Comic-book background, multi-dimensional sensibilities, winning formula?

Rating: 8/10 (3 November 2006)

Wow, am I late to the party or what? It took me this long to watch the sequel to X-Men thanks to the fairly average opener in the X-Men film series. X2, however, corrects the shortcomings of its predecessor, and shows that comic books *can* work with movies.
X2 revisits the main X-Men motif of mutants versus humans and, as is usually the case, has the fate of everyone involved hanging in the balance. But this is would hardly suffice as a good summary of the story, as it goes many miles deep and many acres wide. Many elements of human behavior are explored in this film - love (Jean and Wolverine/Cyclops, Rogue and Iceman), retribution (Wolverine and Stryker), malice (Stryker), conformity (mutants), personal victory (Jean), prejudice (humans in general), anger through ignorance (Iceman's brother), and anger for its own sake (Pyro) are just some of them.
The direction is crisp and the flow of the story taut and natural. With so many characters and so many ideas, it is easy to bombard the viewers with a blurry roller-coaster of a ride, but this movie avoids those pitfalls with aplomb. Visually appealing, the movie packs a few breath-taking scenes without really trying too hard. The heavy smattering of action scenes, necessary for a genre film, are well-done as well. The film is a shade darker than other comic book adaptations. Non-gratuitous violence is meted out as appropriate. For its own good, uneasy comic relief scenes (especially those between Wolverine and Cyclops) are avoided.
That I love X-Men as a comic book series makes it easier to like the movie. The characters are way cool, even the ones that appear only for a short while (Colossus, Lady DeathStrike). Newly-added crew member NightCrawler dazzles with mad teleportation skills. His scenes strongly remind me of the ghost Twins in The Matrix Reloaded. Mystique is awesome, as always. Wolverine, spending uneasy nights and restless days trying to find out about his past, is the dominant character. Magneto, Professor Xavier, Rogue, Jean-Grey, Storm, Iceman, and Pyro are some of the other major characters.
Overall, a smart, thoughtfully made movie packaged into a wholesome sleek summer blockbuster package. A winning formula indeed!