Ahoy squirts! Remember me? Your favorite crusty seaman? I've been away on some secret missions recently, but I have returned, for a little while at least. And what better way to mark my return than by a review of X2.
I had avoided Moriarty's review, knowing it was of the "holy shit, what an awesome movie!" variety. I've also avoided as many spoilers and TV spots and international trailers as I could. I ruined SPIDER-MAN for myself by playing the video game (which is in essence the whole movie plus some) and watching 10 minutes of clips that appeared online and I would be damned if I did the same thing for X2.
I really dug the first X-MEN film. It was shaky, that's for sure, but it was strongly written, strongly acted and very enjoyable. Sure, the X-MEN themselves may have been cast too young and the effects were really terrible in parts and the score was nonexistent, but the story and the characters were solid. Even though it didn't feel or look like the comic book, it did manage to pull the spirit out, kicking and screaming as it were.
X2 has all the strengths of the original film and none of the weaknesses. John Ottman's score is a strong improvement, feeling like a real super-hero score, though there still hasn't been a great theme produced by the Marvel films. Singer's direction is more confident and it makes for an easy film to get into and enjoy. The actors are more comfortable with their characters and have more fun with them. And thank god there is no line that comes close to being as bad as the "toad struck by lightening" line in the first film.
From Nightcrawler's slam-bang opening sequence, one of the hands down best comic book movie moments of all time, to the climax in Alberta, the movie never lets up. There are so many geek nods and winks that you'll probably miss some of them, unless you're the kind of person who knows every story line and character from the X-Men comics starting with issue #1. Hell, I've been a devout X-Men fan since I could open a comic book and even I was focused on something else on the screen when Hank McCoy's cameo came up.
We have hintings at things to come that will make the fans of the comics cream in their pants. Sorry to be so crude, but it's true. That's what we do. When we see that certain radiant color glinting in a certain character's eye... well, we ejaculate. It's some sort of sensory malfunction only found in geeks. This movie does that to you. If you consider yourself to be an X-Men fan or geek in any way, then this movie will give you wood, I guarantee it. Especially when you see that they didn't hold back in this film. Wolverine kills people. Pyro does some serious damage. Magneto does his share as well. This movie is a lot more hardcore than most are expecting.
All the cast seems to be maturing in their roles. I actually found myself really digging Shawn Ashmore as Bobby Drake (aka ICEMAN) even though I really hated how young he was cast in the first movie. Ashmore really found a great center for the character and gives him a lot of life and a strong sense of determination. Anna Paquin still doesn't strike me as the Rogue I grew up loving, but she's a strong character nonetheless... just not the character I wanted to see. Ian McKellen has a ball playing Magneto, giving the character a bit more of a darkly humorous edge than in the first film. Both Famke Janssen and James Marsden feel more natural and not as wooden as they did in the first film. And god help me, but I can see Marsden as Preacher now, which totally fucked with me when I was watching X2 because I was so dead set against him playing that role.
Halle Berry looks better and plays a lot more with the character of Storm. Patrick Stewart brings the same amount of class to Professor X as he did in the first film. Hugh Jackman gets to play Wolverine's dark side a bit more and is pretty mean. It's good to see why he shot into stardom in the first place as his other films haven't quite shown off his natural charisma. Rebecca Romijn-Stamos also kicks it up a notch, giving Mystique some depth and some great character moments. It's kinda funny... in the film Magneto and Mystique come off as a couple who have been married for ages or a pair of best friends who can communicate with a glance and share the same dark sense of humor. I really dug that angle.
Now for the breakouts of the film. Surprise surprise surprise... Alan Cumming rules the earth as Kurt Wagner, though in the circus they called him The Great Night Crawler! Nightcrawler is perhaps my favorite Marvel character screen adaptation. That includes Spider-Man, Blade, all the X-Men... Punisher... Visually, Nightcrawler is perfection and they cast him with one of the most talented actors working today. Cumming brings a sadness to Nightcrawler, yet a peace to him as well. There are about 17,000 writing credits on the film, so I'm not sure who to thank, but whoever it was you did a great job. You gave Alan Cumming the material to make Nightcrawler my favorite translated to screen Marvel character.
Brian Cox, also to no one's surprise, I'm sure, plays a great villain. Stryker is a king asshole and make no mistake and Cox plays it with relish. In many ways Stryker is a better villain than Magneto. He's at least more subtle, which makes him feel real. The real villains in this world are the ones who whisper into the ears of those in power and talk them into acting without thinking. Very rarely are the ones in power the real bad guys and if they are I bet you they got there by subtly playing on the fears of those in power, whether it's fear of bad press, fear of being wrong, fear of terrorists, fear of losing their power... whatever. Stryker has his own agenda and he uses fear to push it through. Kinda topical, ain't it?
But I digress. Cox is creepy, he's scary and he's both of those things because, above all else, he's real. As much as I love Magneto and his many shadings as a character, he still flies around and has super badass and cool powers. No matter how cool he is and how perfectly McKellen plays him, he will always have that believability limit.
Is X2 a perfect comic book movie? I'm not sure. It's the perfect comic book FAN movie, without a doubt. Is the movie really perfect? It's damn near perfect. In the whole 2 plus hours I only have one extremely minor complaint, which I got supremely bitched out about after the screening by Master Knowles. For the entirety of the movie, there's always a great momentum. When the story slows down a notch, we fans get a glimpse at something aimed directly at us, be it Hank McCoy on TV, Colossus telling Wolverine he can help (I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna shit when I see Colossus throw Wolverine on the big screen... I have my fingers crossed for the next film!)... There are great geek moments, but the movie doesn't depend on them. The story always pushes faster and faster to a great climax... and here's my one minor problem with the film...
It's missing the "Fuckin' A! Awesome!" beat at the end. Don't get me wrong... the climax of the film pays off like a loose slot machine, but then the movie continues on for about 7 or 8 minutes, seeming to build up to something. The final shot of the movie will get fans excited, no question. I want X3 to be out next week so bad it's not even funny, as I know it'll be based around my favorite X-Men storyline of all time. What it's missing is the cigarette after sex. The cherry on top. The last shot is cool and all, but it just peters out. I know that's what they meant to do and I applaud them for it. It just wasn't the note I wanted the movie to end on. Hell, I could have just been expecting to see Gambit and when that didn't happen I felt the movie was missing something. It could be that. I just wanted the crescendo to hit, then the last couple of drum beats that seem to say, "I'm sorry to say it's over, but you had an awesome time, didn't you?" Instead, I got, "It's over."
It's in actuality a very, very minor complaint. If they had included something like Gambit at the end of the credits or just one more finishing nod to the geeks I think the film would have been 100% perfect in my eyes. As it stands right now, it's 99.98% perfect, which ain't bad at all.
Go and see X2 this weekend, see it with a roomful of rowdy geeks. In a movie like this the energy will spread quicker than SARS. Of course, if you're not a huge fan of the comics, then you might not want to be reminded of every little nod or in-joke you're not privy to, but you know what? I saw X2 in a room full of snobby CRITICS and still I fell head over heels for this flick. I'm going to do my damndest to get into the Alamo Drafthouse's midnight showing of X2 on Thursday, take my girlfriend and enjoy the movie with a rowdy, geeky audience. I just hope someone at the Alamo has a mop and bucket. If my theory about geeks and ejaculation turns out to be correct, then the theatre might need a bit of a cleanup.
That's it for me, squirts. I'll be back in the near future with some cool goodies. 'Til that day, this is Quint bidding you all a fond farewell and adieu.
-Quint
email: Wanna hear about my berserker rage? Email Quint here!!!
