6 of 10
Cinematography by Newton Sigel
Patrick Stewart
Hugh Jackman
Ian McKellen
Famke Janssen
Brian Cox
Alan Cumming
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| X-Men United 6 of 10 |
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| Directed by Bryan Singer Cinematography by Newton Sigel Patrick Stewart Hugh Jackman Ian McKellen Famke Janssen Brian Cox Alan Cumming |
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| In my opinion, the most important thing needed for a great comic book movie is a sense of pride. You need to really take your source material seriously. Don't be winking and snickering the entire time, and trying to get the audience to wink and snicker too. That's the biggest problem with the entire Superman series, with Dick Tracy, The Phantom, The Shadow, and with all the Batmen films except the first one. Recent films that I feel have avoided this pitfall include Spiderman, the first X-Men movie, and this film. In fact, it is that rare exception: the sequel that is actually better than the original. The action is much crisper, the story is tighter, and there are several very interesting new characters. Stewart and McKellen are excellent, as always, and Jackman is once again the high point of the film. The secondary cast members are also excellent, especially Alan Cumming, strangely yet effectively cast as Nightcrawler. In fact, Nightcrawler was probably the most interesting part of the movie, mostly because of his peculiar Catholicity. (At first, as I was watching the strange, rather superstitious explanation of his character, I was worried that they were going to make his faith laughable. But instead, it added an interesting dimension; very gratifying.) My only complaint would be that I was unable to generate even the least interest in what happens to the younger characters. No wait. That's not true. I would be very interested if Halle Berry's Storm, Anna Paquin's Rogue, Aaron Stanford's Pyro, and Shawn Ashmore's Iceman disappeared from the film, and were never found again. Then everything would be perfect. (I know, I know. Berry doesn't really count as a younger character. But I still hated her. Man. She may be pretty, but she sure can't act. This film is definitely a bit more intense than the original, and it goes on for probably about 10 minutes too long. But it's still a lot of fun. Just enjoy it. | ||||||