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Sequel Outshines Predecessor Favorite Movie Quote: "Outside of the circus, most people were afraid of me, but I didn't hate them, I pitied them. Do you know why? Because most people will never see anything past their own two eyes." Whenever I think about sequels - especially the pun-rich number two - there are two sophomore efforts that stand out as positive experiences in my mind. One is The Empire Strikes Back, the other Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan. There are also those that stand out as film felonies - obvious attempts to cash in on a property never intended to be franchised - movies that truly resemble the bowel movement for which they are named; films like Highlander II, Batman Returns, Two Jakes, etc. the list goes on forever. Thankfully X2: X-men United deserves to be mentioned among the former as opposed to the latter. In the first X-men, Director Brian Singer introduced the audience to the plight of mutants in the "not too distant future". X-men was ultimately a success, but even Brian Singer felt that he wanted another shot at it, stating, "I kinda feel like X-men was the trailer for X2". With a higher budget, more reasonable schedule, a larger cast with all the principles returning as well as several excellent additions, and armed with a better understanding of special effects and the world in which he was playing, Brian Singer delivered a much better film, in his words, "X2 was the X-men movie that I wanted to make". Whereas X-men started small and humble, X2 kicks off with a bang - or rather a BAMF! - as a mind-controlled Nightcrawler (a brilliant Alan c*mming) stages a one man assault on the White House with startling efficiency. Although the attempt on the President's life fails, the fallout threatens to widen the breach between humanity and an already jittery mutant community. Magneto (Ian McKellen), cooling his heels in a high-tech prison of plastic, silicon, and fiber-optics, has been receiving visitations from William Stryker (Brian Cox), an off-the-books black-bag operative with his own private army. Stryker seizes the opportunity afforded by Nightcrawler's attack, getting Presidential authorization to assault Xavier's (Patrick Stewart) school. Meanwhile, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) seeks clues to his past and is stunned when it's Stryker that may have the answers. X2 features a very consistent theme throughout with nearly every character having to make a personal choice: Pyro's (Aaron Stanford) temptation at the hands of Magneto, Wolverine has to choose between his past or future, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) between Scott and Logan as well as her decision in the film's climax, Bobby Drake (Shawn Ashmore) between his nuclear family and the X-men, etc. With so much going on, there ends up being little for Cyclops (James Marsden) and Storm (Halle Berry) to do, but if it was any more dense it would likely collapse under its own weight. My favorite thing about X2 would have to be Nightcrawler. Not only was the character's power taken out of the comic book and used to great cinematic effect, but Alan c*mming arguably gives the film its largest dose of spirit as the repentant, devout Catholic with nothing but forgiveness in his heart; my favorite scene in the film is easily his discussion with Halle Berry's Storm, my favorite action scene his attack of the White House. Other scenes/plots that I really liked was Pyro's sense of alienation even amongst his fellow X-men, and his scene with Ian McKellen's Magneto drawing him in was everything that the temptation of Anakin should've been in the new Star Wars trilogy; Stryker's assault on the school is a very well-done sequence all around, with a chill-factor present watching soldiers populate the halls of a prep school; Magneto's escape from prison; etc. The main problem with X2 - or any other film with this much going on - is that in an effort to get everyone and everything where they/it needs to be there are some writer's shortcuts that strain the believability to the breaking point: Magneto seemingly hanging out in a field waiting for the X-jet to pass overhead, quite a lot of power inconsistency, forgetting that the X-jet had been established in the first film to have stealth capability, etc. Also, it was unfathomable that Magneto would have left Stryker alive for Wolverine to find at the end of the film. Overall I think that X2 stands high in the pantheon of superhero films, though I'll admit a touch of disappointment that its convenient writing limited its ability to be taken seriously outside those of us that already do. I dream one day of a science fiction film winning an Academy Award for best picture, and with the fairly deep universal themes of the X-men universe and Singer at the helm I felt that X-men might be that vehicle. Still, before there had been an X-men movie at all, I would have settled for something less than X2 (and had). We're certainly getting more right than wrong, and that was seldom the case before Brian Singer came along. email this review to a friend
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