Rating- * * * * (4/5)
Let me begin my review with a brief note about this film’s title. Although Fox began a recent press campaign calling the movie X2: X-Men United, I will be calling it by the much shorter and less gay title listed above because 1) X-Men United sounds a little too communist for my liking and 2) the director has stated that despite Fox’s publicity blitz, the official title of the film is still X2. This is a particularly significant release for several key reasons. First, it is the first release of the summer movie season and will likely set the pace for all the other highly anticipated releases to come. Second, this is the first attempt (there will surely be many to follow) at creating a sequel in what has become undoubtedly the most popular genre, the superhero film (Blade 2, while based on a comic book, is really more of a horror/action film). I developed a theory about the nature of the superhero film earlier this year and it went a little something like this; the superhero genre works best in a franchise form. In other words, a story that fits the superhero genre can best be told through a series of movies rather than in just one or two films. I believe that the franchises created by the superhero genre could be the first since Star Trek and James Bond to be successful beyond the first three films. Our first evidence of whether I am right or wrong comes right here with X2. The first X-Men film set the precedent for all the recent superhero hits by establishing characters, rules, and emotionally interesting storylines to motivate and connect all the characters. If X-Men was the template for the superhero film, X2 is the template for superhero sequels. Brian Singer does a brilliant job of quickly reintroducing all the characters to us and quickly moves into new story elements and plot points. It goes without saying that these are not deep, symbolic storylines we are following here (leave that to The Matrix) but all we can ask for from a superhero film is a good popcorn story and some stunning action sequences. The basic storyline, if you must know, is sort of a melding together of several storylines from the comic books. Wolverine’s (Hugh Jackman) continuous search for the truth about his mysterious past leads him to a remote military base in Northern Canada, where he discovers more about a dangerous situation in the present than he does about his past. Rogue (Anna Paquin) has gotten herself a boyfriend, Bobby the Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), and the two struggle with a relationship where physical contact is fatal. We meet several new X-Men including Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming), a blue-skinned, German Catholic with the ability to teleport, Pyro (Aaron Stanford) a young orphan with the ability to control fire, and Colossus (Daniel Cudmore) who, quite frankly, doesn’t appear nearly enough in this movie. I mean, come on…the guy can turn his skin into metal plating! I’d much rather take him on a mission than some kid who can make things really cold. Anyway, the real story involves a general with the amazingly cool name of Stryker (played by the brilliant Brian Cox) who has it out for mutant-kind and has a plan to kill every mutant in the world. Now even though he’s usually a bad guy, Magneto (Ian McKellen) is still a mutant and is not too happy about the prospect of humans destroying his race so he decides it’s time to escape from his plastic prison cell, which he does in one the film’s coolest and most violent sequences. Magneto decides that in order to defeat Stryker, he must join with the X-Men for the common interest of keeping their species alive (hence Fox’s cheesy re-titling, X-Men United). I won’t go into any further plot details because that would ruin the fun, wouldn’t it? What I will comment on is the performances. The old veterans clearly steal every scene they’re in, and how could they not? Such talent as McKellen, Cox, and Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier is certainly incapable of anything less than amazing. One surprising performance in this film however comes from Famke Janssen as the beautiful telepath Jean Grey. Fans of the comic book already know the dramatic journey of this character, which is begun in this film and will apparently carry over to X3, but to those who aren’t familiar with her character, keep your eyes on Jean Grey. The look of intensity and determination that Janssen brings to her face during her key moments is quite dramatic and really elevates the tension and power of her scenes. She will play quite an important role in the third film and I will be interested to see what she can bring to the part. There are also improved performances from Halle Berry as Storm, who finally dropped that silly accent, and also from Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as Mystique who actually gets to talk in this movie. As far as action, the film actually drags a little while lingering on its story elements. Those expecting frequent fight scenes will be disappointed as there are only really two worth mentioning, although they are doozies. The best by far is Wolverine’s showdown with a female version of himself called Deathstrike (Kelly Hu). The fighting stays away from the clichés other movies would quickly have fallen into (like copying The Matrix) and sticks to a more traditionally American style of fighting. While there aren’t many fight scenes there are still quite a few other exciting action sequences that should give you what you need adrenaline-wise. So does this move work as a sequel? Definitely. Is it a highly enjoyable popcorn movie? Heck yeah. Is it the best a superhero sequel could be? Not quite. I believe that this film serves as a good example of how to do a superhero sequel but the source material Singer is working with is a little too cluttered and complex to compress into a clear-cut dramatic action film like some of the other superhero stories can. There are just so many characters, storylines and plot elements going on that it feels a tad bit messy. All in all though this is one of the best summer openers you could ask for and I was certainly satisfied. As a sequel, it relies heavily on material from the first film so unless you are already very familiar with the events and characters, you definitely want to watch the first film before you see this one. I can happily recommend X2 to any fans of superhero movies, great special effects, great looking women in blue body paint and big-budget summer fun.