PG-13, 133 min.
Director: Bryan Singer
Writers: Michael Dougherty,
Dan Harris, David Hayter, Zak Penn, Bryan Singer
Starring: Hugh Jackman,
Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Barry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Bryan
Cox, Rebecca Romijn, Anna Paquin, Alan Cumming, Aaron Stanford, Shawn Ashmore,
Kelly Hu, Michael Reid McKay
If anything, “X2” stands up
after eleven years very well. Other than the hairdressers still forcing Hugh
Jackman to try and replicated Wolverine’s hairdo—or rather “hair don’t,” if you
know what I mean—from the comic books this could be the latest X-Men movie in
terms of keeping pace with the other movies of the cinematic comic book craze
it helped to develop. The action is solid. The effects are great, and the story
outdoes the original “X-Men” by a longshot. It builds mythology. It delves
secrets. It raises more questions than it answers, leaving the need for more
movies. But, that doesn’t stop it from answering some key questions as well.
It’s exciting and it has something to say.
So far, “X2” has been the
best X-Men movie produced. It’s interesting to speculate. Since “X-Men: First
Class” harkened back to the opening scene of “X-Men”, will “X-Men: Days of
Future Past” key into certain points of “X2”. It is director/co-writer Bryan
Singer’s first time back with the franchise since this one. I wonder.
What I don’t wonder about is
whether Bryan Singer is a good fit for the X-Men series. The director of three
of them now, including this, the best; I have no doubt that if he hadn’t left
to do the least appreciated Superman movie, he wouldn’t have produced the least
appreciated X-Men movie in “X-Men: The Last Stand”, but more on that when I
review it.
Singer has a good grasp on
what the X-Men are about, and even more importantly, what their fans want out
of them. First and foremost it is an ensemble that incorporates a great number
of characters and abilities. Singer has an innate ability to juggle a great
number of characters and storylines that supersede anyone else’s who has
tackled the mutants. Brett Ratner’s “Last Stand” drowned in its cast. Gavin
Hood’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” was too wrapped up in its action. Even
Matthew Vaughn’s wonderful “X-Men: First Class” did not excel at this attribute
of the X-Men universe. It was talkier and less action oriented than Singer’s
X-Men movies, and why do fans want to see all these characters if not to see
them in action. Only James Mangold was smart enough not to try and match
Singer’s formula and trimmed down his cast size for “The Wolverine”.
Still we get Wolverine at
the center of things and the burning question of why would this seemingly brute
hero would be at the center of everything, at least on the surface. Wolverine
has seemed to be the favorite X-Men since the early 80s, but the core of it all
is the prejudice analogy, and that’s where the events of “X2” are really
focused. Wolverine, like his persona, is only a fringe element of Stryker’s
plot to do away with all mutants, except as slaves, of course. This stuff is
rich. It really is.
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