Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.
When the first X-Men film was released in cinemas I loved it, and yet by the same token I was disappointed. I was one of those people you hear about that used to read the X-Men comics, and while i was not as avid a reader as some of the bigger geeks I know, I still knew more than enough to know that the film was a radical shift from the tone of the comics. Made on a relatively small budget, small in comparison to other comic book movies, it was a film that slowed the pace down and limited the amount of extraordinary powers the small selection of characters could use. However as a movie fan I still loved the film for what it did achieve, namely by proving that a film can be intelligently made from a comic that wasn't called Batman. The dark visuals enhanced the atmosphere, and the character interaction was largely successful. When X2 was finally put into production I waited with baited breath, because if anything has been proven by history, it's that franchises with a slow introductory first film, inevitably have an amazing second film full of wonder and excitement.
X2: X-Men United provides it's audience with just that. It starts out exactly where we were left off at the end of X-Men, with Wolverine on a journey of discovery, Magneto locked up in a plastic prison with just the occasional visit from Professor X, and Mystique imitating Senator Kelly. Though any thoughts that the film will keep the slower pace of the original X-Men are quickly pushed aside in an opening sequence that has to rank as one of the years most exhilarating action sequences. In it one of the lesser known X-Men, to none fans, Nightcrawler, attacks the white house using his teleportation ability for getting around security, but when his assassination attempt fails the president is visited by a man named William Stryker, who has no difficulties convincing the president to declare war on mutants everywhere. This war is an event that marks the film as darker than the original, as well as faster and more intense then any other comic book movie to date.
As with the first film, the main point of conflict was Wolverine, but in this film you will get to see all of his inner rage being released. Get to see why Wolverine is famous for being the coldest, baddest X Man on the team, and also gain a better understanding of his inner struggle. Like the comics Wolverine is a good guy, loves Jean and has a near fatherly relationship with Rogue (it was Jubilee in the comic), yet he hides it behind a rough and ready exterior, insulting members and making all around him wary. In one particular scene, Wolverine is called upon to defend the mansion and it's students from invading soldiers, and yet unlike the other X Men, he displays a willingness to use lethal force when necessary. As he runs around the house slicing up the soldiers Brian Singer cuts at just the right moments to avoid a perverse bloodshed, and yet still holds the camera long enough to give these scenes the shocking brutality that defines the character of Wolverine. Hugh Jackman (Swordfish) returns as Wolverine, again delivering a masterful performance and embodying the fan favorite character in a way that completely pleased those fans, such a rare occurrence in these type of films.
However X2 is about more than just Wolverine. Like the comics, the X-Men are required to work as a team in order to overcome the various trials, even teaming up with their arch nemesis Magneto. For every character in the squad there is an interesting story to tell, and while they couldn't explain everything about every character they have done enough to give X-Men fans something to grasp. Unfortunately this has the effect that any unfamiliar with the X-Men universe may find the film to be a little more impersonal than the original, that by no longer focusing on a select few characters, they have destroyed any real personality to these characters. As a fan of the comics I am unable to really say how badly a non fan would find this because I was able to fully appreciate so many different plot points. Nightcrawler's bond with Mystique, his feelings of shame about his appearance and Rogue's feelings of isolation based on her being unable to touch another person, being just a few.
Yet by far the most interesting was in regard to the character Pyro, who I remember as a villain in a few of the comics. I'm not sure what his origin was in the comics, as when I started reading it he was already bad, but in this film you get to see Pyro as a student at Xavier's school, and his subtle fall from grace. Like Wolverine he's a character with a real sense of inner turmoil, wanting to fit in but already showing Signs that he considers his powers as making him better than normal humans. When the X-Men team up with Magneto, Pyro develops a bond and slowly starts to solidify these feelings of almost godhood. Singer tells this fall from grace story in an emotional way, and with the kind of subtlety that George Lucas could only dream of. Aaron Stanford (25th Hour) gets the mixed feelings of arrogance and confusion nailed, giving a subtle performance that makes the fall from grace believable.
Though being a true X-Men film, all of this character based talk is the strong point that supports an action based narrative. X2 is notable for the fact that, as I've already mentioned, it's characters each get to show off their own unique abilities in a number of spectacular action scenes. I've already mentioned 2 of the best, Wolverines berserker barrage and Nightcrawler attack on the White house, so I will leave the rest to surprise you, but needless to say the effects are amazing and each set piece is well staged as characters such as Storm, Pyro, Mystique, Kitty and even Colossus, to name just a few, get to use their superpowers. Even Jean is showing symptoms of a certain fiery bird that has popped up in both the comics and cartoon incarnations, and leaves very high hopes for the third film.
Unfortunately, as much as I love this film there are a few slight problems. Not major problems, but small ones that are worth noting, and most to do with smaller characters. It's just that, Cyclops and Storm are supposed to be the leaders of the X-Men, Storm was even considered a goddess in her origin, and yet in the films they have been portrayed as the same leaders, but played by actors who think they're teenagers. Neither James Marsden or Halle Berry have the slightest hint of an authoritative presence, and speak with dialogue that would be fitting in an average episode of Beverly Hills 90210. I must be one of the only men alive who doesn't find Halle Berry to be the most attractive female in existence, though at least I'm not the only one to realize she can't act in these summer blockbusters she keeps ruining. The only other problem I have is the title, X-Men United, it sounds like the latest novelty football game for PS2!
The Disks
Extras
Disk One
2 commentaries on the first disk, the first with Bryan Singer and the second with Lauren Shuler Donner.
Following a shocking attack on the President, the X-Men must stand united with their deadliest enemies to combat a menace that threatens every mutant ...More at Buy.com
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