X-Men United... isn't that a football team?

[khaosworks]

In honor of my new user icon - "It stinks!" Oh, okay, no, it doesn't. 'Twas a fun romp.

"We love what you've done with your hair."

I was just telling logam last week that you can usually tell second movies or series because generally the budget is bigger and there's more action. They definitely didn't skimp on the budget this time around - the Cerebro effect is much improved, there are just amazing amounts of pyrotechnics (no pun intended) and stunt work, and everything just seems much, much slicker.

Of course, the usual downside to sequels with the bigger budget and more action is that usually the story suffers tremendously. Thankfully, this isn't really the case with X2. It's more plot-driven than the first movie, with the racism theme much more in the background, and the bigger cast means less time spent on each individual character, but somehow Singer manages to hold it all together and make it an ensemble, so you don't really feel shortchanged.

"Logan, my tolerance of you smoking within the mansion notwithstanding; continue smoking that in here, and you will spend the rest of your life believing you are a six-year-old girl."
"You would do that?"
"I would have Jean braid your hair."

With one exception - Patrick Stewart as Professor X was strangely muted in this one. Not through any real fault of his own, since he spends most of the movie in a telepathic equivalent of a holodeck fantasy, but his presence wasn't really felt as much as it was in the first movie. He gets really only one good exchange with Wolverine at the beginning and that's about it.

"They say you're the bad guy."
"Is that what they say?"

Ian McKellan's Magneto, on the other hand, was pure scenery chewing, and looked like he was loving every minute of it. It's not difficult to see why Pyro went over to the Brotherhood in the end, because he's so much more charismatic than Xavier. If I were Charlie, I'd keep Magneto as far away from the school as possible, because once the kids get a load of him, they'll flock to him in droves. God among insects, indeed.

"I used to think you were one of a kind, Wolverine. I was wrong."
"No shit."

Really, the bad guys had the more fun parts this time around, unlike in the first, where Toad and Sabretooth were basic yawners. Mystique was pure sex in sinister motion, slinking through her scenes magnificently and with delicious aplomb. Rebecca Romjin-Stamos finally manages to show her un-made-up face. Lady Deathstrike kicked serious ass in her fight with Wolverine. Stryker was scary in the same way that a fanatic is scary. The sole plot hole is what happened in the end to Jason Stryker, though. Did they just leave him there to die? I suspect there was a scene that was cut out... maybe we'll see it on the DVD.

"Kurt Wagner, but in the Munich Circus they called me the magnificient Nightcrawler!"

Ah, Kurt. Less of the swashbuckler, but more the devout Catholic. Which makes sense, considering what he must have gone through growing up, looking like the Devil and driven to self-mutilation in penance. The effects of his "bamf"-ing were truly marvellous and something that could only be done on film. In the comics the cloud effects are pretty much static, but here, to see him go through the Oval Office like a bat out of hell, with the smoke almost flowing from one spot to another as he works his way through just gave a real rush. His aerial rescue of Rogue - brilliant. And Alan Cumming even managed to make his recitation of Psalm 23 at the end not corny.

"I have a feeling something terrible is going to happen."
"I would never let anything happen to you."

Cyclops is still pretty much a wet fish, though. No points to James Marsden there. It's hard to emote when your eyes are covered, which is probably why his breakdown at the end when Jean "dies" is not very convincing. You could see the pain in Hugh Jackman's eyes, and that was what made it so poignant. There's chemistry between Logan and Jean that you simply don't get between her and Cyke. Then again, fans have been wondering what she sees in Slim Summers for the last forty years.

Yes, I know Jean isn't dead. Anyone remotely familiar with the mythos saw the Phoenix a-looming, and there's even a vaguely bird like shape on the waters of Lake Alkali as the camera rushes over it just before the credits roll. I'm sorry, though - the final voice-over by Famke Janssen did nothing but remind me of Leonard Nimoy's voice-over at the end of Wrath of Khan. Considering the parallels between the climatic scene and that movie, (both Spock and Jean leave without anyone noticing until too late; people trying to convince Jean or save her but she won't allow it - Kirk being prevented from saving Spock; she saying she knows what she's doing, Spock's "It is logical." etc.) I wouldn't be trying to draw even more attention to it. Hell, while you're at it, why not call it X-Men 3: The Search For Phoenix?

"I gave up on pity a long time ago."

Yay, a better wig for Halle Berry, and some serious chemistry with Kurt there. I went "Oh, just kiss already," at least two or three times. Special effects put to much better use here, and Storm is nothing if not special effects - it was almost enough to dispel the memories of that horrible flat delivery in the first movie.

"Have you tried not being a mutant?"

There's really not much else I can add - good job all around on the supporting kids cast, although it was more of a fanboy exercise to spot the kids like Siryn, Shadowcat, Colossus (although no Russian accent from Petey... a mite disappointing). Spotted Hank McCoy on the TV, of course, and did anyone notice when Mystique was ripping off data on Magneto's prison guards on the computer screen next to the "Cerebro" folder was one labelled "Franklin Richards"? Iceman and Rogue were a cute couple, Pyro was predictably juvenile delinquent-like - nice touch on that wistful look he had while looking at the Drake family pictures. I have to give Anna Paquin high marks on that absolutely fucking terrified look she had when she landed the Blackbird at the end.

"What's your name?"
"John."
"What's your real name, 'John'?"
"... Pyro."

Essentially, it was, like Singer promised, the "Empire Strikes Back" for the X-Men. There are of course the plot danglers - where's Magneto now - what will the President do - Jean's "death". If the first movie was Giant Size X-Men #1, this was definitely Part 2 of 3. And, like "Empire Strikes Back", as good as it was, it's not a stand-alone movie. There were also a couple of anvil-licious moments, like Mystique's answer to Kurt as to why she doesn't remain disguised all the time, "Because we shouldn't have to." All in all, though, less satisfying in terms of plot resolution, but a great way to whet the appetite for the main course.

Next, please.

Final Rating: 8 out of 10.

Comments

[dietbubba.livejournal.com]

I did not see Franklin Richards, but I did see Remy LeBeau. I will have to see it again and look for more names.

[amezri.livejournal.com]

Missed the "Franklin Richards," but did catch the "Muir Island" to the right of the Cerebro folder. Will have to look when I go again :-D

[(Anonymous)]

Re: Jean's "death": And even more to the point, if you actually sit through
the incredibly long set of credits at the end (I have to wonder just who's
doing any special effects for the rest of this summer's movies), you'll note
there's a set of credits for "Phoenix effect".

Did have two nits to pick with the movie. First, I didn't buy Kurt's mid-air
rescue of Rogue. I can just barely accept that he managed to port next to her and get the velocity matching right. And he did bamf back before they would've
built up much downward velocity with respect to the plane. But I just can't
buy that he can port back into a moving vehicle that's going that fast with that
little margin for error, particularly since it's a crowd scene in a small space
that he can't see when he does the port. And he can't just port back to the location he just ported from; the plane's moved a fair amount in those few seconds.

Second, um, why does Jean have to leave the plane to use her powers to power up the jet and hold back the water? So she can "die", yeah, but in terms of her powers there was nothing that made being outside work any better than being in the plane, or made her somehow more protected. Particularly since she was earlier seen manipulating the missles outside the plane, so her power can penetrate the plane skin.

Otherwise, very good fast-paced movie that took advantage of the fact that there'll be a limited number of movies about these characters to go full out on showing power usage (Nightcrawler in the White House, Wolverine and Deathstrike's stab filled battle, Mystique's multi-morphing, Magneto pulling out the iron from the blood and showing just how much damage he can do with just three ball bearings). Although I still think Halle Berry is phoning in her Storm portrayal, at least this time she used a cell phone instead of a paper cup and string.

Tom Galloway

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

I've never really bought into Kurt's teleportation ability to begin with, but then again, I don't analyze the physics of super-powers too closely in any case. I accept on faith that Kurt can teleport to "anywhere he can see" and as long as that rule is pretty much adhered to, I don't complain too much. Besides, if you really want to pick nits, how does he compensate for the Earth's rotation or movement through space? It really depends on how the 'porting works, which has never been explored as far as I can remember.

As for Jean, I can think of at least one in-story explanation, although that's probably not the one they'll use. Even Logan makes the query in the scene with Xavier and Cyclops, "Why did she have to leave the plane?" - Xavier's very lame answer is, "She made a choice."

The one that I came up with in the cinema on the fly was when she turned around suddenly in the jet and looked at the exit as if someone was calling her. It was the Phoenix Force. It had already been connecting to her, and prompting her powers to grow in strength, but needed her to "die" in order to become her. So it separates her from her compatriots, does the body duplication thing, and boom - flies out of Lake Alkali as Phoenix. And years later, the Avengers find this mysterious cocoon under the waters of the lake...

For the record, though, I positively hated it when they brought Jean back for X-Factor. It made the childhood trauma of losing her six years previous feel so cheap. But I digress.

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

Marvel's always been cheap that way with death. DC promised to be better post-Crisis and generally has, but they're starting to go back to bringing 'em back. At least they provide rational explanations and make it long plot points instead of just background, "No shit, there I was..." which was Marvel's usual way.

(Yeah, they brought back Green Arrow. Yeah, I like Ollie. Yeah, I'm pissed.)

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

DC was always worse with this than Marvel, actually.

Historically speaking, prior to Jean Grey's ressurrection, there were no Marvel hero deaths that were undone in similar fashion as far as I can remember (villain deaths are a whole other matter). Captain Marvel's demise was handled sensitively and powerfully. The basic rule was, "as long as you don't see a body..." But in Jean's case, it wasn't that she wasn't really killed - it wasn't her to begin with, and that completely undid the entire Phoenix saga and the pain of the sacrifice. They tried to mollify it a bit by claiming that the Phoenix Force thought it was Jean and it was Jean's personality and that meant Jean would have done the same thing in its place blah blah but that was just lame. That 1987 event changed Marvel's policy on raising heroes from the dead. I mean, take Aunt May's death in Spider-Man #400 which was undone by claiming that Aunt May was an actor. Jesus Christ.

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

DC always worse? Pre-Crisis I know, but post-Crisis?

To date I can think of only two heroes they have brought back from the dead since the Crisis - Superman (and they made it the plot and took a bloody year) and Green Arrow (same). They will not bring back Barry (The Flash).

And credit where credit is due, they used a buttload of "This is deliberate magic/super-advanced tech". Fewer people have been brought back in post-Crisis DC than in, say, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

I was speaking on a purely global basis. That's what I mean by historically speaking. Jean's death took place in 1980, and at the point, no hero killed off by Marvel had returned. Up till her ressurrection in 1987, I can think of no other ressurrections by Marvel.

Actually, comparing it to DC is a bit off, come to think of it. It's irrelevant - they're two differenr companies and the fact that one does it more or less than the either doesn't render the return of Jean in 1987 feel any less cheap (or rather, it doesn't diminish the bad taste in my mouth I felt back then).

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, there's a very significant Marvel character who died and was brought back prior to Jean...one Charles Xavier, who was killed off in X-Men #42 or so, and
brought back in #65. The retcon was that Changeling, a shape-shifter who'd been introed as a villain a few issues before, was dying of some unspecified disease and wanted to try to redeem himself. As it happened, Chuck had just detected a planet full of interplanetary ravagers that was heading for Earth and needed to isolate himself to prepare for this. So Changeling took over for Chuck, and was killed by Grotesk without anyone (except, ironically enough, Jean) knowing it was him and not Chuck.

Also, I think Wonder Man's resurrection in Avengers #151 predates Jean's death; it certainly predates her return. But prior to that, he was a one-shot character.

Tom Galloway

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

Points on the Xavier one - which I should have remembered, seeing as I used to have the original issue with the Changeling flashback and the entire Z'nox fleet story. Curse you!

But as for Wondy, if I remember correctly, it was already set up in his original appearance and death that he could be brought back someday (someone grab their Essential Avengers or Marvel Masterpieces volume). At the very least, when Ultron appeared a few years later Roy Thomas already set up the idea that Wondy had been brain-taped for that express purpose, save that the tape was used to create the Vision.

Just as a desperate attempt to save some face, though - at the time of Xavier's original death in X-Men #42, it wasn't that big a deal because the X-Men just weren't all that successful. Even when Neal Adams and Roy Thomas took over the creative chores (and brought back Charlie X ¹) it was about to to be cancelled, and indeed was, only to go into reprints and eventually brought back to life with Giant-Size X-Men #1.

1. Wonder if any Trek geek's made that connection...

[maedbh7.livejournal.com]

Waited to read this until after I'd seen it. Note, fo the 4 of us who saw it together, I've followed X-Men the most, and I know -nothing- about them. Got into a chat with a friend about whether the were too heavy foreshadowing the Jean Grey thing (he said yes; I hadn't fealt foreshadowed and totally bought her death). About 10 minutes later it hits me like a brick that Jean Grey=Pheonix. Suddenly I remember the shadow in the water during her voice over, and the flames in her eyes, and the history that I do know about the X-men. I went back to my friend, "Sorry. You are absolutely right. You'll see Jean again. She'll be Pheonix, and a bad guy, in the next movie."

What I'm saying is, if you aren't a follower of the X-Men, you may or may not sense the foreshadowing. But if you've followed their history, the Jean plot is almost hamfisted in it's obviousness. -H...

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

She'll definitely be Phoenix, but may or may not be a bad guy. Her transformation from Phoenix to Dark Phoenix took a while, even in the comics, so it all depends on whether they choose the Dark Phoenix saga as the next storyline.

[mneme]

Oh, yes. (and I'm really hoping we get to seee a bit of Phoenix before they switch to DF.

Note, btw, what Xavier was reading toward the end and it's relation to that particular plotline... :)