Ok fanboys, put up your dukes cause I’m ready for you. You’re not going to like what I have to say about “X2.”
Ever heard of that old saying about how the sum is greater than the parts? Well “X2” is the opposite. There are several great scenes in the movie that will make comic geeks quiver in excitement. The opening scene is amazing as is the battle at the ole X-Ranch. There are a bunch of comic references that only the astute X-fan will catch (be sure to watch the computer screen in Stryker’s office for example) and in keeping with the first X-Men movie, there are a ton of cool cameos.
But what the movie needs more than anything is a script. The story is very disappointing and near the end, things start to get weirder and weirder. I can’t really go into detail without creating spoilers galore, but of the entire source material the X-writers had to work with, this was the best plot they could think of? Come on.
Another very annoying aspect of “X2″ is its need to prove to you that this movie is an epic. Every couple of scenes we get to see a character standing on some set piece just posing and pondering. After the third or fourth time this was done I gave the pose a name, The Epic Pondering Pose. See if you can keep track of how many EPP’s you can catch. It won’t take you long to start the count. Wolverine does one within the first five minuets of the movie. It’s rather obvious the writing team looked at each other and said, “Let’s write a script that’s our version of the X-Men do ‘The Empire Strikes Back,’ it’ll be an epic.”
The addition of Alan C*****g as Nightcrawler, though, is great. Also, the interaction between the younger members of the team was a nice touch. Halle Berry gets a lot more story line than in the first film, but really doesn’t do anything except make wind and then more wind (I presume someone at the studio said, “She’s got an academy award, give her a bigger part.”)
Overall, “X2” is a major disappointment. And like I said before fanboys, I’m ready for you. I grew up reading the X-Men, I’m a big fan and I can prove it. Long time X-Men writer / Godfather Chris Claremont yelled at me once when I was 12 for asking him stupid questions about issue 142 (something like “Get out of here kid and stop asking me about Kitty Pryde”). Besides, I got to go to the premier and hang out with Stan Lee, smoke cigarettes with Alan C*****g and stand next to Famke Janssen, can you say that?
