Review

Review Date: 4-May-03
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy

X2: X-Men United (2003)

Ladies and Gentlemen, start your ATMs: Summer Movie Season has officially begun.

Yup, it's the time of year when theaters get crowded, movies get louder, and every weekend brings a slew of big-budget sequels (and newbies hoping to spawn sequels) featuring impossibly photogenic actors doing things aimed to make us react but not to think. I'm happy to report that this year's season is off to a good start; "X2" is much better than the first X-Men movie and gives its viewers exactly what they paid for: a rollicking tale of good guys, bad guys, machines that go fast, things that blow up, ass kicking, hot bodies in leather, camaraderie, humor, and a few stolen kisses. (Not to mention numerous shots of Rebecca Romijn-Stamos' naked, blue-painted breasts.)

Unlike the 2000 hit "X-Men," the sequel actually has a story and a feeling of purpose (as well as an exhilarating opening sequence that sucks you in from the get-go). Hugh Jackman again takes the lead as Wolverine, the hairy, desperately gorgeous rebel with a mysterious past and a heart of gold underneath an adamantium skeleton. Wolverine is still on the hunt for answers about his history, but his quest is temporarily put aside when he returns to the normally peaceful school for mutants where he hangs his biker jacket just in time to see it invaded by an evil government agent named Stryker (Brian Cox). While Wolverine, his old pal Rogue (Anna Paquin), her new beau Ice Man (Shawn Ashmore), and their smart-alec classmate Pyro (Aaron Stanford) manage to escape capture, their kindly mentor Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Wolverine's rival in love, Cyclops (James Marsden), are not so lucky, becoming imprisoned as pawns in Stryker's plot to destroy all the mutants of the world. While this is going on, the other returning stars --- Wolverine's crush, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), and Storm (Halle Berry) --- retrieve a strange German mutant named Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) and end up teaming with their old enemies Mystique (Romijn-Stamos) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) to thwart Stryker's plan.

Needless to say, there are a lot of characters in this movie, but unlike the last time out (when the cast was smaller), this time director/co-writer Bryan Singer manages to give most everyone a chance to develop a personality, which in turn highlights the fact that this franchise has a number of truly fine actors. Deserving mention here are Jackman, who shines with a smoldering mix of rage and heroism; Cox, who gives the movie the much needed object of hatred which the first "X-Men" lacked; Cumming, who is always good and plays against his usual smarm; and Stanford, an attractive presence first seen in last year's "Tadpole," who is clearly being prepped for a larger role in the next sequel. In addition to fleshing out the characters, "X2" also bulks up the mythology of the X-Men, which has been developed in comic books but is unknown to many moviegoers (including yours truly). As in the first film, the idea is put forward of the conflicting pain and pride that mutants feel in a world that doesn't understand them, but since the characters are more accessible here, their struggle has more meaning.

"X2" has one major flaw: it's a little too long. The first half is tightly woven and nicely paced, but things start to unravel in the second half to accommodate not one but several big climactic endings --- one piled right on top of the other --- including a monster hook leading us into the next installment. But I imagine that most people won't mind the multiple endings and will in fact appreciate them as an example of getting more bang for their buck. "X2" had a lot of hype surrounding it and a lot of expectations to live up to, so Singer must feel pretty good that he and his crew have just set the bar which the Matrix rebels, the Hulk, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and Lara Croft must now reach if they are to claim summer supremacy.

[Note: "X2" justly earns its PG-13 rating; I don't think this is a good film for younger kids.]

Copyright © 2003 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.