X-Men (film)

X-Men is a 2008 superhero film set in the Marvel Media Franchise, the ninth film in the universe. The film stars Ian Somerhalder, Ellie Kemper, Karl Urban, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sam Claflin, Ben Foster, Rebecca Romijn, Kevin Bacon, Jeremy Irons, and Richard Jenkins and was released worldwide on November 21, 2008. The film ran 126 minutes and grossed $533.3 million on a $180 million budget.

Plot
At a Congress hearing surrounding the topic of the recently discovered mutants, genetically altered humans who have strange abilities, Senator Robert Kelly is strictly against mutants and works to force all mutants to register themselves to allow humans to know who among them is a mutant. However, at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, a school that is secretly for mutant children, Professor Charles Xavier, a telepath, works to allow mutant freedom for all. The teachers there include Scott Summers, who can shoot laser beams from his eyes, Dr. Jean Grey, a telekenetic and part telepath, and Ororo Munroe, who can control the weather. Students there also include Bobby Drake, who can generate and manipulate ice, and Warren Worthington III, the son of a major tech mogul who has wings and can fly. Working to end the human race as a whole is Erik Lensherr, Xavier's friend who can control and bend metal, and his associate Mystique, who can shapeshift while her main form is a scaly, blue-skin, red-haired mutant.

Erik/Magneto and Mystique decide to enact their plot to end the human race by using Mystique's genes to create a machine that would change the DNA of humans into that of a mutant. However, it could also kill over half of the human population, while the rest would be mutants. Xavier sends out his team of "X-Men", Scott/Cyclops, Ororo/Storm, and Jean to stop Magneto. Along the way they meet Logan, a lone mutant with the ability to emit metal claws from his hands. He denies their invitation to fight with them, though when they are attacked Logan saves them, at the expense of being knocked out by Magneto in the process. They return to the school with Logan, who tries to escape before being convinced to stay and fight with them by Jean, who Logan takes an attraction to despite her relationship with Scott.

Logan is nicknamed Wolverine and joins the team as they find Magneto and Mystique on Liberty Island. They discover they have kidnapped Senator Kelly and team splits up. Jean saves Kelly but they are found by Mystique in the form of Wolverine and she stabs Kelly and pushes him out into the ocean before slashing Jean's face. Logan reveals to Storm that he also cannot be hurt due to his skin being able to grow back. They are found by Magneto's Mutant soldiers but Storm manages to kill one while Logan kills the others. Scott finds Jean and they leave the island to get her medical attention. Logan and Storm discover the two have left and fight Magneto. However, just as Logan defeats him, he reveals he is actually Mystique. Storm gives her up to the police and she is arrested. Kelly washes up on shore, dead, further arguing the point of the Mutant Registration Act.

Professor X travels to Liberty Island and talks to Erik in an attempt to get him to stop. However, he begins the device over New York and several citizens are transformed into mutants. However, Storm destroys the machine, which kills the 10,000 people that were affected. Magneto is arrested while the X-Men are feared by the public. However, Logan makes a speech that makes people rethink how mutants are being treated. Jean's face heals but a giant scar is seen on her face. The school watches the news, showing how the Act was received and are surprised to learn that because of Logan's speech, the Act was denied and mutants are allowed to roam freely. Logan agrees to stay, though denies the invitation to become a teacher. Scott proposes to Jean, who accepts. Logan tries to flirt with Storm, who immediatly shuts him down.

In a mid-credits scene, Jean awakens in the middle of the night and goes to the balcony where she releases fiery wings in the shape of a phoenix, without waking Scott. In a post-credits scene, a woman attracts the attention of a man, though as they get together the woman kills the man and her eyes glow yellow, revealing it is Mystique.

Cast

 * Ian Somerhalder as Scott Summers/Cyclops
 * Ellie Kemper as Jean Grey
 * Karl Urban as Logan/Wolverine
 * Jada Pinkett Smith as Ororo Munroe/Storm
 * Sam Claflin as Bobby Drake/Iceman
 * Ben Foster as Warren Worthington III/Angel
 * Rebecca Romijn as Raven Darkholme/Mystique
 * Kevin Bacon as Robert Kelly
 * Jeremy Irons as Erik Lensherr/Magneto
 * Richard Jenkins as Charles Xavier/Professor X

Production
The film was put into development in 2006 after the success of Iron Man and Spider-Man. Brian Singer was hired to direct, while David Hayter wrote the film. By January 2007, Ian Somerhalder, Ellie Kemper, Karl Urban, and Jada Pinkett Smith were cast as Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, and Storm. Jeremy Irons and Richard Jenkins were cast as Magneto and Professor X, the opposing leaders of their respective teams. Rebecca Romijn was cast in July 2007 as Mystique, Magneto's second-in-hand. Kevin Bacon was also cast that month as Robert Kelly, while Sam Claflin and Ben Foster were cast as Iceman and Angel, respectively, in September. Filming began on January 15, 2008 and ended on April 3. The film was released on November 21, 2008.

Box office
X-Men grossed $223.8 million in the USA and Canada and $309.5 million overseas for a worldwide total of $533.3 million.

Critical reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 96% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based upon a sample of 249 reviews, with an average rating of 8.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "X-Men's stellar visuals testify once again to the MMF's ingenuity, while it's talented cast is put to good use with great stakes and acting." At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 95 based on 39 representing "universal acclaim". indieWire named X-Men the third best film of the year based on their annual survey of 100 film critics, while Movie City News shows that X-Men appeared in 162 different Top 10 lists, out of 286 different critics lists surveyed, the most mentions on a Top 10 list of any film released in 2008.