<color=darkred>Previous Review: <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.289264-2-50-Reviews-X-Men-2000>X-MenNext Review: <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.289811-2-50-Reviews-X-Men-The-Last-Stand-2006>X-Men: The Last Stand
$2.50 Reviews:
X2
<img height=400>http://i29.servimg.com/u/f29/16/09/70/40/poster52.png
X2, (a film I wish had simply been titled "X-Men 2", but I digress), is a sequel to X-Men. X-Men set-up the idea that mutants exist among normal people, and they feel prejudiced against because they are feared. It also introduced our primary cast of both good and bad characters, using the character of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) as the blank slate that the audience could project onto.
[Img_Inline width="275" height="177" Caption="Nightcrawler is pretty cool." Align="left"]http://i29.servimg.com/u/f29/16/09/70/40/xmen2c10.jpg[/Img_Inline]
X2 picks up right where X-Men left off. Wolverine heads to Canada in an attempt to find out why he has no memory. He doesn't find anything of consequence. Meanwhile, a new mutant named Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) attacks the president of the United States. Magneto (Ian McKellen) is still in prison, but when Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Cyclops (James Marsden) try to find out if Magneto had anything to do with it. Instead, they learn that another new character, William Stryker (Brian Cox) was behind the attack. Stryker captures Xavier and Cyclops, so the rest of the mutants still around devise a plan to try to save them.
The plot isn't actually as simple as I just described, but that's the gist of it. The last 45 minutes basically come down to a rescue mission, which, if they fail, will have disastrous consequences for all mutants, not just the ones involved in our story -- which there are a lot of. If you thought X-Men had a large cast of characters, wait until you watch X2.
We still keep our main X-Men from the first film: Storm (Halle Berry), Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), Rogue (Anna Paquin), Wolverine, Cyclops, Charles Xavier -- they're all still here. They end up being joined by Nightcrawler after locating him following his presidential assassination attempt. Also joining the crew is Bobby Drake (Shawn Ashmore), someone who can create ice, and Pyro (Aaron Stanford), a fire manipulator. Magneto's team has lost a couple of members though, as Toad and Sabretooth are nowhere to be found. At Magneto's side is the shape-shifting Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), but it's a shame that the other two characters have taken a leave of absence.
[Img_Inline width="275" height="199" Caption="I'm fine with there being 'too much Wolverine'." Align="right"]http://i29.servimg.com/u/f29/16/09/70/40/x-men-12.jpg[/Img_Inline]
You might think that the large number of characters would end up harming the film, as it would be difficult to give them all enough time to develop. You would be partially right in assuming this. Some of the characters, particularly those not in the previous film, did not get as much screen time as I would have liked. James Marsden as Cyclops is also missing for a large portion of the movie, which seemed odd, as he is one of the more recognizable characters, and because he returns from the first film.
One of the only problems I had with the first X-Men was the hand-to-hand combat scenes. Boy, did they ever get improved. There's only one big one in X2, but it really fun to watch. To say who it involves is a spoiler, but suffice to say that the two characters are on equal playing fields in terms of their powers. And unlike the two fist fights in the first film, this one actually feels like a fight. The characters actually seem to feel every blow, and it feels to us that they are actually hitting one another.
The other problem that I had with X-Men was that Storm's lightning didn't actually look much like lightning. This has also been rectified, although we don't get much of a look at it, because she only uses that power once. Still, it looked fine for the couple of seconds it was used, so consider that an improvement. I'm still not sure about her powers though; it seemed in the last film, and for most of this one, that she could only manipulate weather. At one part in X2 though, she appears to create a blizzard in a sealed room. I'd just like some explanation or consistency here.
[Img_Inline width="275" height="177" Caption="Just...don't ask." Align="left"]http://i29.servimg.com/u/f29/16/09/70/40/xmen2_10.jpg[/Img_Inline]
Most of the good things about the first film are also true in its sequel. The special effects still look great (and fixing the lightning helped this out), the action scenes are still really fun, and the actors play their roles well. I believe that the love triangle between Wolverine, Cyclops and Jean Grey needed to go though, because part-way through the film, especially because Cyclops isn't on-screen often enough, it just didn't seem to fit in well. It came across as something done just to have some sort of romantic angle, and in a film like this one, is unnecessary.
X2 isn't a perfect sequel, but it's still a very good film. It gives us more of what we liked from the first X-Men, while fixing up a couple of the problems that it had. It brings a minor problems of its own, like not keeping powers consistent and skimping out on a couple of the characters, but overall it's still very entertaining. If you watched the first film, and wanted to see more, this is very close to the ideal film for you.
<color=D6D9DA>_________________________________________________________________________________
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$2.50 Reviews:
X2
<img height=400>http://i29.servimg.com/u/f29/16/09/70/40/poster52.png
X2, (a film I wish had simply been titled "X-Men 2", but I digress), is a sequel to X-Men. X-Men set-up the idea that mutants exist among normal people, and they feel prejudiced against because they are feared. It also introduced our primary cast of both good and bad characters, using the character of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) as the blank slate that the audience could project onto.
[Img_Inline width="275" height="177" Caption="Nightcrawler is pretty cool." Align="left"]http://i29.servimg.com/u/f29/16/09/70/40/xmen2c10.jpg[/Img_Inline]
X2 picks up right where X-Men left off. Wolverine heads to Canada in an attempt to find out why he has no memory. He doesn't find anything of consequence. Meanwhile, a new mutant named Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) attacks the president of the United States. Magneto (Ian McKellen) is still in prison, but when Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Cyclops (James Marsden) try to find out if Magneto had anything to do with it. Instead, they learn that another new character, William Stryker (Brian Cox) was behind the attack. Stryker captures Xavier and Cyclops, so the rest of the mutants still around devise a plan to try to save them.
The plot isn't actually as simple as I just described, but that's the gist of it. The last 45 minutes basically come down to a rescue mission, which, if they fail, will have disastrous consequences for all mutants, not just the ones involved in our story -- which there are a lot of. If you thought X-Men had a large cast of characters, wait until you watch X2.
We still keep our main X-Men from the first film: Storm (Halle Berry), Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), Rogue (Anna Paquin), Wolverine, Cyclops, Charles Xavier -- they're all still here. They end up being joined by Nightcrawler after locating him following his presidential assassination attempt. Also joining the crew is Bobby Drake (Shawn Ashmore), someone who can create ice, and Pyro (Aaron Stanford), a fire manipulator. Magneto's team has lost a couple of members though, as Toad and Sabretooth are nowhere to be found. At Magneto's side is the shape-shifting Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), but it's a shame that the other two characters have taken a leave of absence.
[Img_Inline width="275" height="199" Caption="I'm fine with there being 'too much Wolverine'." Align="right"]http://i29.servimg.com/u/f29/16/09/70/40/x-men-12.jpg[/Img_Inline]
You might think that the large number of characters would end up harming the film, as it would be difficult to give them all enough time to develop. You would be partially right in assuming this. Some of the characters, particularly those not in the previous film, did not get as much screen time as I would have liked. James Marsden as Cyclops is also missing for a large portion of the movie, which seemed odd, as he is one of the more recognizable characters, and because he returns from the first film.
One of the only problems I had with the first X-Men was the hand-to-hand combat scenes. Boy, did they ever get improved. There's only one big one in X2, but it really fun to watch. To say who it involves is a spoiler, but suffice to say that the two characters are on equal playing fields in terms of their powers. And unlike the two fist fights in the first film, this one actually feels like a fight. The characters actually seem to feel every blow, and it feels to us that they are actually hitting one another.
The other problem that I had with X-Men was that Storm's lightning didn't actually look much like lightning. This has also been rectified, although we don't get much of a look at it, because she only uses that power once. Still, it looked fine for the couple of seconds it was used, so consider that an improvement. I'm still not sure about her powers though; it seemed in the last film, and for most of this one, that she could only manipulate weather. At one part in X2 though, she appears to create a blizzard in a sealed room. I'd just like some explanation or consistency here.
[Img_Inline width="275" height="177" Caption="Just...don't ask." Align="left"]http://i29.servimg.com/u/f29/16/09/70/40/xmen2_10.jpg[/Img_Inline]
Most of the good things about the first film are also true in its sequel. The special effects still look great (and fixing the lightning helped this out), the action scenes are still really fun, and the actors play their roles well. I believe that the love triangle between Wolverine, Cyclops and Jean Grey needed to go though, because part-way through the film, especially because Cyclops isn't on-screen often enough, it just didn't seem to fit in well. It came across as something done just to have some sort of romantic angle, and in a film like this one, is unnecessary.
X2 isn't a perfect sequel, but it's still a very good film. It gives us more of what we liked from the first X-Men, while fixing up a couple of the problems that it had. It brings a minor problems of its own, like not keeping powers consistent and skimping out on a couple of the characters, but overall it's still very entertaining. If you watched the first film, and wanted to see more, this is very close to the ideal film for you.
<color=D6D9DA>_________________________________________________________________________________
If you are a fan of my reviews, and want to boost my ego receive notifications when new reviews are posted, or find an old review, please join/visit this <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/2-50-Reviews>user group.
