I have always been a comic books fan. I
grew up on them. So when any movie based on a comic book comes out, it
usually piques my interest. Actually, I should clarify this a bit. Any
movie based on a comic book that I've read or at least heard of piques
my interest. That means “Tank Girl” wasn't on my list.
When I was young, I would go to the corner store and buy dozens of
comics at one time. Unfortunately, as comics became more and more
expensive, I had to limit my choices to a few select series'. One of
these was the X-Men line. Of course, Marvel threw me for a loop and
started offering about a dozen different series' based on the X-Men, but
that's another story and another rant.
Getting back to the X-Men... One of the reasons I chose the X-Men was
its interesting storyline and really cool characters. As I grew older I
still appreciated the storyline because it discussed important issues
such as racism or hatred. When I watched the original X-Men movie, I was
glad to see that the somewhat convoluted plot focused on this central
theme. This theme is important to make any X-Men movie successful - much
like an exploration into the madness of man is to the Batman series.
However, as the cash registers ring, and the movie moguls focus on
sales, quality tends to fall. Witness the Batman series; the first did
an admirable job focusing on the angst within Batman and the fine line
he walked between madness and sanity - justice and vengeance. By the
time it got to number four, it had regressed to, well, crap.
I'm sure Brendan, who is not an avid comic book reader, will focus on
the merits of the movie as a movie itself. But for me, the question with
the second installment of the X-Men wasn't whether the characters would
be cool or the special effects would look great, it was whether the
storyline maintains its integrity and stays true to the central X-theme.
For me, it was important to see whether the X-institution was
maintained. Before I get into this however, I should include my opinion
for those who haven't invested a lot of time into the X-Men series.
For most people, it'll be all about how easy it is to follow the story,
how cool the effects look, how well choreographed the fight scenes are
and how bodacious the babes are. Well, three out of four ain't bad. The
special effects were good. All the mutants powers were believable -
especially Nightcrawler's teleportation. The fight scenes were fairly
well done, mostly when Wolverine was on the screen. He really does come
across as one crazy-ass Canuck that you don't want to mess with. Also,
Kelly Hu and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos nicely upped the “babes”
quotient. As for the story, which revolves around an attack on the US
president, a counter attack on Xavier's School and an attempt to rid the
world of the “mutant problem”. (Hope that's vague enough for you.) I
would say that it was a little easier to follow than the first X-Men
movie, but still pretty convoluted.
For the fans of the comics like myself, this was no problem. Nearly all
the X-Men story lines are overly complex, so it's something I'm used to.
What made me the most satisfied with the movie was that indeed the
studio did stay true to the main theme and revolved the story around a
coming conflict between humans and mutants. This time, instead of just
the theoretical differences between the Martin Luther King like Charles
Xavier and the Malcolm X like Magneto, they introduced the human
response to the dilemma. Exactly the kind of story I was looking for.
Now was the story perfect? No, it could easily have been deeper and more
involved, but given the 2-hour time limit I was willing to accept that.
And while I was very happy with the expansion of the mystery behind
Wolverine (an important element for any Wolverine fan out there), I was
also looking forward to a more involved role from Cyclops and Jean Grey,
which wasn't there. But then again I've always been a big Cyclops fan so
this could be a bias on my part. The pacing was also a little slow at
times but again, given the weightiness of the overall storyline, this
was somewhat inevitable. The added cameos of Colossus, Shadowcat and Dr.
Hank McCoy were all nice touches.
In short, the movie was X-cellent. What makes this movie work,
especially for an X-Men fan, is that it comes across like an issue (or a
series of issues) in the comics. It assumes you have certain knowledge
of the X-Universe and then dives right in. And instead of just focusing
on the cool power that each mutant possesses, it tries to add depth to
each mutant and what makes him or her tick. Nightcrawler's religious
background was especially well handled in this matter.
And as an added gem, certain events that transpire near the end leave
the X-Men fan in me drooling at the prospect of X3. Why? Because it
promises to revolve around one of the best X-Men story lines of all
time. Can't wait.
For fans -  
- 9/10
For non-fans - 
- 7.5/10
What
did you think?
Have your say on our Message Boards...
Takato Yamashita
More Reviews - Click Here
|
