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In one of
the most anticipated movies of 2003, we join the mutant superhero team from the
hit comic, the X-men yet again from the throws of the surprising hit from 1999.
In this one, after a coordinated attack on the president by a mutant terrorist,
William Stryker (Brian Cox 25th Hour, Adaptation, The Ring), a
mysterious military operative who has been doing reconnaissance on the Xavier
mansion has discovered secrets within the house along with secrets on the
students that attend the school. He convinces the president to let him and his
army raids the mansion despite the arguments by Senator Kelly (Bruce Davison
Summer Catch, Willard). After the X-men learn about the new mutant's
presence, they decide to travel across country and discover it, while Logan
(Hugh Jackman Swordfish, X-men), back from his journey of discovery,
baby sits all of the students for the night. Jean Grey (Famke Janssen Made)
and Storm (Halle Berry X-men, Swordfish) discover a new mutant who
resides in an abandoned church named Kurt Wagner (Alan Cumming Josie and the
Pussycats, Eyes Wide Shut), a demonic mutant in appearance calling himself "Nightcrawler"
who is heavily religious and can teleport and perform amazing acrobatics.
Meanwhile, Logan adjusts to the calm mansion lifestyle, but all is disrupted
when Stryker goes against the president's orders and begins raiding the house,
kidnapping the kids one by one, but must go up against the fiercely protective
Logan, and many other mutants.
Stryker is aided by a mysterious silent assistant named Yuriko (Kelly Hu
The Scorpion King, Nash Bridges) who has mysterious ties to
Logan
and has abilities very closely resembling
Logan's
own. Professor X (Patrick Stewart Star Trek: The Next Generation) and
Cyclops (James Marsden Disturbing Behavior, Gossip) are ambushed and
taken prisoner at Stryker's base by Magneto (Ian McKellen Lord of the Rings,
Of Gods and Monsters), while visiting him, attempting to divulge information
as to how and why Stryker was able to corrupt the heavily secured mansion. Now
the remaining X-men, led by Logan are forced to team up with the escaped and
evil mutants Magneto and Mystique (Rebecca Romjin Stamos Femme Fatale),
and must corrupt Stryker's home base which lies under a dam and free the
mutants, and Professor X who is being interrogated by Stryker for the secrets of
the mansion and the mutant- tracking super computer Cerebro.
If you're an avid reader of my movie reviews, you'll know by my reviews of
past comic book movies that I am a fan boy, so it may not serve as a surprise
that this movie was at the top of my list for the movies to see this year. I
enjoyed the first "X-Men" so much and thought it managed to set a precedent and
standard among many other comic book movies that only "Spider-Man" and
"Daredevil" has been able
to surpass so far. This movie is much more superior to the first; it's a lot
darker and focused on the characters than the first one was. We already know
about the characters, which the first focused so much on, so we get straight to
the action. The special- effects are incredible in this, making the first look
like a rehearsal. We have great mutant effects galore, and two unbelievable
sequences involving a dam breaking, and a jet dog fight accompanied by a crowd
of tornadoes. Nightcrawler's teleportation effect is very well constructed in
this. In the comics, his teleportation is followed by a BAMF! Sound after every
move, so the filmmakers are able to orchestrate it well. The fights in this are
very well choreographed, bringing upon a lot of great fight scenes, my favorite
being the first ten minutes of the movie where Nightcrawler raids the White
House. The entire cast is back again from the first, some being featured more
than others. Hugh Jackman gives a better performance in this, showing he's
adjusted to the role of Logan, doing some incredible action sequences, my
favorite being when he walks through the hall slicing and dicing his way through
soldiers (Man, was I jumping in my seat!)
Hugh is on- key with the character of Wolverine, looking the role perfectly
and giving an electric performance. Alan Cumming, one of the better actors of
our time, and one of my favorites, is perfect as Nightcrawler, my favorite X-men
character. He is able to switch modes throughout the movie without hesitation;
he can turn scary, charming, and quirky all at once, and makes his character
very likeable. He's the first heavily religious character in a movie that didn't
make me want to vomit. He pulls off some incredible feats throughout the movie
and Alan Cumming is able to take the role on without a flaw. The creature
effects for Nightcrawler are phenomonal, making him look exactly like the comic
character. Famke Janssen, reprising her role as Jean Grey once again, is really
good in this and provides most of the dramatic acting in the movie, beefing up
her role, setting the stage for a major development in her character and in the
X-men storyline. Many X-fans highly attuned to the storyline (i.e. me)
from the X-men comics will automatically know what is happening, but audiences
might need some explaining. Rebecca Romjin Stamos as Mystique also has a better
more intricate role in the movie, helping the team and comes off as a more
seductive and skilled warrior. I would have loved to see she and Yuriko go at
it, but I nitpick. Rogue, played by Anna Paquin (The 25th Hour, A walk on the
moon) also helps to provide some of the dramatic tension, appearing more in
the movie, but, unfortunately, doesn't improve as a character. The film makers
introduce two new mutants, along with Nightcrawler; one being Bobby Drake a. k. a
Iceman (Shawn Ashford) who controls ice from his hands and serves as Rogue's
very protective boyfriend along with the vicious fire- controlling mutant called Pyro
played by Aaron Stanford who also vies for Rogue and has a dark side.
Brian Cox is a great villain in this, giving off a lot of ferocity in his
character. He represents the human opposition side to the mutant issue; so, now,
there's the peaceful movement by Professor X, the violent movement by Magneto,
and the human movement represented by Stryker which clashes among each other. I
felt more threatened by him than I did Magneto, because he was slimy and
spineless but also managed to be tactful and skilled. I was excited throughout
the entire movie; the action begins immediately, and manages to tell a story
meanwhile along with many interesting characters and plot twists. Each character
is as cool as the next, and there is great depth and symbolism among the plot.
The movie's underlying message is prejudice and racism and accepting who we are
as a minority; the funniest scene in the movie is when Bobby reveals himself to
his awestruck parents, demonstrating his power to his mother. She then blurts
out, "Have you tried... not being a mutant?" This was a hilarious line that is
often blurted by people who see something new in their loved one's life. This
line prompted a lady next to me to reply, "That's like asking if you tried not
being black." Truly profound words.
This has
various flaws throughout the entire film. Like the comic books, this movie is
bombarded with a range of numerous characters which makes it nearly impossible
to keep up. The story is unable to focus on the main characters, so the plot is
scattered around giving the best mutants less screen time and the least
uninteresting plots more time. Cyclops, my favorite character, is taken out of
commission halfway through the movie so he's barely in this having a combined
total screen time of twenty minutes. Professor X, though being the leader, is
not in this as much as I wanted him to be. He's the driving force behind the
plot and the mutant's mission and should be there to motivate them. Storm, as
the first movie, is barely in this, only having certain moments in the movie;
never truly have a plot of her own except when she interacts with Nightcrawler.
I felt this sequel should have focused on the original mutants from the first
but introduces even more characters, making the plot seem more crowded. I could
understand Bryan Singer's point of view, though; you have to give the fan boys
what they want while making this appeal to the general audience. We have the
main plot with Stryker which is dramatic and very interesting along with the
love triangle between Scott/Jean/Logan which is not as deep as the comics, along
with a hinted love triangle between Bobby/Rogue/Pyro that wasn't very
interesting to begin with. The plot is pretty paper thin, so it adds with it a
lot of little sub-plots with the characters combined with each other. I found it
difficult to stay focused on the characters or the events occurring in the movie
with everything switching around quickly. For the third movie, Bryan Singer may
introduce even more mutants to the mix of already crowded cast, but I'm pumped.
A truly superior sequel to the original,
bringing incredible special- effects, great new characters, and a great story.
This managed to live up to all my expectations and then some. Stick a fork in
me, I'm done.
For the Fan boys:
(Mutant cameos, references, and quips you might have missed)
- Magneto's Line after saving the X-men
"When will these people learn to fly?" is a reference to the comic books
since technically the people in the team: Rogue, Storm, and Jean Grey can
fly, while Iceman can create ice slides in the air.
- Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, (Mystique) also appears
without make- up as the call
girl
that
seduces the prison guard at the bar.
- On Stryker's computer the following files are listed: Guthrie, Paige
(Husk) Guthrie, Samuel (Cannonball) Harada, Keniucho (known as The Silver Samurai)
Kane, Garrison (Weapon X) LeBeau, Remy (Gambit) Lensherr, Eric M
(Magneto) Maddicks, Artie (Artie) Madrox, Jamie (Multiple Man)
Mahn, Xi'an Coy (Karma) Maximoff (2) (Wanda and Pietro, Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver. Names weren't
specified) McTaggart, Kevin (Proteus) Moonstar, Danielle (Moonstar)
Munroe,
Ororo (Storm) On another screen there were a series of folders on the
computer's desktop. These folders listed some well-known individuals or places
from the X-Men universe, including: Omega Red (Russian mutant super soldier)
Muir Island (Scottish mutant research facility) Project Wideawake
(Codename
for Sentinel project) Franklin Richards (Son of Fantastic Four's Reed Richards
and Sue Storm, born a mutant) Cerebro (Mutant tracking device created by
Professor Xavier and Magneto)
- Jubilee, Siryn, Shadowcat, Artie,
Colossus, Moonstar, and Beast made
physical cameos. Many MANY more mutants made nonphysical cameos.
- They also had Angel's skeletal wings at
the base, and Sebastian Shaw was debating
with Dr. Hank McCoy (Beast) on the television.
- Supposedly, the white wolf Logan sees
at the base is Snowbird from Alpha Force
- Also, Jason/143 as a variation of Mastermind.
- Colossus, Shadowcat, and Siryn are students at the school and used their
powers during the school raid. Artie and Jubilee were captured mutants. Artie
stuck out his tongue at the museum and at the end at Stryker. Jubilee is
mentioned by name by Storm and sits next to the Professor as he begins talking
about a book. Moonstar is, when Artie first sticks his tongue out at the
museum, the Native American girl to his right (our left) with braids.
- Artie IS a real mutant in the comics - a morlock - who is pink and lizard-like
in appearance. They changed his appearance so now he has the tongue. His
powers are similar to Mastermind's.
- Jones is the kid who changed channels by blinking. He's a movie-made creation.
- Lastly, Stan Lee is NOT in this movie.
- In a sequence of channel-surfing, Patrick Stewart is
seen on a television as Jean-
Luc Picard in an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation"
(1987).
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