Completely Superior - A Tour de Force of a Movie

Rating: 10/10 (30 May 2006)

Back when I saw this movie when it came out in 2003, I was simply amazed. It delivered in every sense of the word...you could really get inside the emotions of the characters, characters who were REAL - the duty-driven Cyclops, the past-haunted Wolverine, the changing Jean Grey, the ostracized Iceman, the used Professor X, to the frightened Magneto. Each of these characters could support a movie in their own right, but coming together, they create a tour de force of a movie that is poignant, intriguing, exciting, and though provoking. The final thirty minutes are the perfect climax, with incredible acting and a haunting score.
But it was not until I had the "privelege" of seeing X-Men 3: The Last Stand, did I truly begin to appreciate X2. Needless to say, I did not find X3 remotely satisfying. Shortly after seeing it, I decided to watch X2, which I remembered as being near the best of the trilogy, to "wash the bad taste out of my mouth". It did all that and more.
I found myself completely immersed in this movie. I sat on the edge of my seat during even the opening scene, wherein Nightcrawler single handedly defeats the entire staff of the Secret Service to reach the President. Another favorite is the scene outside of the Drake's house where the police have all of their guns trained on Pyro, who is losing his patience, and the score is slowly climaxing, and he says "You know all those dangerous mutants you hear about on the news? Well I'm the worst one." It is simply scenes like this, coupled with the intense chemistry of the cast, along with excellent leads by Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen (who steals every scene he is in), and Famke Jensen that make this one of the best movies ever.
As I said before, I was watching this to recover from the travesty of X3. During the last scene, in which Jean selflessly sacrifices herself to allow the others to escape...I suddenly found tears streaming down my face. It was a combination of mourning for the true end of this excellent franchise of movies, as I knew that Jean was truly dead and things would never be as superior as they were in this movie, coupled with how emotionally jarring this scene was. The ending to this movie was perfect, so well crafted by Mr. Singer and his excellent crew that one hopes and prays that the Phoenix under the murky waters of Alkali Lake will rise above and return the X-Men franchise to it's glory, but it shall never be. Watch this movie to see the truest, most triumphant synergy of comic books and the silver screen.