The movie starts off with a scene
at the White House. Here we are witnesses to a failed assassination attempt on
the President of the United States from a teleporting mutant. With this latest
turn of event, the president has given the okay to a General by the name of Stryker
to invade the School for the Gifted (X-Mansion) and subdued the students attending
the school. Meanwhile back at the X-Mansion, Logan has returned from his trip
in Canada with no answer to his past. Professor Xavier has decided to investigate
the incident at the White House and to find the mutant that's behind the assassination.
Xavier ordered Jean Grey and Storm to track down the teleporting mutant while
he and Cyclops pay a visit to Magneto to see if he's behind the plan to assassinate
the President. Wolverine was left behind to baby-sit the students. As the story
continues, the X-Mansion was invaded by an army group led by General Stryker,
leaving Wolverine, Rogue and Ice-Man on the run. Jean and Storm was able to track
down the teleporting mutant named Nightscrawler to find out that he had no recollection
of his visit to the White House. General Styker's men captured Professor Xavier
and Cyclops during their visit to Magneto. At this point, the plot starts to unfold
with a new war between mutant and non-mutants led by General Stryker. Secrets
to Wolverine past also start to unfold bit by bit and his connection to General
Stryker. Along the way, viewers are treated to a wide ride with action pack sequences
between General Stryker forces and the X-Men, romance between mutants, special
effects, all coming to a sad conclusion on the fate of an X-Man.
Now I'm pissed!
Shadows of my past.
Good
What's good this time around? I
would say the story. I found the story to be more interesting this time around.
The story when the movie plays out doesn't appear to be stuck in the mud during
the 2-hour movie unlike the first X-Men. I believe the reason for that is due
to the fact that this time around, the story doesn't need to make a pit stop and
waste time explaining to the audience out there who mutants are and what the X-Men
are about. At this point, we, the audience, pretty much know all there is to know
about the mutants and X-Men characters. That's the advantage that a sequel has
that an original movie doesn't. From the beginning of the movie to the end, it's
pretty much let's just dive right in and get on with the action. And it doesn't
take very long before we start witnessing the invasion on the X-Mansion. The special
effects and action sequences themselves are very good and entertaining although
most of the actions are limited to Wolverine. The mansion invasion scene where
you see Wolverine fighting is very cool and shows off Wolverine toughness and
coolness. The fight between Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike was also excellently
done. Sure you know that Wolverine will kick ass in the end but what make the
fight scenes good is that Wolverine looks human and can get his ass kicked around,
unlike in the comic books where he's this unstoppable juggernaut. Another positive
is that certain characters are getting better screen time than before. Storm,
Ice-Man, and Mystique are prime example of this. At least Storm has a little bit
more to do in this movie than before. Ice-Man was regulated from just a cameo
spotlight in the first movie to a full supporting character in this movie. Finally,
Mystique gets to talk. In terms of the cast, Ian McKeller is excellent as Magneto.
At this point, I don't think anyone else can play a better Magneto. Although the
movie Magneto is kind of too old compare to the Magneto from the comic book. Hugh
Jackman plays a mean Wolverine. Honestly, all the actors and actresses really
fit into the characters that they play. One may argue that James Marsden doesn't
make a good Cyclops but I doubt that. It's more of a by-product of the Cyclops
character not playing a key role in the X-Men movies than James Marsden not making
a good Cyclops. The introduction of Kelly Hu as Lady Deathstrike was great. Not
only is Kelly Hu one of the prettiest actress around but she know martial arts
for real which gives more credit to the character that she plays when she's out
there kicking Wolverine ass. Despite the good special effects and casts, it's
really the story that just comes out better. I just enjoy the story more than
I did in the first X-Men movie. There's more of an emotional cord in this movie
than there was in the first movie. There's also a sense of direction in terms
of where you think the movie will be heading next, and I like that. Oh wait. Just
to add, I also like the small cameo appearances on some of the other X-Men in
this movie as well. X-Men fans know who they are.
Burn baby, burn.
A family reunion.
Bad
"You still think it's all about
you, Wolverine," said Magneto. Unfortunately it is still all about Wolverine.
If there were a downside to this movie then that would be the main one. The X-Men
is about a team and not an individual. Unfortunately so far, both movies tend
to focus on one individual, Wolverine. While one can understand that Wolverine
is the most popular X-Men, he shouldn't have nearly an entire movie plot focusing
on him and his past. There are other characters on the team too. When watching
the two X-Men movies, one feels it's more of a Wolverine and his amazing X-Men
friends than an X-Men movie. If you were counting the number scenes each character
has, Wolverine has the most. Fundamentally, I prefer equal time for all characters.
Yes, Wolverine is cool but too much is over exposure. One of the complaints in
the first movie was that Storm and Cyclops didn't have much to do in the movie.
Storm does have more of a bigger role this time around but Cyclops, the so-called
leader of the X-Men, still has little to no impact in the movie. He's supposed
to be the leader of the X-Men but he has yet to lead them to anything. Other inconsistent
screen time is the character Rogue. Here's a character that most viewers can say
is pretty boring and uninteresting. This is hardly the same Rogue character that
was feature in the comic book but yet the Rogue in this movie seems to get quite
a bit of screen time for some strange unknown reason. There's also a strange pattern
where a cool bad guy is introduce but doesn't talk. In the first X-Men, Mystique
was the silent cool bad guy. Here it's Lady Deathstrike that's playing the cool
silent bad guy. The last thing this movie seems to be missing are real bad guys
to go against the X-Men. You have General Stryker and his army guys but they don't
pose any real threat to the X-Men. Lady Deathstrike is the only real so called
super power villain in this movie. And she only has one real fight scene in the
entire movie involving Wolverine. Outside of that, there's a lack of group fights
between a good team versus a bad team like you would expect from a team movie.
Just a minor complaint. To round it off, I think certain characters should have
less time in front of the cameras while other characters could use more time.
And the lack of a super team battle is missing. Other than that, there's not much
to be dissatisfied with.
Back on top.
Phoenix rising.
Bonus
The two DVD set comes with some heavy bonuses. Still galleries, 11 deleted scenes, and theatrical trailers. In addition to those, Disc 1 provides a full-length movie with commentary from Brian Singer and Tom Sigel added in. There are also commentaries from the rest of the creative team working on the movie. Disc 2 is loaded with mainly documentaries on the history of the X-Men, making of the movie, and history behind the new character, Nightcrawler. These featurettes includes FX2 Visual Effects, fight rehearsal between Wolverine and Deathstrike, Nightcrawler stunt rehearsal, Nightcrawler make up designs and many more. These video documentaries will give viewers full insights into how the movie was made. I find it quite informative. A person can learn a lot on how a super hero movie is made and the efforts that go into making one. There's over two hours worth of bonuses for viewers to go spend some time on. Personally in this reviewer's opinion, this is one of the best bonus packages available on a DVD set.
Final Analysis
I hate to say it but I watched the X-Men United four times. I don't usually watch a movie that many times. Watching a movie twice is the most for me unless it's a re-run on TV that pops up now and then. The funny thing is that despite watching it four times I wasn't really bored with it. What works for the movie is the pure fact that despite it being over two hours long, the movie goes by pretty quick. It's a very fast pace movie. There's really no chance for you to sit there and say this is boring. As soon as a part where you might find boring comes up, an exciting action sequence will pop up right away shifting things into second gear. But personally I think the reason why this movie is better to the audience as compare to the first movie is that the ending is more emotionally draining to the audience than the first. Plus there's a factor that for the first time, you actually feel for these X-Men characters and notice them as human beings that care for one another by the time the movie ended. You don't get that kind of feeling from the first movie. The ending also keeps the audience guessing into the next movie, which makes the movie more exciting. Let's put it this way, the ending is actually more of a cliffhanger ending then a real open and close ending like the first movie. You're actually excited to see what's going to happen in the third X-Men movie. This is why this movie is good. In the end, you feel sad but yet wondering what to expect in the third movie. And any X-Men fan can tell you that it's going to involve the Phoenix Saga. It will definitely be interesting to see how they will incorporate the Phoenix Saga into the movie.
