X-Men 2
It was OK. Too many plots going on at once, and sometimes it felt like Byran Singer tossed as much up on the screen as possible, hoping some of it would stick. Lots of new mutants and tons of action, so those bases are covered. Still, just OK in my book. The best moment came near the end, when I had a conversation with my movie-chatty friend Susan.
ME: So Jean Grey has to choose between Cyclops and Wolverine. Like *that’s* a hard decision.
SUSAN: Yeah. Cyclops is like the Frank Burns of the X-Men.
I’m interested to know if you’ve been a fan / reader / viewer of the story / comics / cartoon at all. That seems to be a modifying factor in reviews of the movie.
No, I haven’t read the comic. I think I liked the first movie better, since it had the Wolverine/Rogue interaction at its center to draw upon. This one just seemed like a jumble of stuff – interesting stuff, with some wonderful touches, but still a jumble.
I did really like the “Have you tried *not* being a mutant?” coming-out scene, though.
As a long-time fan of the X-Men, I think the most exciting parts of the movie were where Jean Grey started getting a little firey during unusual bursts of mutant powers — a titillating foreshadow of the Phoenix saga. A little grief-stricken liplock between Wolverine and Cyclops wouldn’t have hurt, but I leave that to the slash experts, who I’m sure are hard at work already.
John: I look forward to your review. You are going to write one, right?
I think John is right about having read the comics being a factor in how much you liked the movie. There were a TON of references thrown in for the hardcore fans that could have contributed to the tossing as much on screen impression it gave you as a non-x-men-geek.
This is for those who read the comics and watched the cartoons. Does anyone think they took a lot of the fire out of both Cyclops and Rogue? Rogue in her movie incarnation is at least interesting in a distinct way. But Cyclops has all the fire of wet wood. Neither his perfomance nor his chracterization seemed particularly convincing or leader like.
Tomiwa: That’s why Susan’s Frank Burns crack was so funny.
John, my husband’s first comment to me after seeing the movie was “The slash to come out of this one will be UNBELIEVABLE”.