Storyless tripe.

Rating: 4/10 (12 May 2003)

Storyless tripe.
Action? Yes. Great characters? Mostly. Good actors? Yes. Special FX? Yes! Good plot? Nope!
The characters were already written, good special FX is a given, and the actors were already selected (in the 1st film). The ONLY THING the makers of X2 had to do was write a good story. And they failed.
Yes, the movie was neat. Only because: 1. We love the characters so damn much, we ache to re-visit them, and 2. The special FX are cool (the few times they were not filmed in the dark).
For my $9.00 and the $1 Billion this junk will earn, I expect a good story.
I want drama! I want build-up! This story SUCKED. Anyone who disagrees with me has never read a good book. Nor seen a good movie for that matter.
Non-stop action does not make a good movie! An explosion is NOT exciting. WAITING for an explosion, especially one that never comes, IS exciting.
From the previews, you already know that Magneto escapes and that the school is attacked. THAT alone could've been the entire movie -- if they built up to it. Instead, both things happen extremely early and rather abruptly. No build-up, no suspense. It's over. Unfortunately, the movie went on.
The music score of the first film was wonderful. It resonates in my mind even now. The music in this movie is just background mush. Why?! Oh why did they change it?! What? Were the royalties too high? If you've seen this heap o' crap, try to think of the musical score. Just try. Can't even hear it, can you? It was background garbage!
If you rated rated this pile of dung 8 stars or higher, let me just say this: you are easily fooled and easily entertained. Go home and watch MTV.
Good story-telling vs Bad story-telling:
X-Men 1: We SEE Magneto in the concentration camp as a young boy, and we immediately understand his purpose and feelings throughout the film. GOOD story-telling.
X-Men 2: We are introduced to Stryker via a CONVERSATION between Magneto and the Professor. They say things like, "Remember Stryker?' and "Wasn't his son a student of yours?" and then "Wasn't he pissed at you because of this?" and then "he's in the military, remember?" and then "he's behind all this and he's coming to get us."
Yeeeup. That's how we learn about Stryker. Man, is that GREAT story telling or what? Watching the two heroes have a conversation about him. Anyone who's ever read a good book will recognize amateur hour when they see it. Or in this case, Amateur 2 Hours plus commercials and previews.
THIS STORY SUCKED.
Think I'm being picky? Okay, here's some details (and SPOILERS):
Wasn't that jet supposed to be "super?"
The "super" jet is suddenly detectable by radar? And can't outfly ordinary Air Force Jets? And is simply shot out of the sky by typical air-to-air missiles?
What happened to the "fantastic" jet in the 1st film. At that time, they simply said, "If they have anything that can track us, they deserve to catch us." What happened to that wonderful weapon?
Forget it; it's gone! Any poor writer given the task of creating a future X-Men story will have to do without it. what's the point? They can't fly anywhere if the American military can chase them down, and shoot them down, and even know that it's under the basketball court at the school!
Why would Cyclops SO suddenly stop attacking? He was brainwashed, but 3 seconds later he's normal? It's like watching Knight Rider get knocked on the head and get amnesia. Remember that? And 55 minutes later he gets hit on the head again and he's normal, remember?
I'm not even joking here. One second he's trying to kill his own wife, and LITERALLY 2 seconds later he's crying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was brainwashed!"
Yeah, the writing in this movie was about that good.
Why fight when you're brainwashed?
Think of someone trying to write X3 or X4. What kind of plot can they have? In this movie, it's established that the humans have the ability to brainwash any mutant. This was stressed so much that the human Stryker even had a mutant slave!
Now, imagine yourself watching ANY future X-Men movie. Whenever a mutant and human exit a room together, you'll have to ask yourself, "Why didn't that human just brainwash him?" Really? Game over. No story to tell at all.
Stryker: the omni-present bad guy.
In X2, Stryker appears in nearly EVERY DAMN scene. Watch this:
1. He's in the Oval Office, 2. He's talking to politicians in the hallway, 3. He's in the plastic prison with Magneto, 4. He's attacking the school with the G-men, 5. He has a nice conversation with Wolverine, 6. He's there to greet his POW, Patrick Stewart, 7. He's in the fort, watching Wolverine approach on screen, 8. He's in nearly every shot in the finale, in the fort, 9. He's even OUTSIDE the fort, conveniently, when Wolverine comes back out! 10, But wait! There's more! He's still outside waiting to have a conversation with Magneto a few minutes later! 11. He's still outside one last time to talk to Wolverine again!
And I'm sure I've forgotten a crappy scene or two. He was everywhere!
Remember that thing they had in the 1st film? It was so cool. That thing where Rogue was talking to Wolverine, as the characters were introduced to the audience. It was there when we watched Wolverine discover the school and walk the halls for the 1st time. That was called suspense!
Having been warned about the crapola story, you can sit and watch this vomit and enjoy some action scenes. They're okay. But this movie is only mediocre.
The well-trained lab rats who gleefully stand in line to give these people their $100 Million per weekend just make me sick.
5 outa 10. That's ONLY for the special FX.