Customer Reviews

X2: X-Men United (Widescreen 2-Discs!)

5 star:		(162)
4 star:		(55)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

When taking into account all the comic book movies that have hit the theater recently this may sound like a bold statement, but really it's not. This may be a large grossing sub-genre but it isn't really that many movies we're talking about. With X2 though, I'm inclined to go even further and say it's one of the best sci-fi action films of all time...seriously. In terms of strictly comic book movies, it's simply either this or Batman Begins. I say X2 wins even in that comparison, but I'm certainly willing to accept the opposite view.

The film opens with a brilliant introduction to a crucial character, the German teleporter Nightcrawler who looks like a little blue demon but possesses an intense devotion to Catholicism, and his introduction does not serve to assist in painting him as a hero. More of an anti-hero I guess. I don't want to ruin it for those who haven't actually seen it but X2 opens with one of the more memorable action sequences of recent date and the film contains three more specific sequences that are just as good. Magneto's inevitable escape from his plastic prison is one of them.

One of the other memorable scenes sets up the real storyline for X2 quite nicely and introduces us to other mutant heroes in the process. William Stryker, an inventive military man, is motivated by his personal experience with mutant-kind to actually organize an assault on Charles Xavier's school for mutants. He wishes to gain access to the mutant tracking device called Cerebro and destroy all of them. His teams' assault is truely great action-filmmaking. The X-Men and Magneto, with his loosely forming band of mutants who agree with his politics on how to respond to humanity, find a common enemy in Stryker. The relationship established between Charles and Magneto in the first film is really important here as younger mutants develop and choose sides. I have to say, if I were in their predicament I may certainly be swayed by Magneto's extremism. The character developement here for supporting roles is important to note. Mystique and Pyro are really great villains here with massive emotion behind their actions and it's never over-stated, but it enhances the meaning and consequences to action sequences so well.

The other incredible action scene is when Bobby Drake's family calls the cops on him and his new mutant friends. There are enough under-stated layers in this scene and the characters; Wolverine, Rogue, Bobby and Pyro, are still consistent. The police show up and Pyro reveals his wrath. I always get excited for that scene even though I know he's wrong in his reaction. I mentioned four action sequences but the fun doesn't end there. Lady Deathstryke, who has been brainwashed by Stryker, and Wolverine have a great fight scene. Other scenes during the climax are just as impressive and all the while we are given enough tid-bits of so many characters that we still manage to care and even get a bit surprised near the end. It's a shame this wasn't pulled off in the third film.

X2 is unique in the sense that the plot is secondary and the film's primary operative is to develop the characters for more climactic stories. I think the screenplay succeeds in this sense but overall the screenplay (written by voice actor David Hayter) is not one of the film's strengths and can require a more robust imagination to really appreciate. Overall though, within the context of a complete trilogy, X2 is nearly perfect.

I never had anything to do with X-Men comics or cartoons and I only liked the first one. But this one was INCREDIBLE and I am now a huge fan of both movies! Unlike the disappointing Hulk (bad movie) and even the fragile Spider-man story, X-Men brigs true human issues to the big screen and almost can be taken out of the comic book genre because it seems so much more than that. Don't waste your money on mindless ridiculous movies like Hulk, instead get a movie that you know you will enjoy. THe interaction between the characters is great. Each has something great to do. Women take a fornt seat as Storm, Jean Grey, and Mystique are the major stars of the movie. Wolverine and Magneto play awesome roles and although Professor X's role may be smaller than in the first, it is much more important to the story of the film. The new X-Men just get cooler and cooler, bringing Nightcrawler, Deathstrike, Iceman, and Pyro to the scene. Also, Rogue and Cyclops are back, although with smaller roles, they have their moments. The action in non-stop and fantastic from Wolverine's rage on the school invasion to Storm and Jean piloting the X jet away from incoming missles. THe opening scene with Nightcrawler is not easily forgotten and shows Bryan Singer's true talent. The nemesis is fantastic and seeing the X-Men together in a fragile relationship is a joy to watch. Get this movie! Get X-Men 1 too! Its a saga you won't want to miss!

Even more so that its predecessor, "X2: X-Men United" is more of a treat for those of us weaned on Marvel Comics and know the complete back story of every single mutant superhero who pops up through the movie. When Dr. Hank McCoy (Steve Bacic) is shown debating the rights of Mutants on television we recognize he is one of the original merry mutants in yellow spandex, the Beast. During the final shot of the film we nod knowingly because our intimate knowledge of "X-Men" #101 means we recognize the strange shape and can hazard a pretty good guess as to what happens in the third X-Men movie before the credits even start to roll on this one.

This film is better than the first one, which is a very good sign in the world of Hollywood where a sequel is one thing but a franchise is even better. The first time around the X-Men, the good mutants of Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), had to stop Magneto (Ian McKellen) and his bad mutants (the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants for those who know their X-Men lore), although there were humans trying to push a Mutant Registration Act through Congress. This time it is the ordinary humans who are after all the mutants in the world, ironically, by using mutants in the effort. In charge of the effort is General William Stryker (Brian Cox), who has found a means of extracting information from Magneto about Xavier's School for Gifted Children as well as some other ways of allowing him exercise some degree of mind control.

The worst thing I can say about "X2" is that it begins with the best action sequences the entire film. A mutant gets into the White House and goes after the President (Cotter Smith) in the Oval Office. We know that this is Kurt Wagner (Alan Cummings), a.k.a. Nightcrawler, who has the gift of teleportation (apparently without the omnipresent of brimstone this time around). This surprises us because he is one of the "good" mutants, but the answer will be forthcoming. He is one of the few new characters introduced into the mix and the tatoos they have worked into Nightcrawler's make-up are superb; on the basis of Nightcrawler and Zhaan from "Farscape," there simply need to be more blue chracters on television and in the movies.

Anyhow, Nightcrawler's attack on the President gives Stryker carte blanche to go after the mutants and his first target is the school in Westchester, New York. When the troops hit Xavier's school is probably the second best action sequence in the film, and we are still only a half hour into the film (the final action sequences has great significance but is considerably less spectacular). For those who remember when Marvel editor Jim Shooter put his foot down about X-Men characters doing any actual killing (e.g., a whole planet of asparagus people), it is rather surprising to see Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) slicing and dicing his way through the shock troops. From that point on the goal is for the X-Men to stay ahead of Stryker's army and try to stop his plan and save mutant-kind.

There are echoes of a lot of different epic adventures from the X-Men comic books in this film. The script by Michael Dougherty and Daniel P. Harris is based on a story created by David Hayter, Zak Penn, and director Bryan Singer, who were obviously inspired by the writers (Stan Lee, Len Wein, and Chris Claremont) and artists (Jack Kirby, Dave Cockrum, and John Byrne) of the comic books. There is still Wolverine trying to get between Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) and Scott Summers/Cyclopes (James Marsden), as well as the sudden spikes in Jean's powers. Rogue (Anna Paquin) is trying to figure out a way of having the most tentative of physical relationships with Bobby Drake/Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), while John Allerdyce/Pyro (Aaron Stanford) is trying to figure out whether or not he should switch sides. There are a lot of characters being juggled here; Halle Berry has an Oscar and is one of the good mutants, but she does not have much to do except exercise her powers to control the weather periodically. Rebecca Romijn-Stamos gets more to do as Mystique, except, of course, you can never tell.

Ultimately what makes this film less than perfectlly satisfying is the fact that the nature of the characters compels the writers to create artificial restraints. When Marvel put out the "Ultimate X-Men" comic books it proved what I had long suspected: that you can really only have one fight between the X-Men and Magneto for all the marbles because as long as he has his helmet on, the Mutant Master of Magneticism is pretty much invincible. This is proven in "X2" when Magneto finally escape; keep in mind how he does it and then come up with a reason why he does not simply go out and do that to every human being on earth. Similarly, when the troops attack the school, there is more fleeing than fighting, although the tranquillizer darts used by the invaders do not work on the armored Piotr Rasputin/Colossus (Daniel Cudmore) or Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat (Katie Stuart) with her ability to walk through walls. Granted, the important thing is to get the kids to relative safety, but Wolverine does not have to do the Horatio at the bridge act.

The key to where the next film can succeed even better is contained in the climax, not only in terms of story of self sacrifice involved but also in the promise of rebirth. In other words, the next time around "X-Men" can reach operatic heights if they do any justice at all to the Dark Phoenix epic. Cross your fingers, True Believers.

Ok... first of all, I have loved X-men for as long as I can remember... from the comic book to the movies to the t.v. shows ever since my dad introduced me I was hooked! So you can imagine how excited I was when the X-men movies came out. I only had one problem with them: where did Gambit and Beast go? I mean Gambit's like ya know... Gambit, and Beast is the founder of the cure to the legacy virus (well technically that was somebody else but she died so...)! And there was also only a brief mention of Colosuss in the second movie... and where were the people like Cable, Shadowcat (she was barely in the in 2nd movie), Moira, Physlocke, the Neo, and Archangel? But don't get me wrong, I LOVE this movie it's just like... Where did everybody go? I hope they will add more characters with their own actual character development in the next movie... But if you like the X-men or have heard of them this is definetely a movie that you will enjoy!

I loved all the special effects and the storyline with Bobby (Iceman) and Rogue. I thought they were so cute together. Nightcrawler's a great edition to the X-Men team but I felt bad for Scott (Cyclops) and Logan (Wolverine) when Jean turned into the Phoenix. I can't wait until X-Men 3.

Even if you aren't an X-Men fanatic like myself, I suggest seeing this movie. Just... see the first one first. I watched this one with a couple of friends, and they were completely clueless... even with me giving a never-ending commentary on who everyone was, what their powers were, etc.

This takes place in an alternate world, where everything's basically the same except that there has been an evolutionary phenomenon: a new species of humans has arisen with special powers. For example: controlling the weather or being able to manipulate fire.

Professor Charles Xavier runs a school for these 'mutants', where they're able to excercise their powers and be with their own kind. Professor X even has a machine called 'Cerebro' that has the exact location of every mutant and every human in the entire world. He is the only one that knows how to use it.

But things have been happening; the president has recently had an assassination attempt by a person identified as a mutant. The government starts cracking down on all the mutants, and one of the first things that they do is break in Xavier's school. Some students escape, but several are captured... in addition to Professor X himself.

Turns out that an evil scientist who works in the government staged the mutant attack because he wanted to break into Xavier's school and steal the plans for Cerebro. Then he gets his own mutant son to convince Xavier to kill all the mutants using the machine.

Yada yada, the other mutants of the school arrive at the scene of the crime with their used-to-be-enemies, Magneto and Mystique. But don't think that the beloved bad guys are turning good- the entire thing was a scheme to change Cerebro's mission from eliminating all the mutants to eliminating all the HUMANS.

But, of course, the X-Men save the day, but not without casualities. Jean Gray dies saving the crew from a huge flood, and Pyro joins up with Magneto and Mystique.

As always, Patrick Stewart (Professor X) and Ian McKellen (Magneto) were FABULOUS. Hugh Jackman was great as Wolverine, Halle Berry (Storm) lost the crazy accent.

One thing that I hated was that you didn't see much of Rogue any more... in the last movie, she was one of the lead characters.

Other than that, great movie, all-star cast. PG-13 is just the right rating- a little bit of violence, a bit of language. That's all.

I'm not sure why another reviewer called this "TRASS" (I think they meant "TRASH"). This movie was a lot better than the first X-Men movie. It has a lot more characters, including Nightcrawler, who is one of my favorite mutants. But I was disappointed because Cyclops was not in that much of the movie (his absence is my reason for a four-star rating instead of a five).

The story begins at the White House with an attempt on the President's life by Nightcrawler, a mutant who is being mind-controlled by William Stryker, the movie's villian. Stryker later comes into the President's office and convinces the president that the mutant who tried to kill him might have been hired by Xavier (Patrick Stewart). Stryker is given presidential permission to visit Xavier's school for the gifted to quesiton him. He instead descends upon the school with armed soldiers and steals Cerebro, Xavier's special program for enhanced telepathy. He tries to use this program to annihilate all the mutants. The rest of the movie shows the good mutants trying to thwart Stryker's evil plan.

There are no action sequences as good as the initial Nightcrawler attack on the president, but there's plenty of great action in this movie.

Picking up somwhere after we left, X-2 is one of those rare sequels that kicks the other's butt.
The first I found wasn't one to watch twice, but X-2 is.
The characters are excellent, because the writers found a way to mix all the characters I've read about into one. (I've actually read just one book containing 20-something issues of continuity).
These include Colossus and Kitty Pryde- part of the 'new X-men'.
The action was exciting, especially the opening sequence with Nightcrawler in the White-House.
And the ending was, FANTASTIC!
My opinion may be biased because I'm a huge fan of both Jean Grey and Famke Janssen, but the ending just left it all hanging for another sequel, which,I'm sure, would place Cyclops and Jean at the centre of it all, much like the comic, where Wolverine isn't all that important.
I still hate the professor, I reckon he's a prick.

this movie had much better action than the first one, but the plot was very bad. the dvd features were very good.

We loved Patrick Stewart when he took the helm from Captain Kirk.

Now we love Stewart rolling around in his wheel chair with super human powers (thanks to his brainiac machine).

X1 and X2 are back to back gems.

The special effects are great and the story is decent.

The actors are great.

If you like Fantasy SciFi this is for you.

It's interesting also to learn that Werewolf is not like the other mutants, his 'gift/curse' was created.