I have to say, one of the best superhero movies to date...

Rating: Null/10 (29 September 2004)

Though that's hard to say, mostly because a sci-fi/action film like this goes well beyond being a "great superhero movie". I'm a long-time fan of the X-Men, having read the comics (on and off) since the '80s, then going back and reading the beginnings from the '60s. I was very excited when the first movie came out, and enjoyed it thoroughly, though I found some faults to it (pretty much everything involving the senator seemed unnecessary and boring). X2 has actually managed to surpass it's original (which I've noticed a lot of sequels outdoing their firsts). The whole thing started with an overqualified staff. Oscar winners Halle Berry and Anna Paquin. Shakespearian greats Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. Even Bruce Davison and Famke Janssen have been around quite a while and have many great films under their belts (hell, Bruce was the original "Willard"!). The thing that really got me excited as I researched the first film before its release was Bryan Singer's direction. Oh my God! The "Usual Suspects" guy is directing! Talk about overqualified for the source material. As a comic, X-Men was an entity unto itself, several other titles and characters have had truly great stories and runs (Batman was a household word long before any movie serials, cartoons or films), but few capture the times and hearts as much as our friendly mutants. Alienation. Racism. Sexism. Isolation. Teamwork. Love conquers all. That's what X-Men was about. So I was quite happy to find they'd gotten "over-qualified" participants. X2 did what can probably only be done by a sequel. Now you know the characters (we had to spend so much time introducing them and their world in the first one), let's tell a real STORY about them. Yeah, the women are hot, but name me a movie (especially in sci-fi or action) where the women AREN'T hot. More than that, they embrace their characters. Famke IS Jean Grey, authoritative yet gentle. Brilliant but feminine. An underlying rage of power beneath her calm exterior. Halle is wonderful as Storm, taking after her later, more angry and violent persona. Paquin redefines Rogue, who is cocky, flirtatious and rambunctious in the comics. This Rogue is lost, confused and just trying to fit in and find her strength. This was what Jubilee did in the first animated X-Men series, or what Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat did in the '80s. They gave us a connection of someone on the outside, discovering their mutantcy and joining this strange new world. Marsden plays a PERFECT Cyclops. Cool, commanding, militant, yet his underlying passion for Jean is a volcano of emotion. Would've liked to have seen a little more of his character, but... *****WARNING! PLOT SPOILER****DO NOT READ ON IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE!!!***** ...his powerful scene of grief with Logan towards the end is breath-taking.
Stewart as Prof. X, who else could it have been? Not just because he's a paternal, bald man, but because he's known to us, the audience, as a cerebral man (mostly thanks to Star Trek: NG). McKellen's Magneto was more than I could've hoped for. Even though the big M is depicted as a big, muscular, grim looking son-of-a-b** in the comics, McKellen managed to get that across despite being an older, shorter, gayer man himself. Amazing.
Jackman was a perfect selection for Logan. I was a little taken aback by the first film, because I knew the Wolverine in the comics. He was shorter, much older looking, and a lot less pleasing to the eye! Jackman was able to make all these physical differences forgettable, as his character was dead-on (despite even being written a little less obnoxious than the comics' version). I've enjoyed Jackman's other work, Kate & Leopold, Swordfish, Van Helsing... but he was born to play Wolverine, and I believe he does his best work at the role. In reference to some negative comments I've heard about this movie... Was Prof. X's ability to kill every mutant or human over the top? Not according to the comics. Many forget, both comic readers or film viewers alike, just how powerful Charles is. Was there some ridiculous love-plot going on between Storm and Nightcrawler?
I don't think that's what the director or writers were going for. Just because people of opposite sexes are having a connection and developing a relationship in a movie doesn't mean it's romantic. I myself am married, but most of my best friends are women. Go figure. Wasn't Deathstrike's role pointless and robotic? Maybe it's just me, but I thought that WAS the point. Yukio in the comics was a former lover of Logan's, who turned on him and became a bloodthirsty, evil person. I liked this tactically cold, calculating and nigh-unstoppable Deathstrike. Showing just a clue of her humanity at the end, and a brilliant shot of Logan's sorrow that her villainy wasn't the real girl's fault or decision, though he knew he had no choice. Ah well... I'm babbling. A truly great film in general and in it's genre. Thanks!