X2 (2003) Review

"Have you tried not being a mutant?"
-Madeline Drake



After the President of the United States is nearly killed by a mutant, Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming), interest is renewed in passing the Mutant Registration Act.  Colonel William Stryker leads the anti-mutant camp and launches an attack on Charles Xavier's (Patrick Stewart) school and kidnaps the Professor to use him to power a weapon to kill all mutants.  Now the remaining X-Men have to team up with their old enemy, Magneto (Ian McKellen) to foil Stryker's plans.


What Works:

X2 improves upon the original in pretty much every way.  The story is a lot more interesting because the X-Men have to team up with Magneto.  It's an uneasy alliance to say the least, but it's fascinating to watch.

The movie also has a greater emotional impact with the attack on the school being exciting and disturbing.  We also get the apparent death of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen).  It's a heartbreaking loss that I can feel from all of the X-Men.

We get some really awesome adction seqences with the aformementioned raid on the mansion, Pyro (Aaron Stanford) blowing up police cars, Magneto's escape from prsion, and the entirity of the raid on Stryker's base.  It's not Avengers level action, but it's still a lot of fun.

This movie has a massive cast and it's pretty well balanced.  Everyone gets at least a moment to shine.  We get more of the old characters and plenty of the new ones.  Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) and Nightcrawler are the main standouts.

Stryker is an excellent villain.  His motivation is understandbale, but he is still very easy to root for.  I love it when supervillains have no powers of their own, yet still manage to pose a huge threat and Stryker is an great example of this.

Finally, I really like the scene where Iceman comes out as a mutant to his family.  It's a funny moment, but also very heartbreaking.  There are plenty of interesting elements to this scene and it's fascinating to watch.


What Sucks:

My only real complaint with the movie is it would have been nice to get a couple more scenes with Pyro and Cyclops (James Marsden).  Pyro's defection feels a bit forced and Cyclops is underuesed especiallyu considering its his fiancé who dies in the end.


Verdict:

X2 manages to imrpove on the origianl in every way.  We get solid action, great acting, emotional impact, an awesome villain, and a more interesting story.  With such a massive cast, there were a couple of characters that could have used a few more scenes, but, regardless, this movie has definitely got it going on.

 9/10: Great 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Argylle (2024) Review

Image
 "The human skull is shockingly brittle." -Aidan Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) is a very successful spy novelist.  She draws attention from the espionage community when plot points in her books come true.  When Elly is attacked on a train by a group of spies, she is rescued by another spy, Aidan (Sam Rockwell), who needs her help with his mission and to do that, she needs to write another chapter of her latest book. Spoilers Below.  Go ahead and read on because I don't recommend this movie, but either way, you've been warned. What Works: Argylle has a really fun premise that really works in the first half of the movie.  It's a fish-out-of-water, buddy-cop, spy movie, and it's a blast.  Watching Ellie predict where to go based on what the characters in her books would do is a lot of fun.  It's what the whole movie should have been. The opening sequence follows Agent Argylle (Henry Cavill) on another dangerous mission as he pursues the villainous LaGrang
Read more

Top 10 Movies of 2023

Image
2023 is finally over and it's time for me to put my Top 10 list together.  2023 was definitely a weaker year for movies.  There were definitely some great movies, but there were also plenty of disappointing and bad movies as well.  I still managed to put together a great Top 10 with a couple of worthy contenders that just missed the cut.  Let's take a look! #10. They Cloned Tyrone They Cloned Tyrone is a wild and fun sci-fi tale that takes place in the hood.  A drug dealer, a pimp, and a prostitute discover a cloning conspiracy and the results are intelligent and hilarious.  This is a really smart and funny movie with some amazing performances across the board.  This was a movie that kept me guessing the whole way through.  What an absolute blast. #9. Renfield I'm guessing Renfield will be the most controversial entry on my list as I feel like I'm the only person who liked this movie.  I love the old Universal monster movies and the fact that we get a direct sequel, whi
Read more

Madame Web (2024) Review

Image
 "When you take on the responsibility, great power will come." -Santiago Cassie Webb (Dakota Johnson), a New York paramedic, hits her head in an accident, which unlocks the ability to see glimpses of the future.  When she sees Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim) attempting to murder three teenage girls, Cassie intervenes to save them.  As Cassie learns to understand her power, she also discovers the connection between her, the girls, and Ezekiel. What Works: I think the core idea at the center of this movie is a good one and has the potential to be interesting.  Cassie's superpowers are kinda lame.  It's not like they're going to help in a combat situation.  Ezekiel is basically evil Spider-Man.  He has legitimate powers and is a massive threat.  That's an interesting conflict.  How does someone with lackluster superpowers take on a supervillain.  It's a fun idea that I would like to see tried again with greater success.  What Sucks: This movie was embarrassing to
Read more