Great action, mediocre acting

Rating: Null/10 (30 April 2003)

I am glad that I caught the movie in the middle of my examination period - glad to be one of the first to watch this great movie!

This sequel is very much better than the first. X2 did not have to try very hard to explain who's who, and what happened - a flaw that hampered X-Men's story.
Adapted from the graphic novel "God Loves, Man Kills", X2 did a magnificent job in translating the story onto screen, with a few twists on its own. Bryan Singer took the liberty to change the plot here and there, ensuring that the characters fit into the story. And he did a great job - my friends who do not follow the comics understood the movie rather well.
Action sequences are some of the best I have seen. Ok, maybe not as monumental as the Matrix, but the camera worked doubly hard to capture the unique abilities each mutant possessed. Be it teleportation, phasing through walls, or even telepathy, amazing special effects and imaginative camera work brought them to life.
However, in terms of acting, it was rather mediocre. Other than Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Patrick Stewart's Professor X, the rest has too fleeting roles to make an impact. Famke Jassen (Jean Grey) and James Marsden (Cyclops) made the reverse though. You just cringe when you see them on screen. Maybe it's bad casting, Jassen and Marsden just don't have the chemistry to sustain their onscreen relationship though.
The movie is also flawed by it's not-so-climatic ending. When you thought that the movie ended, but it didn't, then it's a teeny bit too long and strained.
For comic fans, it's great fun spotting mutant cameos - McCoy, Jubilee, Colossus, Kitty Pryde, Artie... Oh, speaking of cameos, for those who watched the movie, when did Gambit appear? Who is Alphonsus as mentioned in the cast list? And who is that kid who could switch channels without the remote?
Questions questions questions. Guess I will have to watch it again... :)