My First Thoughts on X2

[joe_collector]

SPOILERS AHEAD---

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, I know you're all anticipating my views on the movie, so I'll start out by saying I liked it. The movie is an improvement on the original, it has excellent visual effects, the action comes on hot and heavy, and Wolvie is a heckavu lot meaner in this one.

 

As for a an actual "story", I didn't see one, but the action was good enough that I could overlook it. This was a lot like Predator 2, where one action sequence led to another, with any story structure being a total afterthought.

 

Some short notes:

 

Excellent opening sequence, but it occured to me that this is why Claremont gave Nightcrawler his "weakening factor" when teleporting, otherwise the guy could beat a virtual army by constantly bamf'ing around.

 

After that killer sequence, the Nightcrawler character was kinda lame, spouting religious gibberish and slowing the pace of the movie.

 

Wolvie was awesome, and it was nice to see him slicing and dicing with abandon. That Pyro "flame the cops" bit was also quite good, but I found his "I'm a bad mutant - see my evil grin" slo-mo schtick a bit overdone.

 

And why could Wolvie slice and dice Stryker's guys (who were likely army stiffs acting on Presidental authority), but Pyro get zapped by Rogue to burning some cops who just capped Wolvie? The morality play seemed to shift with the character. Either that or Wolvie didn't sport the maniacal grin that gave him away.

 

Excellent fight scenes between Wolvie and Deathstrike, but the rest of the ending action could have used a bit more "oomph". Cyclops was totally wasted in the movie, but nice cameos by Kitty and Pete, the last of which was waaaaaaay too short. Here we have a metal dude who could take down the entire strike force, yet Wolvie sends him away - Special FX budget must have been running dry.

 

Overall, a good summer flick, but not as captivating as Spider-man, nor as ultra-cool as Blade. Kind of somewhere in-between, but head and shoulder's above that utter [!@#%^&^] that was Dulldevil.

 

B+

[Bugaboo-migration]

Official X2 movie thread #39.

[Illiterati-migration]

You know, I have to say that the more I think about it, the cooler that fight between Cyclops and Jean becomes. I mean, it was really just visually impressive! That's all. Good review, CI!

 

I must admit that I hadn't really considered the whole Pyro thing... I just attributed it to the nature of the assailants: a strikeforce invading their house on the one hand and just some podunk local cops on the other. Plus he had to be groomed to be a bad guy! No one is inherently evil, right? (Except for Greggy.)

[joe_collector]

I must admit that I hadn't really considered the whole Pyro thing... I just attributed it to the nature of the assailants: a strikeforce invading their house on the one hand and just some podunk local cops on the other.

 

Sure, but that "evil grin" made it just a tad too obvious that Pyro is going over to the dark side, when in reality, Wolvie's got a slug in his head and there's trigger-happy cops bearing down on them.

 

If Wolvie killing some army stiffs is justifiable (in the movie's own world) then Pyro's is equally so. I know what the movie was trying to convey, but it could have been done much better, like seeing Pyro endangering some bystanders, or taking a couple of pot-shots at civilians when the cops took off.

 

That would have been much more effective than the old "evil grin".

[blowout]

Here we have a metal dude who could take down the entire strike force, yet Wolvie sends him away - Special FX budget must have been running dry

 

I'm pretty sure that it has been officially stated (by Singer himself) that the effects budget for the film ran dry.

This explains the far too brief appearance by Colossus and also apparently an entire planned scene in the Danger Room had to be dropped.

 

Hopefully both Colossus and the Danger Room will play larger parts in the next flick. The dream X-Team for me in the next movie will be Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Storm, Cyclops (needs work) and Pheonix (before switching sides). With the Danger Room coming in to train the likes of Ice Man, Rogue & Sprite.

[joe_collector]

On that note, the continued appearance of Rogue is mighty confusing, as you could delete her character entirely and no one would notice. I also don't think she works well in a 2 hour movie, as most of her appeal is in the "angst" department, which can be used much better in comics and novels.

[murph0]

All I want from the next X-men movie is Iceman sliding around on one of his ice paths.

 

Brian

[joe_collector]

I'm pretty sure that it has been officially stated (by Singer himself) that the effects budget for the film ran dry.

 

Yeah, it was pretty obvious when he only turned into Colossus once, and while running away from gun-wielding maniacs, stays in human form throughout.

 

Or as Cyclops would say:

 

"You're got a brain Collossus, use it!"

[blowout]

the continued appearance of Rogue is mighty confusing, as you could delete her character entirely and no one would notice. I also don't think she works well in a 2 hour movie, as most of her appeal is in the "angst" department

 

The only way to enhance her onscreen presence, would be to have her suck in Carol Danvers's abilities as in the comic book. That way she could fly around and smash things, ala Superman.

Currently, the fawning after Wolverine and playing love interest to Iceman is just not enough. It worked in the first movie, but in this one just appeared strained/forced IMHO.

[joe_collector]

Another thing that I thought was kinda lame was the "Hey, we're on the run from Stryker... so let's stop in and see how Bobby's family is doing".

 

"Yeah Mom, I'm..... a ...... mutant" (and gay, and this is my hairy boyfriend Logan )

 

I know that scene was intended to show the old "coming out of the closet" analogy, but would anyone just stop (on their way to warn the rest of the team) for a little family get-together?

[blowout]

Excellent opening sequence, but it occured to me that this is why Claremont gave Nightcrawler his "weakening factor" when teleporting, otherwise the guy could beat a virtual army by constantly bamf'ing around.

 

I have to say that Nightcrawlers assasination scene has to rank as one of the best opening scenes I have ever seen in a movie. The CGI was just stunning.

Overall the CGI in X2 was breathtaking, and I now feel that they could do just about anything and make it convincing.

 

Just don't mention the Hulk ( ).

[thecomicsheet]

Took my 13 year old son to see it. His comment: The lady in the blue paint was kind of cool! Dad kind of liked her too. (Please don't tell Mom!)

 

[blowout]

The lady in the blue paint was kind of cool! Dad kind of liked her too

 

Hmmm, not surprisingly the *Blue Lady* got the biggest reactions at the showing I was at too.