a businessman yeah, or a businessman. Yeah. He created the cure or his company created the cure.

35:08 Yeah. I know him as the mayor of Gotham City from Batman. That's right. Yeah, I forgot about that. Yeah, we could have used a lot more Ben Foster, who young and upcoming at this point in his career. Really yeah, he looks great as Angel would have been. Would have been nice to develop him. Kelsey Grammer playing Beast. Oh yeah, he's fantastic. Kelsey Grammar playing Fraser Crane in blue fur and makeup, because he is basically Fraser and I, you know, I love it. I absolutely love what he's doing in. This That's perfect casting. That's that's perfect. Yes, he's he's he's When I remember, I remember back when they first announced that he was going to play the Beast, I'm like, oh gosh, that's probably that he made me even more excited for the film because that's perfect casting. And he's great.

35:57 He's he is one of the best elements that came out of the film. Yeah, he is. When you think about the representation of Beast in the the ninety The X Men ninety seven cartoon, if you go back and watch that and then you say, hey, what about the guy that plays Fraser Crane, there is no better cast. That's perfect casting. And I love that we're still seeing him to this day. He's playing Beast, you know, he's he's in Doomsday. So yes, a. Lot of fun there. Back to the number zero. On a budget of two hundred and ten million, it went on to gross a yeah it is for night for two thousand and six, that's a lot. But it did gross a worldwide total of four hundred and sixty million, so at the time it was the highest grossing entry in the X Men franchise until Days of Future Pass, which I think is like eight years later. Maybe, Yeah, that's right. It's fifty six percent fresh on rotten tomatoes, which I'm not surprised about. I AMDB rating of six point six out of ten, not surprised.

37:04 Little high maybe from maybe a little high. Fifty eight out of one hundred on Metacritic. Now here's the surprise, Wyane Cinema score average and this is yeah, I remember, this is this is the audience being pulled a minus. Oh no, what audience are they pulling? This is? You know, Wayne, Well, I'll ask you like you you went to the theater in two thousand and six. You rushed to the theater to see X Men the Last Stand? Did you leave disappointed or were you like were you just caught up in the You did leave nought. I left like I left the last Jedi. I was extremely disappointed because I when they built this up, I had so much great expectation, which was probably the mistake right there, and they didn't fulfill any of those expectations with the exception of The Beast. Okay, No, I was extremely disappointed in this film, especially since I knew it was probably going to be the last one I would have time.

38:00 I would have I would have thought, young Wayne is leaving the theater going, well, I got Beast, I got the danger Room, I got I got Angel. Yeah, and those parts are nice, but it's those are only little bits. I really when I when it comes to a film, I really look at the script. The script is ninety percent of the of the film to me, and it's not there. It's just not there. When I can walk out of that and said, oh I could have done a better job right than that, then yeah, there's there's issues. Wayne. What do you What do you think Ebert and Roper thought of this one? If you had to guess, Oh, if I had to guess, I'd probably stay where they were. They were split two thumbs up. Really surprisingly Roger Ebert, Yeah, I'm gonna quote him. See, I'll give you I'll quote somebody, you know. Since I'm not gonna quote the director, I will quote Ebert. Ebert said, I liked the action. I liked the absurdity. I liked the incongruous use and misuse of mutant powers. And I especially like the way it introduces all those political issues and lets him fight it out with the special effects. Hmm. Interesting take it is.

39:15 I'm really surprised that, because there's a lot of films that I thought were fantastic that he did not like. I'm surprised, but you know, hey, you know everyone every I will never say that a person shouldn't like a film. I'll give my opinion, but you know everybody has their their favorites and and and their likes and their dislikes. So if you like this film, please you know, rave about it. You know where I know we're tearing it down, but but you know, I'm not going to critique anyone first. I'm listen. I'm I'm just I'm I'm I'm I'm giving it some tough love, that's all. And that you know. It's currently available on UH on Dizzy Plus to go to the Marvel tile, it's under the Mutant Legacy timeline.

40:02 It's It's also available as part of several X Men box sets. I've got the I've got the X Men and the Wolverine collection. But I'm guessing there's a newer complete set that has every film in it. Oh, I think there probably is or one coming, at least one coming. Yeah, there needs to be like one big box set. But Wayne, you know, you said it right there. You know, if people like it, shout it out, like, would you recommend X Men the last stand? I would recommend it if you were wanting to watch the three of them together. I would not skip the first two if you were like doing an X Men marathon. This isn't one that I would say, oh, just skip this one, you know. But you know, this isn't like you know, some of the I have said that on other things. I definitely say you should watch it, just just to finish out this trilogy and to make a little bit of sense of the films that were coming after, because I don't think you can skip this and then kind of you know, kind of understand a little bit of of the characterizations from like Days of Future Past.

41:03 So don't don't skip it. But if your listen, if you never seen any other X Men films and you're wanting to just watch one of them, then don't start with this one. Start with start with the K one. Yeah, you gotta start with them, all right, I got I gotta be honest. After this recent rewatch, I'm kind of agreen with Ebert and Rupert, I will recommend it it. The more I watched it, the more we've talked about this hour, I feel like they kind of captured the spirit of the uh not to go back to it again, but the spirit of the X Men ninety seven cartoon. And maybe it's on my mind because I know season two is is hidden in July.

41:44 Yes it is. I'm looking forward to that. I just watched me today. Me too. I love that trailer. But you know, while this movie it doesn't deliver on the trailer's promise of a war to end all wars, it does have some extraordinary action sequences, and outside of a couple of disappointments, it's got some pretty impressive performances. Say what you will, Hugh Jackman, He's coming into his own at this point as Wolverine. I know some people were like, you know, what I want an X Men movie and an ensemble and he's kind of taken over, but yeah, it's kind of yeah, he did in the comic, you know, so we're we're not too far off. But I'm gonna recommend it, I say, I say check it out.

42:29 You have to understand where I'm coming from because I have a lot of bias against this film, and it's the reason is and a lot of people will know me for a Star Trek, but long before Star Trek came around, I was a comic lover. I've been collecting since I was like five years old, and first issue was Star Wars. Issue one was my very first comic book, but my very first superhero comic book. The very the first one that I ever owned was X Men one thirty six and that was the second to the last issue of the Dark Phoenix Saga, my first experience with any supers other than the super Friends on TV. Wow. I kind of fell in love with the X Men, and I followed the X Men through the eighties and through the nineties. I kind of fell out of love in the two thousands, but I've come back to it, so you know, I have a lot of this This seventies and eighties where I just love those stories. So when I saw this film was being made, I had such high hopes that this was going to match my love bring back my love for the X Men that I had from back in the seventies and the eighties when I was reading it, and it unfortunately it did not.

43:32 All Right, well, I'll tell you what we're gonna We're not gonna end on on a sour note. We're gonna end on a on a good note. We uh me. I think the listeners, Wayne, we have been starving all season long for a Wayne Whited soundtrack session. Can we talk about the score of this film because I happen to like it? Yes, I think it's probably it's definitely my favorite part of the film. Well, am I am? I? Am? I? Am I crazy? Or do I really like it? Because it there's more? I listened to the entire score yesterday and am I wrong?

44:16 Or does it kind of feel like a like a like a Tim Burton Batman film? Like it almost? It feels kind of like it belongs here? Wayne can tell us about this composer, tell us about this score. John Powell's score to X Men. The Last Stand is in my opinion, one of the most ambitious and exciting entries in the composer's blockbus to filmography. Tasked with taking over a franchise previously defined by Michael Kaman and John Ottman, pou chose not to mimic his predecessors or use their themes, but rather to entirely redefine the identity of the X Men films with his own unique signature sound, Introducing a sweeping, brass heavy main theme that captures the field of the mutant hero's comic adventures. He masterfully balances the film's brand political themes with a sense of tragedy, signaling right from the opening moments of the film that this chapter of the saga can carry severe consequences. John Powell is no stranger to action films. When he accepted the job for The X Men The Last Standard back in two thousand and six, he had delivered some memorable and exciting music for the film's face off Agent Cody Banks and Both

45:47 Born Identities and its sequel of The Born Supremacy. But with X Men, it allowed him to delve deeper into his ability to capture emotional feeling along with the exciting thrills. Where the score truly triumphs is Impow's trademark propulsive action writing, which remains some of the finest of its era. Cues like The Battle of the Cure and Whirlpoor Showcase hit an incredible layering of dense percussion, aggressive brash and an ominous swelling choir, Palell manages to orchestrate chaos with absolute precision, utilizing complex rhythmic structures that inject the film's climax and an infectious, forward moving adrenaline. It is a masterclass of how to elevate standard superhero action films into a chaotic, operatic spectacle. Equally compelling is the scores emotional core, primarily driven by the thematic material for Gene Gray's transformation into the Phoenix. In tracks such as The Phoenix Rises and Dark Phoenix's Tragedy, Powell opts to hotly beautiful tragic motifs that avoid the cliches of the standard comic book villain theme.

46:58 By blending fragile dreams with sudden, overwhelming orchestral crescendos. The music perfectly mirrors Gene's internal psychological breakdown, ensuring that her destructive power feels deeply sorrowful rather than just monsters now. Two highlights of the score from me would be the cue Dark Phoenix's Tragedy. As I mentioned before, it's an incredibly powerful piece of music that starts out frantic but begins to build into a massive, sweeping statement of the central Phoenix theme that Pal had created. He's done some powerful pieces of music in his career, but this is definitely moving beyond the normal from him. Second, I have to mention the cue Attack on Alcatraz, which kicks off a twenty minute frenzy of music covering the final battle of the film. It and the following four tracks create one massive, interconnected musical set piece. It's exhilarating and relentlessly paced, rarely pausing for a breath, with emotional energy. The film's score has only ever had one single release, back in two thousand and six, produced by Very Sarah Band around the time of the film's release. It is a single CD but contains a healthy dose to the film's score, with twenty seven tracks totaling just a little over an hour of music. And while there hasn't been a complete release of the film's score from any of the major labels yet, but with Lala lands Reca's release of the first two X Men scores, I'm fairly confident that this one is right around the corner. Ultimately, Powe's work on

48:30 The Last Stand remains a high water mark for the franchise, successfully injecting a sense of mythic weight to a structurally flawed narrative. While the film itself can be at times a muddled mess, the score stands alone as a cohesive, deeply passionate piece of art that captures a composer at the height of his symphonic powers. It balances breathtaking spectacle with genuine emotional gravity, cementing it as a memorable, top tier superhero score of the two thousands. Here we go. Oh, you know everyone listening that that love your soundtrack sessions, They're probably like, are we seriously They're at the end of the show. Are they seriously not going to give us a Wayne soundtrack moment? Like? What? What bullshit? No?

49:21 I was just saving it. I wanted to end on a high note. That's that's how we do it. Wayne, I've missed that. Well, hopefully I can do more. There's got some good films I know coming up that I yeah, we got a. Lot of we've got a lot of good ones. Well, we got we got a lot of good stuff coming this this season. Still, next time on a film buy, Amber Lewis and I will debate whether or not the house always wins with a look at Oceans eleven. I know you've seen it, So how would you summarize it in exactly five words? Uh? Go to a film by podcast dot com, give us your answer or email us at a film I podcast at gmail dot com. If we use your five words synopsis on the show, like we we shouted out several of our Patreon members at the top of the hour. Uh, if we use yours, we'll shout you out. We'll give you some of a film by swag and Hey, Patreon supporters, you know it's talking about talk. I'm talking to Brad and Steve and James.

50:19 We got something fun coming your way. So you know, sit tight. I'll tell you this, Wayne, we're doing Oceans eleven. I'll challenge I'll challenge everyone right now if you want to go the extra step, if you can give me an eleven word synopsis about Oceans eleven, listeners, you got to use exactly eleven. I know Amber is gonna love this. I should tell her, I should, I should challenge her. Uh, if you use eleven words exactly to describe oceans eleven and we pick yours, I'll I'll give you the tea, I'll tell you all the swag. But also I'll give you a free month of our Patreon. You can get in there, download all all the exclusive content, get all the episodes, and uh, just just go nuts have a good time. So I'll do I'll do that, Wayne.

51:08 Yeah, that sounds great. Yeah. As always, please join us on social media. You'll find us on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, x. We absolutely love interacting with all of you, sharing opinions, taking your requests for future episodes, and debating great movies. Wayne, it has been a pleasure having you back on uh What's what's Scott called the Flagship Show. Yeah, been great to have you here. Yeah, it's great being here. I always love doing these at last, love talking about films that I love and somethings that I don't quite love as much as I should. Yeah. Well, it's always great to hear you and David and Scott on the Bridge of the Enterprise. But I understand next month you and David are what you're trading the Delta Quadrant for dinosaurs.

51:57 Yes, we are. We are talking about the the third in the Jurassic Park trilogy, in my opinion, because I only in my own mind considered there are only three, and that is Jurassic Park three, directed by one of my favorite directors, Joe Johnson. So I'm really looking forward to talking to that with David. Oh, that'll be a good one. Yeah, especially since we saw the film together. Yeah, that's uh, that's part of the next month. We got our what is it a gambling good guys in Blockbuster Part threes. Obviously we're kicking it off with Ocean's eleven then, you know, so we've we give them one of the gambling good guys that you got. You just you just teed it up Jurastic Part three, So we got another gambling good guy. We got another Blockbuster Part three.

52:40 So listeners come back because, uh, it'll be a fun month. Uh in in in June. As always, to all of you listening to the show, subscribing to our ever growing YouTube channel, following us on social media, and supporting the show on our Patreon, we absolutely thank you and we'll see you next time. M