| X2 a Bryan Singer super-hero feast This movie is the best movie of 2003 so far if you want my humble opinion. It's also one of the greatest super-hero movies ever, with only BATMAN RETURNS and SUPERMAN 2 topping it, slightly better than SPIDER-MAN, and just on par with the original BATMAN. First of all, gotta give credit to Bryan Singer. He built a sequel that is better than the original, and that is somehow, as he described, the EMPIRE STRIKES BACK to the original STAR WARS the first X-MEN movie was. It's bigger, it's tougher, it's cooler, it's everything-er. Now let's get down to the details. The + : -- Hugh Jackman. This man is THE man. He's the coolest super-hero ever in this one, and I don't think I'm exaggerating. Chomping cigares, drinking beers, looking handsome and clawing through people is one thing -- one thing he does great, btw -- but what Jackman really managed to do in this one is give Wolvie a soul, even more so than he did in the original X-MEN. The character really feels like living flesh, bone, and adamantium, and as he's really the main character of the flick, it's a big, big, BIG plus. -- The whole ensemble cast. The mutes, first, are all fantastic. The good, on one hand: Jean Grey (Famke Janssen, fleshing out her character a little more, and letting us expect more from X3), Rogue (Anna Paquin doesn't have much to do, but what she does, she does well), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore does a great job as the young mutant who doesn't know how to tell his parents about it, who doesn't know how to deal with his girlfriend's power...), Pyro (also great as a supporting caster), Storm (Halle Berry's hot. 'Nuff said.), and of course Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming, the accent, the make-up and the special effects...one of the coolest mutants ever). There's also a great Colossus cameo that's worth the look. The only one X-Man that doesn't have much to do in this one is Cyclops, who went from "other main character" in X-MEN to "one of the guys" in X2. Patrick Stewart delivers as Charles Xavier, as expected, but he doesn't have a thousand things to do here either. There's also the bad mutants: Magneto (always great Erik Lensherr), Mystique (sexiest female super-hero since Catwoman...and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos really has as much style as her butt is nice), and Lady Deathstrike (look at the nails, man, look at the nails!). And then of course there's William Stryker, who, thanks to Brian Cox's on-the-spot performance, became my personal most hateable villain of the past years. Asshole. -- The action scenes. They're really cool, they're really big, they're really stylish. You've got the coolest action opening we've had in a while as Nightcrawler crashes through the White House, then you've got Wolverine kicking all kinds of butt in the Xavier Mansion with some help from Colossus, Pyro giving cops a fiery view of what he can do, Magneto escaping from his plastic prison, an X-Jet versus military jets sky fight orchestrated by Storm's powers, Mystique kicking henchman butt, Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike getting it on, and a big bad escape to serve as icing on the cake. All that with impressive special effects, bub. -- The script. The movie is a greatly written blockbuster, because it mixes loads of action, tons of humor, a bit of emotion, and something to think about too. There's a political message in this one, as in X-MEN, about tolerance. There's a lot of humor, and many kick-ass one-liners. There's a few moving moments. And especially...the script just takes care of many of the most intriguing plot points in X-Men history: Wolverine's past, Jean Grey's Dark Phoenix powers, and so on. I want this review to be as spoiler-free as can be, but lemme say this much: you learn much, but not all, and the flick ends on a balls-burning-from-impatience cliffhanger. -- John Ottman's booming score. Not the greatest score ever, far from it, but it does a fantastic job here. -- And of course, Bryan Singer's directing keeping all this together fine, and delivering many cool-looking shots (Lady Deathstrike crying adamantium, for instance, or the Wolvie flashbacks and nightmares). The - : -- Just runs a bit long. -- The rythm falls a bit at the very, very, end. It's got a couple of scenes too many that coulda been cut short and've amplified the effect of the ending (you'll see, you'll see...). But the cliffhanger makes it up for it. -- That's about it. 8.5/10 |