Rating: Summary: Better the 2nd time around Review: I've been reading the X-Men comic books since the 70's. I really enjoyed the first movie. The second one picks up where the last one left off and takes us from there. It's still primarily focused on Wolverine, but the others do get their share of screen time.After an assassination attempt on the President, a guy named William Stryker is authorized to infiltrate the Xavier School after showing evidence of a military operation beneath the school's surface. He's really looking for Cerebro, which could be the key to wiping out all mutants I won't give anything away more than that. Just be prepared for a better movie, with a lot more action and better special effects. Those who know the comics or the animated adventures of the X-Men will get to read between the lines and anticipate would could be coming in future films.
Rating: Summary: Excellent movie; way better than the first! Review: What can I say that hasn't been said already by critics, reviewers, and anyone who went to see this? It was great. The characters, acting, storyline, the entire movie as a whole was terrific. Thumbs up. Way up.
Rating: Summary: A Bold Leap from The Director's First Offering! Review: As a "Johnny-Come-Lately" to the X-Men saga (I read "Spiderman" and "The Fantastic Four" from the Marvel stable), I was most unfamiliar with the characters and the premise until the first film, a satisfying blend of comic lore and science fiction. It is no wonder that the movie was one of the biggest hits of 2000. "X2: X-men" goes more in-depth in answering some of the questions that plagued me about part one, chiefly the origin of Logan/Wolverine, the Wolverine/Cyclops/Jean Grey triangle, and the uneasy relationship between Professor X and Magneto. There are also some intriguing introductions (Pryo, Colossus, and Iceman) that set the stage for further development in the subsequent third episode. While the special effects are eye-popping, the actors underneath all that latex and muscle manage to pull off some pretty believable performances. The classically trained Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen show why they are at the top of their craft. Critics may scoff that a film like "X2" is not of the same caliber of, say "A Beautiful Mind", but that should not belittle the actors that bring life to their respective roles. With such a large ensemble cast, it is logical that screen time is limited, but Halle Berry, James Marsden, and Anna Paquin do the best that they can in the allotment given them. Brian Cox is appropriately sinister as the nemesis to mutants everywhere. He seems to have graduated from the Rip Torn School of Villainy. And Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, as well as Kelly Hu, could show those "angels" that work for a man named "Charlie" a thing or two about butt kicking. The damsels are stunning in appearance and craft. Newcomer Allan Cumming ("Nightcrawler") brings just the right about of pathos and savagery to his role as a manipulated mutant. His soulful expressions and sincerity can be seen beneath heavy makeup. It's no wonder that he is the toast of Broadway and Hollywood. One of the likely story developments for part three should involve a battle between Pyro and Iceman. That will give young actors Aaron Stanford and Shawn Ashmore a chance at "muscle-flexing". In all, "X2: X-Men United" follows in the tradition of "Aliens", a sequel that ups the ante in grand style of its predecessor.
Rating: Summary: X2 is the best! Review: This movie rules! It's way cooler than daredevil, which was too dark and violent, and it is much better than the Matrix Reloaded. First of all, the movie HAS a storyline. The Matrix movies are only made so that they can show you the action scenes, but the story is poor and imitated. While Daredevil was violent and had a heavy rock sounftrack, X2 had a good theme and an extraordinary plot. I think the movie is based too much on evolution, it exagerates. After all, evolution is just a theory. But this is, along with Spider-Man, THE MOVIE. I've never seen a superhero movie that good! If you didn't see it, why are you wasting your time reading this? Go now!!!!!
Rating: Summary: The Best Sequel of All Time Review: X-MEN 2 is definately a movie to rave about this year. Not only did it have the characters of X-MEN, it introduced newer mutants, such as Nightcrawler, whom I think was ferocious and funny at just the right moments. In the beginning, I had no interest to see X-MEN. Now, a couple years later, I see X2 and I'm blown away by its exciting theme and excellent plot. I didn't think I would be able to follow it, since I didn't see the first. But, surprisingly, I had no trouble and enjoyed it to its last scene. (my favorite part was the beginning, when Nightcrawler almost kills the President! That was hilarious)
Rating: Summary: Mutant world Review: Wonderful Movie! It is a must for everyone to see, I promise it isn't a waste of time. In the first X-men there was a few mutants, but it still was a good movie. But in the second there are so many different characters with different talents! This movie is even better than the first. Bryan Singer did a wonderful job directing this movie. And I cannot wait to see X-men #3.
Rating: Summary: Uncannily eXcellent Review: Man, this movie was good! I mean, seriously, it was truly a great movie. Not often does a movie do as good a job as X-Men 2 in telling an intriguing and compelling storyline replete with great special effects and (if you know your X-Men 101) great characters and character development. just the introduction of Nightcrawler was better than any action sequence in the entire X-Men 1 film. And also the cohesion and teamwork of the mutants is much more on display... Storm and Jean Grey working together on assigment to track down the elusive Nightcrawler - Wolverine engaging in true solo-action wetwork - Rogue and Iceman piloting the Lockheed for a dramatic rescue - Cyclops and Jean Grey dueling in a laser-show battle - Mystique securing Magneto's escape from his plastic prison - Nightcrawler teleporting himself and Storm through an impregnable barrier - and much more acts of heroism, derring-do and teamwork. The one and only thing I questioned was why the X-Men did not rescue the weird green-and-blue-eyed, wheel-chair bound, mind-controlling, son-of-Stryker little mutant from what had to be certain death. Even if he did almost make Professor X kill every mutant on earth, and then alternatively, every human on earth I still think the X-Men should have rescued him (was his name Cypher in the comic book..? I can't remember). And X-Men 2 had to have some of the best fore-shadowing of things to come in X-Men 3. I have a suspicion that the next arch-foe of the X-Men could quite possibly be none other than the entity so powerful she could destroy every galaxy in the universe, and then the universe itself... Dark Phoenix. And in X-Men 3 prepare for another team member to join... the big and cuddly Russian farmboy COLOSSUS! When Colossus made his brief onscreen appearance I jumped out of my seat I was so excited! Talk about good teamwork, wait until you see Wolverine and Colossus pair up to do the Fast-Ball Special! Uncanny!
Rating: Summary: X-Men.......LOVE IT!!! Review: I will start off first by saying that if you do not like comic books or never knew a lot about X-men in the first place....you probably won't like this movie. If you are a follower, then this movie is great. Once again, Wolverine makes this movie go and I'm glad most of the focus has been on him in the first two movies. His attitude and aggressiveness is frickin' awesome. He did however meet a mutant that was pretty much his equal.....almost. You'll know what I mean when you see the movie. I will also say that the plot is pretty simplistic: Brian Cox plays a military officer by the name of William Striker bent on killing all of the mutants while Magnito and Xavier try to stop him...there's a lot of fighting and explosions throughout. Turns out that Striker and Wolverine have a past. I won't give too much of the movie away, so that's all I am going to reveal. My favorite characters are still Storm-because of Halle Berry of course, Wolverine, and Mystique...For once, Magnito and Mystique help the X-Men in their quest against Striker. All of the new characters just added to the experience and they were not overdone. Thank God. The Night Crawler was a little weird, but there wasn't too much emphasis placed on him which was a good thing. As I said before, most of the emphasis is placed on the original characters, while working the younger characters in slowly. Overall, I rate the experience an A. I would have rated it an A+, but the plot was a little weak. Who watches X-Men because of the plot anyway. You watch it because you love it and it's cool! If you love X-Men, this movie will not disappoint. If you're looking for some intellectual piece with an intricate plot, then look elsewhere. X-Men is cool and the action is awesome, and the special effects were well done. This is a sequel that was nicely done. I feel that it's better than the first after watching the first right after seeing X-Men 2. There's more characters, more action and in this case more is good. Watch and Enjoy!
Rating: Summary: Good flick, bub. Review: The coolest comic book heroes hit their groove in this excellent episode in the X-MEN series. I was a sort of comic collector from 1980-90 and the X-MEN comics were always chock full o' great characters, complex stories, and great action. Both movies have delivered those qualities and more. It would be nice to see a comic book turned movie actually start a series instead of a few haphazard sequels that get sillier as realeased. This movie rocks. X-MEN was a nice intro for XAVIER's gifted students, in X2 the mutants really strut their stuff, both dramatically and with a fine showcase for their uncanny abilities. Some great action set pieces highlight this crafted flick as well as a story that unlike most super hero movies is engaging and intelligent. I can't wait for X3 to see what will happen next, how many sequels these days can you say that about? Not many at all. HUGH JACKMAN was born to play WOLVERINE, one of the best movie characters in years. A good new fashoned comic book film with it's head and heart compounded in good storytelling and style, to me that's a great movie.
Rating: Summary: By George, I think they've got it...! Review: Although still a bit cluttered and slow-moving in parts, this was a vast improvement on the first "X-Men" film, which I thought was a complete dud. A couple of things are happening: first, obviously, special effects technology is finally catching up to the imaginative stretch of the early comicbook artists, and the action is starting to look cool enough to be convincing and fun. The opening sequence with the teleporting Nightcrawler is a good example -- not true, perhaps, to the character's original power as seen in the '70s, but very cool onscreen. Second, the studios are starting to get a sense of how to pace these things. For some reason movie producers who take on comicbook plots always seem to feel the need to endlessly stop the plot dead so we (the audience) can stare at the heros and bask in their awesome presence, a legacy, I'm afraid, of the uber-dismal "Batman" franchise. Personally, as a longtime comicbook reader, I just want them to get on with it and hit me with some action! I'm way over the point where it's amazing to me that these characters are on screen -- I want to see them do stuff. This film did a pretty good job moving in that direction. They assumed a fair amount of familiarity with the various characters, and that the audience for this film was prepared to see amazing and uncanny powers manifest themselves onscreen, and the tendency to explain, explain, explain was minimized in favor of action. The pacing of the action was a bit slow (it felt like they were just padding the movie at times) but in general they seem to be getting the idea. At the end of the film I thought, what they really need is to get to the point where making these blockbusters is as routine and as fluid a process as producing the comics -- if we were up to, say, X-Men Movie #12, I bet things would be a lot smoother and more fun. I've got my fingers crossed that this is the direction we're headed.
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