Rating: 
Summary: X2 - X-treme Film of the Year
Review: "X2 X-men United" was a superb film that was actually better than I expected. The film starts off with a good James Bond stlye opening (an action sequence). Then the film continues rapidly with great action, some suspense and a few laughs. Director Brian Singer was able to out do himself. I'll admit I'm not a really big comic book fan. As well as I don't like that many comic books that make it to the big screen. Such as Spiderman/Daredevil. I just saw X-Men about three days ago and I thought it was pretty interesting but to short. I liked how everything seemed like it came right from the comic books and Tv shows which I remember watching as a child. It seemed like the new comic book series that would replace the Batman saga. The film was dark creepy and extrodinary all in one. Now for X2 X-Men United. This film picked up right where the first one left off. It was nice to see a sequal that actually blended in with it's prequel. The action was better. The story was better. The characters were better, and the whole concept is much bigger. More laughs for action, and for of the X-Men's Jet. The effects were all right. It looks like Brian Singer learned how to make better 3D graphics this time. The film does have it's downers such as how they some-what rush through everything. As well as it would be good to watch the first film before you see the second so that you can remember exactly were Wolverine is in the begining, and what the President is talking about with Senator Kelly. Lucky for me I saw the movie just a few days before, I saw the second one so it really helped. By the way, if there are any soundtrack fans wanting to know if the music is good it's great because this time around it's composed and conducted by John Ottman (Lake Placid). I recommend this film to any body that would like to have a good time at the movies... so enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: I love this movie, i've been converted!!
Review: I hated the first movie a blazing pasion serpassed only by my hate of the new "Star Wars" films. I have to tell you I thought this movie kicked total ...!! From the first moment a failed assination attempt on the president to the goverment takeover of the mutant school. Thats just the begining the action in this flick takes hold and it doesn't let go untill the movie stops. A few points The Bad A. Don't take your young kids to see this there are several scary parts that are sure to have them screaming(at least that was the case for the kds in my theater) B. Sorry Cyclops fans out there he really doesn' thave much of a role in this one. C. It seemed at times that this movie didn't know what it was trying to achomplish. It has somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 writters and it really shows when all is said and done. The Good NIGHTCRAWLER-My god this guy is cool!!
Pyro:-Great balls of fire!! General Stricker(Brian Cox) Man talk about a creepy villian this guy is great! Magneto: Friend or Foe? You decide Overall-Excellent just great forget X1 and get this on video when it comes out
Rating:
Summary: Better than the 1st!!!!!!!!!!
Review: This movie has way more action than the first and a lot better. I just watched a day after it came out! It is cool because there are new x-men like iceman, night crawler,etc. + Jean Grey dies in this movie at the end.
Rating:
Summary: An awesome sequel that tops the first
Review: I just saw X-Men 2 and I must say I was blown away. I liked the first but after seeing this one I saw just how good the first one could have been. The first was basically just a small introduction. Now that all the characters were introduced we have a sequel that's all action and has no time for introduction. The result is one [heck] of a ride, this film gave me the feel that I was actually watching the cartoon series from the 90's that I loved. I can't say the first film really gave me that feel at all eventhough I did like it. I have a problem with the fact that they didn't give Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike a history. In the comic book they were ex lovers. Deathstrike blames Wolverine for the death of her scientist father in the comic, you don't get that here. Instead she's just a mutant being controlled by the evil mutant hater General Striker (Brian Coxx "the original Hannibal Lector from Manhunter"). I also disapointed that the first film didn't give Wolverine and Sabortooth a history as well. I was hoping they'd bring Sabortooth back so they could have Wolverine figure out that his past connects to Sabortooth. The first also was short, it spent most of it's time introducing the characters when not all of them were even there. In this sequel we don't get Beast or Gambit but we do get Night Crawler. Alan Cummings "Spy Kids", pulls off the role just awesome. The special effects that make it so he can appear where ever he wants are just great. The make-up for that character are well done as well. Colosis who is also another popular X-Man has a short but cool cameo where he saves some mutant children at the school. This film is a lot more like the comic book than the first and should do many X-Men fans proud. The whole Jean Grey sub-plot will surprise but delight most X-Men fans such as myself. I don't wanna give anything away but I find that with Jean Grey the film does have sort of a Star Trek 2 ending. Part 3 already is giving me a Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock sorta feel and it's not even out yet. Part 3 will probably be largely surrounded around Jean Grey's character just like Star Trek 3 was with Spock. I can't wait for that though. I don't wanna give anything but for any X-Men fans that know of the Phoenix saga you are gonna love this. I wouldn't mind seeing a new Mutant villain come around for the 3rd one as well though. I'm dieing to see Juggernaut for instance. Apocolyse would be cool as well. X-Men 2 is another strong movie for Marvel and could possibly be the best. Yes even better than Spiderman.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good
Review: Usually it seems like sequels are not good compared to the first. I think this movie isn't as great as X-Men 1, but very well done. The plot seems to run dry. Some guy wants to kill all mutants using cerebro, which was that machine they used to find mutants. It is completely different from X1, but that isn't why the movie is good. It is because of the action, and the characters. If you don't love the characters, you won't love the movie. My dad said the reason he didn't like starwars 2 was because of Anakin, and he is right(noone wants to listen to a whiner). All the characters in this movie you can like, Storm can be stupid at times though. I don't want to give it away, but when Jean states "Its targeting something else", Storms reply is "If its not targeting blahblah then what is it targeting?". Dude, Storm, every single person in that room understands what Jean is talking about, you are just making yourself look stupid. The action is great also. At first you think Wolverine is gonna do that thing where instead of killing people he slashes their guns in half, your wrong. He actually stabs people, for real. There isn't any blood, but its awesome. I mean he must stab 100 people. It is very cool. Storm does some stuff. Even though shes got a pretty big picture on the cover, she is not a main character at all. They have introduced some more mutants too, and it basically highlights the new recruits. Night crawler is major with his transport skill, and Colossus throws these 2 guys. Then there is Pyro. Pyro states that he is the worst mutant of them all, yet he can't even create fire, and you will see what I mean by that. One thing you may notice is that they have changed Pyro, in X1 he was the guy who made the small flame, and iceman froze it. He had blonde hair and looked alot different, they got a new guy to do him in this movie. The humor is alright, and Wolverine does most of it, but some of the people in the theatre would just not stop laughing. I mean jeez, I had to ask someone to stop talking, just because they were laughing at the most stupid things. It can be funny though if you are watching it with just your family, and don't have to sit next to people who like to make sarcastic remarks to themselves when nobody cares(you know who im talking about, that person who always does the "ooowwwwwww, that must of hurt" when it was obvious that it hurt.). So even though my theatre expeirience was bad, I enjoyed the movie, and if you like alot of action with a few boring scenes, you will like this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Better than the original and getting closer to a true epic
Review: Even more so that its predecessor, "X2: X-Men United" is more of a treat for those of us weaned on Marvel Comics and know the complete back story of every single mutant superhero who pops up through the movie. When Dr. Hank McCoy (Steve Bacic) is shown debating the rights of Mutants on television we recognize he is one of the original merry mutants in yellow spandex, the Beast. During the final shot of the film we nod knowingly because our intimate knowledge of "X-Men" #101 means we recognize the strange shape and can hazard a pretty good guess as to what happens in the third X-Men movie before the credits even start to roll on this one. This film is better than the first one, which is a very good sign in the world of Hollywood where a sequel is one thing but a franchise is even better. The first time around the X-Men, the good mutants of Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), had to stop Magneto (Ian McKellen) and his bad mutants (the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants for those who know their X-Men lore), although there were humans trying to push a Mutant Registration Act through Congress. This time it is the ordinary humans who are after all the mutants in the world, ironically, by using mutants in the effort. In charge of the effort is General William Stryker (Brian Cox), who has found a means of extracting information from Magneto about Xavier's School for Gifted Children as well as some other ways of allowing him exercise some degree of mind control. The worst thing I can say about "X2" is that it begins with the best action sequences the entire film. A mutant gets into the White House and goes after the President (Cotter Smith) in the Oval Office. We know that this is Kurt Wagner (Alan Cummings), a.k.a. Nightcrawler, who has the gift of teleportation (apparently without the omnipresent of brimstone this time around). This surprises us because he is one of the "good" mutants, but the answer will be forthcoming. He is one of the few new characters introduced into the mix and the tatoos they have worked into Nightcrawler's make-up are superb; on the basis of Nightcrawler and Zhaan from "Farscape," there simply need to be more blue chracters on television and in the movies. Anyhow, Nightcrawler's attack on the President gives Stryker carte blanche to go after the mutants and his first target is the school in Westchester, New York. When the troops hit Xavier's school is probably the second best action sequence in the film, and we are still only a half hour into the film (the final action sequences has great significance but is considerably less spectacular). For those who remember when Marvel editor Jim Shooter put his foot down about X-Men characters doing any actual killing (e.g., a whole planet of asparagus people), it is rather surprising to see Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) slicing and dicing his way through the shock troops. From that point on the goal is for the X-Men to stay ahead of Stryker's army and try to stop his plan and save mutant-kind. There are echoes of a lot of different epic adventures from the X-Men comic books in this film. The script by Michael Dougherty and Daniel P. Harris is based on a story created by David Hayter, Zak Penn, and director Bryan Singer, who were obviously inspired by the writers (Stan Lee, Len Wein, and Chris Claremont) and artists (Jack Kirby, Dave Cockrum, and John Byrne) of the comic books. There is still Wolverine trying to get between Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) and Scott Summers/Cyclopes (James Marsden), as well as the sudden spikes in Jean's powers. Rogue (Anna Paquin) is trying to figure out a way of having the most tentative of physical relationships with Bobby Drake/Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), while John Allerdyce/Pyro (Aaron Stanford) is trying to figure out whether or not he should switch sides. There are a lot of characters being juggled here; Halle Berry has an Oscar and is one of the good mutants, but she does not have much to do except exercise her powers to control the weather periodically. Rebecca Romijn-Stamos gets more to do as Mystique, except, of course, you can never tell. Ultimately what makes this film less than perfectlly satisfying is the fact that the nature of the characters compels the writers to create artificial restraints. When Marvel put out the "Ultimate X-Men" comic books it proved what I had long suspected: that you can really only have one fight between the X-Men and Magneto for all the marbles because as long as he has his helmet on, the Mutant Master of Magneticism is pretty much invincible. This is proven in "X2" when Magneto finally escape; keep in mind how he does it and then come up with a reason why he does not simply go out and do that to every human being on earth. Similarly, when the troops attack the school, there is more fleeing than fighting, although the tranquillizer darts used by the invaders do not work on the armored Piotr Rasputin/Colossus (Daniel Cudmore) or Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat (Katie Stuart) with her ability to walk through walls. Granted, the important thing is to get the kids to relative safety, but Wolverine does not have to do the Horatio at the bridge act. The key to where the next film can succeed even better is contained in the climax, not only in terms of story of self sacrifice involved but also in the promise of rebirth. In other words, the next time around "X-Men" can reach operatic heights if they do any justice at all to the Dark Phoenix epic. Cross your fingers, True Believers.
Rating:
Summary: An Xcellent Movie!!!!
Review: The wait is over and super heroine Storm (Halle Berry) and her mutant friends have blown back into theaters. This time, we are treated to more action, new characters and a visually pleasing film that doesn't disappoint. While some characters have been scaled back in the story line (such as Cyclops and Rogue), this movie gives us more of Storm and her ability to control weather, young X men in training, Iceman and Pyro, and the Xavier-like Jean Gray. Villains held over from the previous film are Mystique, whose role also expanded in this film and Magneto, played by the always talented Ian McCellan. Bryan Singer did a good job of juggling the meagerie of mutant characters under the care of Dr. Xavier. I also like how he exhibits the theme of being an outsider in the movie, such as the one scene in which Bobby (Iceman) returns home. The scene has Iceman "coming out" to his parents and revealing the dreadful news that he is a mutant. It plays like a young man revealing his homosexuality to his parents and shows the broader scope of the theme of exclusion felt by the mutants to the rest of human society. The most interesting new addition is Nightcrawler, played perfectly by the charming actor, Alan Cumming. The scenes with Nightcrawler transporting are extremely well done and I hope we learn more about the blue skinned mutant in the next film. The story line with Wolverine continues with some resolution but leaves plenty of information in the dark for the inevitable sequel. There is a death in the film that I felt was unnecessary--I won't say who--but it would have been interesting to see this character return. However, with the number of heroes and villains in the world of the X Men, there are plenty of new characters to choose from for the next movie. If you haven't seen the first film, you might want to check it out before seeing this one, although it isn't completely necessary. There is enough interesting things going on in this movie to keep your attention and make you a fan of this group of heroes. The ending also hints at things to come in the next film (for one hero in particular), making me eager to see the next one and dreading the wait for it to appear in theaters! Make a trip to your local theater for this popcorn flick...you will not be disappointed!
Rating:
Summary: one word: WOW!
Review: Excellent, excellent follow-up of the first movie...more action. I loved BOTH films, but X2 was definitely a bit better. I look forward to the next one!
Rating:
Summary: Better than the first!
Review: I was a bit disappointed with the weak plot and horrible treatment of the characters in the first X-Men movie. As such, I was expecting X-2 to be equally disappointing, if not more so. Boy, am I glad to be wrong! X-2 is what the first movie should have been like (ie closer to the comic). We are forever stuck with the problems of the characters such as Kitty Pryde's character being put in Rogue's body so that in fact we get neither character, Iceman being a student of the school when in fact he is one of the original X-Men, Pyro taking up screen time when he was never part of the X-men (and a stupid character anyway)... I could go on. X-2 also continues the flaw of the first film in that the X-Men are nothing more than few characters with some odd powers they barely control when they should be a fully functioning team with absolute control over their powers. What separates the X-Men from every other mutant is their comraderie and intense training. In the comics, they are powerful, saving the world many times over. In the movies we are constantly seeing them get their butts kicked because they have to stop and concentrate before using any powers. This has improved however. Nightcrawler for instance is one bad mofo who is very close to what he should be. Jean-Grey discovers her powers are increasing (appearantly after the events of the first film) and by the end, she is how she should have been all along. Fans of Wolverine will get to see him actually be Wolverine for once. X-2 succeeds partially because it doesn't attempt to give you some goofed up "starting-out" story like the first film. It plays like an issue of the comics; you pick an issue up, the action is already flowing, and you have to catch up. From the very opening scene of the movie, you know this is a different film than the first. Every super powered character in the film just seems to be more awe inspiring, capturing the magic of comic book heroes (for the most part). This film sees an even bigger threat to the world than the first film. The previews make it seem to be a threat to the school and about Wolverine's past, when in fact those are really only small parts of it. It's better if you don't know the plot, as I didn't. The finale is ripped out of one of the most dramatic events in X-Men history, and for the fans that recognize it, there is a nice teaser at the very end that makes me think the best is yet to come! If you liked the first X-Men movie, you really should see X-2. It's going to go down in history as one of the few sequels that's actually better than the original (by a good margin I should add). There's more action, more characterization, more FX, and most importantly more story. It's still not as good as it could have been, but considering how lacking the first film was, it's good enough!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderment, a true MARVEL!
Review: The X-Men 2 movie followed the plot of the comics (allocating characters in to the story with excitement, and believable reason) much better than the first. The story started out and spun from scene to scene which kept the audience on the edge of their seats. It seemed every time an X-Man killed someone the audience would cheer. The story was great and moved along, and even though the plot (a death machine that Xavier can use to kill everyone on the planet) was a little "out there," it was followed with a Saga that definitely dwarfs the idea of the "Cerebro." I believe the next trilogy (you can't use the Phoenix and expect to fit it all into one movie) will be the last X-Men movies ever made simply because the X-Men are outdone so easily. This movie was astonishing, with that one exception or question. How are they going to incorporate the Phoenix, (as it was so shown at the end) and other galaxies in other X-Men movies? I believe the ending (and bear with me here) made this movie lose the awesome realism it was somehow given throughout almost all of the entire film.
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