Not Another Movie Review!
X-Men 2: X-Men United
It's Like:
The popular comic series, except nowhere near as convoluted; it's like a
typical Hollywood blockbuster, except you don't feel like you've wasted your
money; and it's like the first movie, except it's twice as fun.
The Bottom Line:
Plenty of action-filled fight scenes for the casual movie-goer. Plenty
of cameos and in-references for the comic book fans. Plenty of continuity from
the first movie, for those who were paying attention. Plenty of opportunities
for Wolverine to kick bucket loads of ass.
The Review:
The premise of the movie picks up right where X-Men left off. The X-Men,
operating from out of Professor Xaiver's (Patrick Stewart) School For The
Gifted, fight to protect both mutants and normal humans. Unfortunately normal
humans still fear and
mistrust them. This time around, the villian isn'ta super-powered mutant, but
the gung-ho military man William Stryker (Brian Cox), who is looking to not just
round of and imprison every mutant in the country, but to eliminate them from
the planet.
X-Men 2 is brimming with nearly non-stop action. Unlike the first movie, it
doesn't contain lods of introductions, explanations, or exposition. But therein
lies a problem; it assumes that everyone who goes to seen the film will have
already seen the first one (or clearly remember it, anyhow). Anyone who hasn't
will probably get a bit lost, especially as this is an ensemble piece, featuring
no fewer than a dozen main characters.
If you enjoyed the first film, then you'll be happy to know that the sequel is even better! Everything is greatly improved, from the dialogue, to the special effects, to the action scenes, and the script. And since it's an ensemble cast, even though there is a rather heavy focus on the exploration of Wolverine's past, nearly everyone gets a chance to shine. The only character that seems to have been lost in the shuffle was Cyclops. He's there, of course, and does the requisite Hero Thing, but he doesn't really seem to step outside that role very much until the film's end.
The action scenes are incredible-- the opening to the movie features Nightcrawler storming the White House, teleporting and using his arms, legs, tail, and teleporting powers in a sequence that has to be seen to be believed. Of course, it wouldn't be an X-Men flick without letting Wolverine being a bad-ass, and there is plenty of chances for him to do so here. And for pure eye candy, it's hard to top an awesome dogfight between the X-Men's plane and tornadoes (the weather, not the jet).
There is plenty for the comic and movie fan, too: cameos (both on-screen and in dialogue) of other mutants for the comic series, plenty of references and internal consistency from the first movie to this one, and series fans will be pleased to see how faithful the movie's Nightcrawler is to the comic's version.
Usually, I find the ultimate test of a movie is whether I felt I got my admission's worth. I would definitely say "yes"; I've already seen it twice.