Rating: 
Summary: This is What the 1st X-Men Should Have Been
Review: First I have to say this movie is 10 times better than the first. It is a darker more violent movie(definately heed the PG-13 rating). The movie opens with an attepmted assination of the President and ends with the death of an X-Man(if you've read the X-Men comics you know where that is actually leading, but for those thathave never read the comic, I don't want to spoil the surprise of the next sequal).Nightcrawler(a new mutant to the movie storyline) is outstanding. Wolverine is the way he's suppose to be, a lean, mean, hacking machine. And Magneto's prison escape is just awesome. For die-hard X-Men fans look for the various referances to the X-Men that haven't made it into the film. Like Beast(Dr. Henry McCoy) and Gambit(Remy LeBeau). A great film that I'll go see again. If you haven't seen it and you can't get to see The Matrix because it's sold out, go see X-2.
Rating: 
Summary: If you liked the first one you'll like this one:
Review: The X-Men have to unite with the Brotherhood of Mutants to thwart the plans of a rogue, military scientist who wants to obliterate the entire mutant population. 1) Same feel as the first movie. Nice mix of action, humor, suspense, and super-power special effects to wet most people's appetite. If you like the first one you won't be disappointed here. 2) You've seen it in the trailers, Nightcrawler is AWESOME! The third movie will just need to introduce Beast and the group will be complete. 3) Jean Grey's character transforms into something more formidable than the weakling she was in the first movie. I'm very happy for that. 4) Mystique seems a LOT more powerful and skilled than in the first movie. Not sure why they did that, but it made me like her character more because she was so resourceful and ingenuitive. 5) We find out more about Wolverine's past. Interesting. Hugh Jackman is Wolverine! 6) Rogue had her usefulness to the "bad guys" in the first movie. But both movies are still struggling to show the usefulness of Rogue to the good guys. 7) They upped Storm so she isn't so goofy as in the first movie. She too actually comes across useful in this movie. 8) Introduced Pyro and some of his motivations which helped sharpen what is to come in future movies. 9) Where did they find a 17 year old (not sure if that is his real age) so large to play Colossus?!? Nice cameo of this character making you want to see more of him. OVERALL: As sequels go, this was one was in many ways is a stronger movie than the first movie. It was worth paying the money to go see in the movie theater and I'll definitely get the DVD.
Rating:
Summary: X2 - Great Movie, Cool Special Effects
Review: I did not see the first X-men movie. When I saw X2 I could follow the story perfectly. So if you haven't see the first one, you will still enjoy the second film. My favorite character in this film was Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, he vanishes in a mist to reappear again - and his character also prays the Rosary. The special effects were incredible. Through the entire scene where Nightcrawler is in the White House, after the President, I was just in awe. Alan Cumming spent hours in makeup for this character, and it was well worth it. The other special effects are also stunning as well. It is an absolutely fun movie, with great special effects.
Rating:
Summary: Best super-hero movie I've seen, EVER
Review: The sequel truly is better than the original, and I liked the original, too! Alot happens in this movie, but is made to be very easy to follow, and there is not one dull or cheesy moment in the entire film, the latter being quite a feat, considering the genre! The action-sequences, special effects, makeup, and storyline were all top-notch, and the movie lended itself to a Part III more than any other sequel I have seen. Sooo much better than Superman, Spiderman, the new Star Wars movies, or any other science fiction or super-hero movie that I have seen to date, and I have seen MANY. Oddly, The Matrix: Reloaded has received oodles of attention, but from the preview I saw before X-Men 2, there is no possible way that it could be as good. There is also a strong social message in this film, which I think makes it an excellent choice for your pre-teen or older. It would be a little too scary for most kids under, say nine, but my 11 year old son is still raving about it (And so am I)!! I just hope it isn't another, what was it, FOUR YEARS?, before the next one comes out. If you haven't seen it, go see it while it is still at the theatre, because of all of the movies out right now, it is the one which most benefits from the large screen and theatre-quality sound.
Rating:
Summary: Marked improvement on the first film.
Review: The original "X-Men" movie (released in 2000) was a passably good film, but it was victim of infamous Hollywood machine. It had too much hype surrounding it and it didn't produce a particularly compelling story. Much like "Spiderman" from last year (2002), the original "X-Men" was a 'junkfood' cinema: it tastes good at the time, but passes through your system very fast and is, ultimately, empty. I enjoyed the2 hours I spent when I saw it, but I felt no compulsion to go see it again. "X-2: X-Men United" is a vast improvement on the original. While still somewhat bogged down with too many new characters, "X-2" benefits greatly from a more focused storyline and a deeper investigation into this histories of the manyof the characters. The story, more or less, surrounds a plan by a rogue Army colonel named Stryker (straight from central name casting) seeking to use a recent terror attack by an out of controlmutant on the President of the United States, plus some additional incriminating intelligence, to further a plan to take out a personal vendetta against the mutants. Dr. Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) iscaptured byStryker with the intention of using powerful manipulative techniques to force Xavier to dohis bidding. The bidding, of course, involves the destruction of all the mutants on Earth. The story has a tighterfeel than the earlier movie because Stryker isn't just some random enemy. He has shady connections fromfrom the past to a number of mutants, Dr. Xavier and Wolverine most notably. The good mutants are facedwith a double-edged sword of trying to stop Stryker without appearing like a threat to normal humans asthey are trying to gain mainstream acceptance among the populace. A unique aspect of the story involves the good mutants needing to work together with Magneto and his crew of baddies to help stop Stryker (hence the title "...X-Men United". Both factions want the same goal, but for decidedly different reasons. Watching them work together, with the air of suspicion marking all their actions, makes for a more compelling story, as opposed to the standard 'good vs. evil' plot of the previous movie. Another area of fascination is the greater revelation of the origins of Wolverine and the background the relationshipbetween Magneto and Dr. Xavier. Details won't be revealed in this review other than to say that these revelations give greater depth to the film franchise. All in all, "X-2" is top-notch summer entertainment. As mentioned before, there are still too many new characters. However, it seems that many of thesecharacters (some of whom were dramatically underused in "X-2") will provide the impetus for stories in future "X-Men" movies. The door is wide-open for additional films in this franchise. If they continue to be produced at this level of quality, then they will be very welcome. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title
Rating:
Summary: perfect!
Review: Wow! I just would like to congradulate Brian Singer once more. Just seen the movie and it was beyond my expectations.( I was already expecting a great one) The first one was already a success considering how hard it is to carry the comics to the screen with so many superheros packed in one adventure and the flashbacks to the original comics books in terms of vision and character movement shots. ( Not to mention the shots where you can see half of Mageneto's face in dark and Xavier on the background with lots of Xs around in X-men 1. Such a great scene! Just like a comics page) The second one is even better, the plot, the theme, the connection made to the first one, showing the powers of each character one by one ( no exaggerations , no overacting at all!), the visual effects, actors...all were great. Can't hardly wait for x-men 3! Dvd collectors shall not miss this one!
Rating:
Summary: Better than X1
Review: You have to understand something. I never really collected comics as a kid. I collected a few. I might have 1 or 2 Hulk comics, maybe 1 Spiderman, and 5 Xmen comics. For some reason, I liked the "Uncanny Xmen". However, when the Xmen animated series debut on FOX I was hooked. Now this was an action cartoon ...P> Anyway, this new movie X2 is like watching those cartoons all over again. They do this movie justice. I felt like I understood them again. They were the Xmen ! The last movie, let's call it X1, was no where in comparison. Basically, I hated that movie. Some say that it was necessary to have the first movie the way it was, to act as an introduction movie, however I considered it waste of time and money. This movie is the movie to see. I was very impressed with the visuals, and with how the characters interacted. The dialogue. Wolverines character was finally WOLVERINE ! Yes, this is the way Wolverine should be. This is who I grew up with. Go see this movie! It will serve all those who read the comics, watched the animated series, or did neither.
Rating:
Summary: Being a mutant never looked so good!
Review: Likeable characters, a good storyline, great special effects and an ever-winning battle between good and evil, X-Men 2 has it all. Bryan Singer does a great job of directing and sketching out the histories among the mutants and their struggles (and impending war) with humans. Some friends told me to see the first X-Men movie before even thinking about seeing X-Men 2, but I don't think it matters. It's just one of those added value perks. This is a good family flick. It's got something for everyone. It doesn't take itself too seriously: X-Men 2 has very funny moments. Plus it has a strong returning cast: Hugh Jackman (very compelling and a hottie as Wolverine), Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, the ever-wonderful Ian McKellen. Great new additions like Alan Cummings as Nightcrawler. X-Men 2 definitely makes you want to look for your own inner mutant. A whole lot of fun from beginning to end.
Rating:
Summary: "The war is coming, and I intend to fight it"
Review: Well I have no idea where to begin how amazed I am at the second installment in the blossoming X-Men movie franchise. The first movie from 2000 was a great start but had quite a few flaws to it and had a lot of room for improvement from there. Well, I'm proud to say that a good amount of that room is filled up with with lots more action packed storyline and much more intense plot. Let me just say that "X2: X-Men United" is a marvelous follow-up to the first X-Men movie and while that movie was very good, this one trashes that one by a mile with much more action-packed plot and greater intensity. This movie also brings a lot of new characters into the picture such as Nightcrawler and newcomer Pyro. The movie begins with the human and mutant societies sharing the planet except that the skyrocketing prejudices have polarized the two societies following an incident in D.C. and the anti-mutant hysteria reaches dangerous levels to where a vicious anti-mutant army general named William Stryker (Played by Brian Cox) launches an attack against the School For The Gifted and uses an experimental drug that manages to control the minds of mutants and makes them answer any questions that Stryker asks them and is on a quest to build his own version of Cerebro to use against the mutant population through the mind of the now captive Charles Xavier. Meanwhile Magneto escapes from the plastic prison and unlike the last movie, he teams up with his former rivals to fight against Stryker's forces. Meanwhile Wolverine goes back to Canada to try to remember his past and encounters the site of the long abandoned experimental lab, or is it abandoned? This movie, following the footsteps of the first X-Men movie, has tons and tons of action packed sequences, and much darker and bitterer atmosphere to the movie especially towards the ending. This movie still has it's flaws but nowhere near as much as the previous X-Men movie. Rogue, seaming looking more like a pure victim than a psychologically scarred character, plummets from a potential super heroine down to just a background character and played virtually no part in the events in the movie. I just hope that she plays a MUCH larger role in the next X-Men movie, whenever that one comes out. Storm fared a little better than in the last one, showing more personality and character and more intelligence but still nowhere near as much of the punch that the comic book character really has. Gambit still hasn't surfaced yet and he's one of my favorite characters. In terms of the missing characters, it's not necessarily bad that their not here as the comic books have SO many characters that it's impossible to bring every one of them onto one movie so I can't necessarily blame the moviemakers for leaving them out in this movie. Hopefully, Gambit, Jubilee, and Beast will surface in the next installment in this marvelous franchise. On the other extreme though, the characters that fared well in the first movie, are even better than they were in the last one. Wolverine shows a chilling rage during the beginning part of the movie. Patrick Stewert proves that he IS Professor Charles Xavier. No one in my opinion could've played Xavier better than Stewert. Sir Ian McKellan does even better as the villainous master of magnetism Magneto. Magneto is even more chilling in this movie than in the last one. To me, it's great to see the rivalry between Magneto and Xavier continue to develop yet they have to work together to stop Stryker and to me, it shows how it seems like Xavier and Magneto are like two sides of the same coin but each side has conflicting goals. Brian Cox though steals the spotlight as he gives a chilling role as the extremely evil general William Stryker. Most of the rest of the characters are also improved. We also bring in Kurt Wagner a.k.a. Nightcrawler and also future villain Pyro. There are lots more characters besides the ones I mentioned that deserve attention but the three I mentioned are the highlights. I view X2 as the movie where the possible war between mutants and normal humans seems to be in the beginning stages of this movie and it almost parallels what the possible outcome would be in the real world should prejudice overtake the minds of the societies of our world and lead to destructive rioting and even civil warfare. I think that both this and the first X-Men film have powerful messages of the dangers of discrimination against those who are 'different' and how it causes devastation on all sides of the conflict. The special effects once again are amazing and the Cerebro room is absolutely amazing and how it shows the locations of the normal humans and the locations of the mutant populations. It almost is unsettling to see especially if there is technology that can locate every living human on the planet. This movie is getting a lot of the justice that it deserves with it's success at the box office along with Spider Man. I have to say that this is the age of Marvel Comic moviemaking and the blossoming of two powerful franchises and let's hope they have a long lifetime as opposed to what happened with the Batman movie series with the disastrous "Batman & Robin" movie. It can't stop here with the second X-Men movie though. There's just so much more to bring out that this movie needs to continue well past the second X-Men movie. Until all that happens, "X2" will definitely deliver the action and entertainment to keep us entertained until it happens. Perhaps the third one should involve the Sentinels. "X2" is a near epic result of great casting, great script, and strong plot and is destined to become a future classic. There's more than I can give out in words.
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: I thought this movie was great (even having not seeing the first one before because of having some sort of prejudice against it)! Though it seemed to me to start out a bit corney, the rest was great. The action and little numerous love triangle side storylines as in the comic/original cartoon when I saw when I was a kid gave me great memories. I was a little disappointed though at the fact that they follow the new television show "Evolution" a bit more than the original cartoon/comic. What I'm really trying to say is that I miss the Beast, Jubilee and Gambit (especially him!)... I see there was reason to leave out Gambit for he doesnt really have much of a power with exploding cards and all but still, there might have been room. Hopefully they will be encorporated into other sequels (which I'm guessing they'll be more of). Still, it was a good movie and I highly recommend it... One reason being the hook at the end of the movie where they give you a hint of a bird flying through water... I believe that they might bring in the Phoenix as in the cartoon in the next film, hopefully my predictions are correct as I would find that very amusing! Overall, as I've mentioned many times before, this was a very enjoyable and nostalgic film; I hope you comic fans out there go see it because its well worth the nine dollars!
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