I'm surprised at some of these reviews...

Rating: Null/10 (8 May 2003)

People must not read comic books anymore. Folks, I suggest at least getting acquainted with the X-Men story that was in comic form (and later animated form), even if it's through reading a synopsis on the net. I promise you that once you do things will make a whole lot more sense, and a lot of the comments I've seen regarding how poor this movie was will disappear.

All in all I feel this was an OUTSTANDING movie, done very well considering how much material the screenwriters must have had to sift through to come up with coherent storylines that remain true to the comic book series, yet allow those who have never read the comics before to get into the plots. I felt the acting was SUPERB from all actors as a whole--they stayed true to their characters, which means a great deal in something as important as this.
SFX were awesome, the cinematography was very well done, and I saw no problems with any aspect of the movie. This is actually one of the better movies when it comes down to remaining true to what it's based off of, unlike other movies out there today. 10/10.
SPOILERS BELOW
For those of you who really want to know, this movie is leading up to the Phoenix saga. I won't reveal what that is, but there are several hints in the movie, and yes, the "death" (she's not really dead) of Jean Grey is one of them. Please think back to what book Magneto was reading at the beginning of the movie and what book Xavier was discussing with the children at the end of the movie. "The Once and Future King", which talks about the legend of King Arthur, the once and future king of England. That's an important hint right there.
Then think about how Jean Grey reacts on occasion... the flaming eyes during a couple of sequences... the sudden resurgance of her powers as the wall of water approaches the group's converted SR-71... and then look at the IMAGE of the phoenix under the waters during the last scene. The writers of this movie are throwing hints out there, much like in James Bond when they say at the end "James Bond will return...", to show that Jean Grey will, indeed, return, and there will be another movie. I'd be surprised if there wasn't...