Duly impressed

Rating: Null/10 (3 May 2003)

I thought that X2 far surpassed the original film. I was expecting more of the same going in, and instead got everything better.
Obviously, the action was hard to miss. The opening sequence with Nightcrawler lifted my heart. He's always been one of my favorite mutants, and I'm glad that Bryan Singer and his team did him justice. Thoroughly beautiful effects, and brilliant choreography. While arguably the best (or at least the coolest), it was by no means the last action scene in the movie. Wolverine, Yuriko, Mystique, and Nightcrawler all show us what they're made of with some flashy hand-to-hand (or claw) fight scenes. Magneto and Jean definitely flaunt their powers, again with some quality special effects to back them up.
The thing that most surprised and impressed me, however, was the character development. That had been my chief complaint with the first movie: I thought that a lot of the characters went in the wrong direction. Almost all of them were considerably more fleshed out in this movie. Notable exceptions are Rogue and Magneto, but this is because of the considerable background that they got in the first movie. I thought Mystique got some more of the treatment she deserved: she became a true character, instead of just one of Magneto's tools. With that came a chance to show off her mutant abilities to a much higher degree than before. Storm's character was played down, but I maintain that it had been overplayed in the first and that she had gotten much more attention that she merited. Cyclops changed little, but he was noticeably absent for most of the movie. I'm not complaining though, because he was always a whiny little snot. It was good to see the new characters lurking in the mansion. Let's hope that some of them (Colossus, Shadowcat) come out in the future.
So what about the next film anyway? Word on the street is, there's going to be Sentinels (mwuah hah hah hah). That should be a blast and a half. I'm betting on Gambit and Beast showing up (did you catch their "cameos" in X2?) and on Jean making an appearance (*wink wink*). Wolverine may be the most bad-assed X, but he's not the only one. Besides, they may have played him out a little too much in these two. I'm calling for a little less of the clawed Canuck in the next. And here's to hoping that we get to see Rogue go from the mega-babe she is to the Rogue we all know and love: the butt-kicking, super-powered mega-babe from the comics. I don't think that X3 needs to be the last, though. For years, Marvel has supplied some of the best comics on Earth, and since their inception, X-men has been the largest, most complex story line of any comic series. The material is there, the movie talent has been shown, the special effects technology exists. There's no reason why X-men couldn't be a running series. I think Fox will find that audiences will go see as many X-movies as they make.
Here's to hoping...