X2 (2003, Bryan Singer)

Rating: Null/10 (23 March 2009)

I'm definitely not a fan of Bryan Singer. Not in the slightest. The man manages to consistently annoy me with his mediocrity as director, and while his work is not staggeringly bad to the point that "X2" doesn't work, it does prevent the film from reaching its massive potential. I don't think I'm a fan of the X-Men universe either, the concepts, the themes, the characters, at all, and it is testament to the quality of "X2" as a standalone story that I found "X2" overall to be one of the better blockbusters of the decade, though Singer single-handedly keeps it from being on par with the few great comic book-based films.
It helps, of course, that Hugh Jackman's wonderful Wolverine, easily the most interesting and likable character in these films, is perhaps the main emotional focus of the film, or maybe it's just that I was most drawn to his story. To my surprise and excitement the rest of the film this time around is as good as Wolverine is (well, not really, but good regardless). The concepts presented in the first film and the obvious metaphoric significance of the mutants and the way society treats them are not merely presented as in the first film but expanded on and are actually overall quite interesting and well-handled. Of course the film is not intellectual and remains a summer blockbuster, but it's not as dumb as I expected it to be.
Overall as a total outsider whose only familiarity with the X-Men universe and characters I found "X2" a surprisingly rewarding film after being slightly disappointed by the decent but underwhelming "X-Men". This film is richer, bigger, smarter, and features better storytelling than the first film, as well as more convincing characterizations. Bryan Singer is not the worst director around and I'm sure Brett Ratner messed things up far more, but I still found Singer's work to be uninspired and disappointing. This film could've been an absolute knockout, but I found too much of it visually bland or occasionally downright annoying for me to really fall in love with the movie. I expected "X2" to disappoint after its excellent opening scene, but it was consistently entertaining and even emotionally involving at times.