My sensibility could not even begin to quell the geek in me, so here I am, during the summer, when I am not required by deadline to write a review, writing a review. What could inspire me to do this? Could it be the perfect embodiment of wheels falling off the cart in Identity? Or my utter surprise at how stinkin' great last year's top grossing movie in England is (not any Harry Potter movie, but Bend It Like Beckham)? It certainly is not The Matrix Reloaded, and I am starting to worry about that film. The ads are stupid, and a thought just reached me. I see Neo fighting in the trailers. Why? Wouldn't he just have to hold his hand up to the Agents and just say, "No." But I'm digressing. Where was I? Ah yes . . . what inspired me to write this untimely review. First a little background.
I am a geek. I grew up a geek, and I am afraid I will always be a geek, but I am not of the Dungeons and Dragons variety. No, my geekness stems from my collecting of comic books when I was a child, and, I am sorry for those of you that do not think so, but collecting comic books makes you a geek. Of course comic books have become quite a lucrative industry in Hollywood as of late, and there have been some decent adaptations to film with even better ones being promised (I, for one, am pumped for Hulk). But nothing has ever come close to the original Superman film. My feelings about that movie are for a different review on a different day, but, it goes to say, that it was my vote for the best comic book movie ever made. Key word there: was. I got a sneak preview of the sequel to X-Men the night before it came out, and I was sucker-punched by the movie.
X-Men 2 is what fanboys like myself have been praying for over the course of years, and director Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects) has answered in a big, big way. While the first film relied on the cheese factor, crappy, crappy dialogue and some putrid development for its characters, the sequel, entitled X-Men United, does just about everything right, satisfying both fans of the comic book and fans of action/sci-fi/special effects films. What is the most ambitious thing about the movie is the fact that it takes itself seriously. It does not exist in the seemingly cartoon world that Joel Schumacher turned the Batman films into. It seems like the creators of X-Men are showing that this is the way things could be. Of course the fact that one of the most magnificent actors of our day, Ian McKellen, throws everything he has into this role as villain does not hurt. To think that a man of his prestige would begin to entertain the idea of being in a comic book movie is ridiculous, but he pulls off his performance of the ever-present villain Magneto with such ease that the other actors have to be inspired to do everything they can to oblige.
For those who may not remember, the story of the first flick centers around genetically advanced people who have super powers, be it mind control, weather control, invincibility, etc. Anyways, the government does not know what to do with them, and people are scared of them, so opposing factions either want to destroy them or support them. Likewise, mutants, like McKellen's Magneto, either want to destroy humans or find and teach them to help human, like the X-Men's leader, Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart). The first film ended with Professor Xavier celebrating and Magneto in a plastic prison, and the second pretty much takes off from there, as a teleporting mutant, brought to life with awe by Alan Cumming, wages a freaking awesome onslaught on the White House. The entirety of this opening sequence is pretty much the best action sequence I've seen in a while.
Needless to say the government reacts to this poorly and commissions Colonel William Stryker (Brian "The Man" Cox) to lead a task force against mutants. Battle lines get drawn in the sand and mayhem ensues.
What not so good about the movie is the fact that there are far too many characters that some get short-handed, but the stories that don't get short-handed are treated with such delicacy, you would think that Singer thought he was directing a war-caliber flick.
What is good besides the care shown to the characters is the great acting highlighted by McKellen and Cox, and the action sequences, especially the opening sequence and the fight, towards the end of the film, between two characters that cannot die.
By the end of the film someone is dead though, and the ending promises that the creators will be bringing the best story line from the entire X-Men series to life. The movie is not treated like your average blockbuster. The filmmakers have gone to desperate length to make a great film, and, in my biased opinion, they have done it. Without question, X-Men 2 is the greatest comic book movie ever made. The Matrix has one heck of a hill to climb. |
