Singer’s saga continuation is action-packed and overly detailed.
Before audiences make the cash register ring by heading out to watch a half naked green-monster with muscles break down stone walls, there is a baker’s dozen other characters which the masses will flock to see. Faithful to the legion of comic book fans and to the Marvel comic book creation of Stan Lee, Bryan Singer’s follow-up to his massive hit packs a heavier punch, but the intriguing question is this any better than the first one? Technically the answer is yes; overall the answer is..‘pretty close’.
Unlike Spiderman, X2 is rich in plot and in the subplot departments, there are many things going on here and for those with a short attention span might actually get lost for a full five seconds by the multiple storylines. Part of the fun of these films is discovering new characters, new villains and their pocket of abilities and powers, unfortunately, the old gang only reiterate what we already know about them. While characters like Storm (Halle Berry- ), Cyclops (James Marsden-Gossip), Rogue (Anna Paquin-The Piano) and Mystique (Rebecca Romjin-Stamos-Femme Fatale) start to bore, we get a goofy and amusing circus smurf of (Alan Cumming-Eyes Wide Shut) Nightcrawler and a bunch of future consideration cameos of other characters such as Pyro. While the seniors Magneto (Ian McKellan–Apt Pupil) and Professor X (Patrick Stewart-Conspiracy Theory) offer some fine, but limited performances and even as Jean Grey (Famke Janssen-Made) gets a little attention and Iceman gets a little affection, this is Wolverine’s (Hugh Jackman-Swordfish) show. The pissed-off baby-sitter cigar smoker slices, dices and smooches his way diagonally throughout the film and offers plenty of the funnier moments. Action-wise the character takes on an army of play friends and his rage and Jackman’s use of his vocal cords is more beautiful than a rendition of Swan Lake.
What was enjoyable for the fans in the opening edition was this battle royal between two all-star teams concept, which was particularly fun to watch when two characters went head-to-head with their special mutant powers. I liked the set-up introductory phase of the first film; here it gets replaced by a little over the top performance by Brian Cox(The 25th Hour) character of Stryker whose origin and anger is discussed at length. This pitting humans versus mutants is only marginally interesting, most of the excitement comes from final battle sequences and school interruptions rather than camping in the backwoods moments or at mom’s empty house. The problem with the number of characters is that some get limited screen time, perhaps for the next volumes the number of mutants in with capes or snowballs should be limited as to give importance to the more interesting personas and the new additions. Perhaps by doing so, we can enter into the relationships and allow for sufficient time to battle the horrors of a water dams as a group effort of ice, fire, weather storms and Cyclops’ ability to create Grand Canyon sized holes.
This is an entertaining film, the special effects do a great job at offering us a little more pow!, and the film is definitely a satisfying break from the dramas that make up the majority of my film viewing experiences and thankfully at the helm we have a director who cares about the fans first, making X2 a fun snack for the eyes.
