gcsman
In the X-Men comics, the Jean Grey/Phoenix/Dark Phoenix sequence originally from the 1970's and 80's was one of the all-time great storylines in all of comics history. In fact, it's still going, because Marvel realized (somewhat too late) just how powerful that theme was with the fans. The echos and spinoffs from the Phoenix saga have kept resonating through all the X-Men titles with follow-on characters like the post-Phoenix real Jean Grey (in the long-running X-Factor series), her apparent clone Madelyne Pryor (whom Scott Summers married when Jean was MIA and presumed dead, had a son with, then separated), Rachel Grey/Summers (the daughter of Jean and Scott from an alternate timeline), and ongoing conflicts between Scott and Wolverine, Jean's two lovers. And the Phoenix entity itself keeps showing up, once in a while. Jean herself has been put through a confusing near-endless cycle of death/resurrection/Phoenix re-animation, though it seems unlikely any of these would make it into the movies, since the X-films have now defined a path of their own.According to screenwriter Zak Penn, the original concept for the movie X2 (X-Men United) was to go all the way into the Phoenix story, but he persuaded director Bryan Singer to hold back on it till the X-Men movie world was more well established. On its own merit I'd say that was a wise move; it's just that in X3 (2006) under different director Brett Ratner, they actually did go into Phoenix and messed it up. However, hope springs eternal. We'll see what the new Dark Phoenix (2019) has to show us next year with the rebooted younger X-Men cast. Fingers crossed.Anyway, in X2 we just get three short moments when the Phoenix entity makes its appearance within Jean as a sort of prelude, but they're exciting moments in themselves and a key to the big climactic scene that is the payoff to the whole movie. From the moment of its theater release (2003) X2 has been one of my favorite movies, let alone superhero movies. And I'll say that a rating of 10/10 doesn't mean 'perfect', which as far as I'm concerned can't be defined for films; it just reflects how I feel about it. I watched this again on DVD just this week and it still holds up very well against all the other movies in this now-big genre. My "top 5" list of all-time best superhero flicks right now is (no particular order) X2, Thor, Iron Man, Avengers, and Wonder Woman. What do they have in common? The answer isn't great special effects, although they all have that. It's (a) storyline and (b) characters that we care about, just like in any good movie of any genre. X2 from 15 years back is the oldest of these. Its special effects are just fine for what it needs, but the point is that it does NOT rely on its big action sequences as its whole reason for being. It's what happens BETWEEN those action set pieces that matters: the story, the characters, the dialog. If those are good, then you've got something that lasts. After the success of the first X-Men (2000) we eagerly looked forward to the second instalment with anticipation and a bit of anxiety: would it be as good? maybe even better? It delivered, and that was important: the whole idea of the superhero genre was very new then and its eventual success was not at all guaranteed. The familiar X-people were back, the key actors were more comfortable with their roles, and the new people (Nightcrawler, Pyro, and brief bits by Colossus and Shadowcat) fitted in well -- the opening scene of the movie where Nightcrawler blitzes the White House guards to get to the president is one of the great introductions to a character who's going to play a substantial role in the rest of the movie.The X-Men franchise has had some distinctive things going for it compared with the MCU. Right from the start, it's had something closer to gender parity with Storm, Jean, Mystique, Rogue all having strong roles. (And X2 easily passes the Bechdel test: as an example, see the scenes between Jean and Storm when they go off to track down Nightcrawler.) This is ground that the MCU still hasn't covered 15 years later. Another strong point is that the dialog and direction of the X-films doesn't rely on Joss Whedon-like self-referential humor, irony, or snark. Those have their place -- at Whedon's best, it's brilliant -- but at times it's just nice to watch something that takes itself seriously and where the issues feel real. Wonder Woman (2017) fits that category, too.On repeated viewings of X2, though, you really start to admire the structure of the plot -- its complex web of interlocking storylines and characters, and the patient way in which it all unfolds until everything finally comes together in the last half-hour. Just about every piece of the web that appears in the first half of the film, large or small, gets used in the second half. If your movie is just a framework for running from one action scene to another for the sake of eye candy, you can't do that. Who is actually the central character, among this big cast and complex story? Logan (Hugh Jackman) is the center of a sub-plot about uncovering his own origin, but he's not at the epicenter of the entire film. Magneto (Ian McKellen) is in a lot of scenes and is the leader of a sort of parallel attack on Stryker, but again no. Professor X (Patrick Stewart) is MIA in the middle of the film (again!) and surprisingly we hardly notice. As I hinted above, this movie belongs to Jean Grey (Famke Janssen). On a second or third viewing, you can see the ending coming in what happens with Jean throughout the film (including, especially, the first appearances of the immensely powerful Phoenix force within her). And it's the last 15 minutes that lift this movie from good to great. Jean's heartrending, fully self-aware sacrifice allows all the rest of the team to survive, along with the mutant kids rescued from the evil Stryker's clutches. Greater love hath no man. The emotional kick of this scene is doubled by the grief pouring out from Scott and Logan, who both desperately loved her in different ways. Not that there aren't other good action sequences at well calibrated intervals. There's the visit of Bobby, Rogue, Pyro, and Wolverine to Bobby's parents' house (where we get the best line of the film from Bobby's mother, "Have you tried ... not being a mutant?), which goes sideways when the police arrive. There's the Blackbird chase by two fighter planes, with the moment when the Phoenix force first pops up; the all-out violence of the fight between Wolverine and Deathstryke; and the extended battle within the giant hydropower dam-turned-lab. But again, it's what happens between these that is important. The characters develop, interact, grow, and end up different people than they started.It was a letdown that X3 (2006) couldn't continue the string. The franchise wouldn't rise to these heights again until Days of Future Past (2014). We'll see what next year's Dark Phoenix has to bring. The storyline is still begging for a good treatment.(A footnote: Jean Grey is a puzzingly colorless name (no pun intended) given that it's from Stan Lee himself, that lovable promoter and genius behind the Marvel superhero universe. Stan came up with loads of strong and/or alliterative names for his comics characters like Susan Storm; Peter Parker; Jessica Jones; Luke Cage; Ororo Munroe; Scott Summers; Rogue; Reed Richards; Ben Grimm; Stephen Strange; Nick Fury; and dozens more. Why something so ordinary?)
Owen Ogletree
"X-Men 2" is one of several Marvel movies that is an improvement over its predecessor. Whereas the first film felt held back a little, this sequel is much more confident and polished.Hugh Jackman is once again fantastic as Logan/Wolverine. Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart are their usual great selves. Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Storm all return from the first film and are more fleshed out this time around. I also liked Rogue a lot more than in the first one.We get a few more characters spotlighted, such as Pyro and Ice Man. The stand-out is Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler; he is one of the coolest characters in the entire franchise. We also get a wonderful villain in William Stryker, played by Brian Cox.The film has a great storyline that hints more of Wolverine's past and brings up many interesting themes. It also has bigger, better action sequences than the first one with the best one being the brutal fight between Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike. The music score is once again really good.My only real issues are that the film is just a little too long and what lead to Jean Grey's death felt a bit weird (I understand why it had to happen, though).This was a great sequel that builds and improves upon its predecessor like any sequel should. This is one of the best "X-Men" movies and one of the better superhero movies out there.RATING: A-
Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"X2" or "X-Men 2" is an American (mostly) English-language film from 2003, so this one will have its 15th anniversary next year. It is the second film from the long-running X-Men franchise that culminated in "Logan" this year, my favorite film of the year so far still and that one got me curious to check out some of the older films from this series. Watched the very first not too long ago and I liked that one, even if for other reasons like this one here. This second film is considerably longer than the first, namely it runs for 2 hours 15 minutes and that's quite a lot. The cast includes many actors that also appeared in the very first and also some from Logan still. But back to X2: Anna Paquin is back too of course, even if obviously far from being as much in the center as she is in the first film. It's not really possible to identify a single character or actor as lead here. It is basically an ensemble performance and it would be interesting to see who has the most screen time. Jackman perhaps? I am not sure. The script is also an ensemble piece as it includes no less than five writers one of them being Bryan Singer who also already directed the first film. Sure 135 minutes is very long, but this amount of writers is perhaps still a bit too much. And there were moments when you could talk about too many cooks spoiling the broth. I would say that this applies mostly to the middle part as these 45 minutes were packed with action, but in terms of story-telling it was a bit of a letdown compared to the first 45 minutes, the best part of the movie. The final 45 minutes are somewhere in-between quality-wise.Anyway, it takes quite a while to understand who the main antagonist is. Early on, it seems as if it may be the character portrayed by Alan Cummings ("The Good Wife"), but that perception changes drastically when we see the antagonist is oh so human only. But he is still powerful enough to convince even Ian McKellen's evil mastermind character to join forces with the good guys. Politics are a major component in here, not only because the President of the United States appears pretty quickly, but yeah, it is once again about tolerance, acceptance and witch-hunt when it comes to mutants. And in the end it seems as if there are losses for both sides when one major character loses her life apparently, perhaps also to keep the writers from having to elaborate further on love stories in the X-Men universe and (SPOILER) even if I like Famke Janssen as an actress (sure more than Romijn and Berry) it may have been an okay decision. Then again I see she is back for future films again, so we will see what explanation they will give us for that. So yeah there are pros and cons for this film. It is obviously not on the same level as "Logan", but it is still a fairly decent achievement overall and a convincing sequel. I just wish they could have kept the second effects-packed third a bit shorter as it really would have helped the film's focus overall. Nonetheless what happened in here did actually get me curious about the third film from the franchise. I will make sure to check it out at some point in the coming weeks/months. X2 gets a thumbs-up from me and I recommend checking it out.
