X2: Bigger And Better

Rating: 8/10 (9 January 2004)

I´m not a huge fan of movies based on comics. I´m not into comics either. I didn´t care that much for Spider-Man which was way too overrated. X-Men, on the other hand, was a movie that I liked a lot, though I had no idea what the comic was all about. The only thing I knew was that there were these mutants and... well, that was it. The first X-Men movie was given quite good reviews and that might have been the reason why I went to see it. The movie also had a very promising cast. In wrong hands X-Men could´ve been a real turkey. Luckily the filmmakers succeeded in creating a wonderful adventure with fantastic effects and interesting characters. Since the movie did well at the box office a sequel was guaranteed. Part One being such a good movie it wasn´t bad news at all. When watching X2 I got the feeling that this movie wasn´t a "compulsory" sequel. Men In Black II, for example, was obviously a sequel that just had to be done. That was so obvious and the MIIB was a major disappointment. It´s still possible to create a sequel that´s on the same level with its predecessor. Take the Mummy, for example. In my opinion both parts were equally good. It´s the same thing with X-Men: Part One was great, Part Two is at least as good. One of the strong points of X2 is its talented cast. Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, James Marsden, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, Alan Cumming... They all do great work in this film. My favorite X-Person is Famke Janssen who looks stunning with red hair. She and Halle Berry prove that even Bond girls can have real movie careers if you work hard. The special effects are also first-class stuff and there´s a good amount of humor too. X2 was a bit long and had it been a not-so-good movie it would´ve been a negative thing. But since the movie keeps the momentum going all through its running time I´m willing to overlook this minor thing. Now we just have to wait for X3...