X2: X-Men United
Cast
Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier
Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine
Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto
Halle Berry as Ororo Munroe/Storm
Famke Janssen as Dr. Jean Grey
Directed by
Bryan Singer
Rater #2 has description and review.
Rater #1
Has Not Seen Movie
Rater #2
6/10. For a while, X2: X-Men United was called simply X2, until Fox decided
to add X-Men United. Even in the opening credits (which seems to have
been stoles from Spider-Man), it was simply X2. This shows for the
rest of the movie, also: it's indecisive. Is it an action movie,
romance, comic book, comedy?
This second installment of this popular comic book franchise has
Logan, aka Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) coming back to Xavier's School
for Gifted Youngesters, run by Xavier (Patrick Stewart). Wolverine
has claws and can heal himself, while Xavier has extraordinary
telepathy. Other X-Men (mutants) include Storm (Halle Berry), with
weather controlling powers, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), with
telekinesis, Cyclops (James Marsden, with a smaller role this time
around), with laser vision, and Rogue (Anna Paquin), who can suck the
life out of anything. New X-Men include Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming),
who can disappear and reappear, Pyro (Aaron Stanford), who can
manipulate fire, and Iceman (Shawn Ashmore). On the other side of the
law are Magento (Ian McKellen) and Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos),
who can change forms.
General William Stryker (Brian Cox) is going against mutants, and
tries to kill them all. To go against Stryker, both good and bad
mutants have to team up and defeat Stryker. That's how the X-Men
United got in the name.
Put simply, X2 tries to be too many things. It has a psuedo-love
story, but ultimately doesn't seem to have one central goal. There
was a love triangle between Cyclops, Jean, and Wolverine, except it's
only talked about a few times, and didn't add anything to the plot.
Also, Rogue and Iceman have some sort of relationship that adds humor
but little more. In fact, if some of the subplots would have been
taken out, this 140 minute movie could have been under two hours,
such as another mutant like Wolverine.
Special effects dominate this movie. Obviously, they looked fake, but
there were very cool. However, there weren't that many fight scenes,
and many of them were just Wolverine killing people. If some of the
original X-Men were doing their schtick, such as Cyclops, then it
would have been more interesting. Although it isn't boring, it's just
not heart-pounding or exciting. The special effects were very cool,
though.
Jackman does another job of covering up his strong accent, and he
clearly had fun with his role, not taking it seriously. McKellen puts
in another great acting job, as does Stewart. Berry and Janssen both
looked hot in skintight outfits, as did Romijn-Stamos (although she
was wearing nothing at all). Paquin didn't have much of a role this
time, nor did Marsden. Cox, who is now almost as ubiquitous as Amanda
Peet now, was good, although I think he was coaxed into this role.
X2: X-Men United is a special effects piece that isn't as fun or
entertaining as other comic book movies, but overall you probably
won't be disappointed.
Rater #3
Has Not Seen Movie.
Rater #4
Has Not Seen Movie.
Rater #5
Has Not Seen Movie.
Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action/violence, some sexuality and brief
language.
Running time: 140 minutes
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