The first X-Men was a pretty good movie. It still holds up rather well after all these years. But X2: X-Men United…. is superior in every way, shape, and form imaginable.
X2 continues the story of the first film. Wolverine is still trying to figure out his mysterious past, but he doesn’t exactly find the answers. The answers find him, and it doesn’t turn out well for everyone else. In fact, it hits the fan hard in this movie. Mutant mind control, paranoia, and plots of mass extinction. What else could go wrong? I’m not kidding when I say a lot of things happen in this movie. A lot of characters are present, a lot of plot points, and... just a lot of action. It’s quite a bit to take in, but the pacing and writing of it all is done in a way that doesn’t feel overwhelming. The film and its contents flow smoothly. The best example of a movie being too cluttered is Iron Man 2. But that film had less characters than X2. WAY less! But the filmmakers of X2 knew what they were doing. They handled all the characters and plotlines perfectly.
For the most part, X2 focuses on the same characters from the first X-Men movie. Wolverine, Rogue, Jean Grey, Xavier, Storm, Mystique, Magneto, and a couple others. Unlike the first X-Men, Storm and Jean Grey get a lot more screentime, and are way more likeable and memorable than they were before. Wolverine is even more of a bad@$$, if you can believe it. I like the cute little romance between Rogue and Iceman, too. Next to Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy from The Amazing Spider-Man, they’re the cutest Marvel pair ever.
But one of the best characters in the movie is William Stryker. By ‘best’, I’m referring to how well he’s written, not his likeability. He’s not likeable. NOT AT ALL. I hate that guy with a passion, but I couldn’t help but give credit to how well the jerk was written. He’s another super-paranoid government official that hates Mutants. Nothing really new there. But what lengths he goes to in order to end the Mutant ‘threat’ puts Stryker pretty high up there on the list of evil jerks. He’s a piece of trash, but I love to hate him.
Other new characters include Nightcrawler, a teleporter, and Pyro, who’s basically the Human Torch, but he didn’t need to get stuck in a radioactive space storm in order to get his powers. Minor new ones, like Colossus and Lady Deathstrike, only appear for small portions of the film. Although surprisingly, with their limited screentime, they manage to steal the show for a bit.
Mostly, I’m surprised how good the filmmakers were at getting each character a fair amount of screentime. Some have more than others, obviously. And there isn’t a character I didn’t like. But once again, Cyclops takes a backseat to everybody. He’s… more or less incapacitated for most of the movie. And when he isn’t he doesn’t do much worth noting. And that’s really disappointing. I want to like Cyclops, I really do. But the movies so far are not doing enough to help it.
Another improvement over the first X-Men is the soundtrack. I thought the music in the first X-Men was decent, but the music of X2 is actually fantastic. I’ve heard better, but it’s still good. The other big thing I love is the special effects. Again, they hold up rather well after all these years. The CGI on the planes in the air chase scene could have been better, but aside from that, it was great!
Of all the non-Avengers affiliated Marvel movies that I’ve seen, X-Men United is my definite favorite. The story and characters are written perfectly. I can’t praise it enough. If you haven’t seen it yet, you need to. You will not be disappointed in the slightest.
FINAL RATING: 47 / 50
STORY: 5 / 5
ACTING: 5 / 5
CHARACTERS: 4 / 5
SPECIAL EFFECTS: 4 / 5
ACTION: 5 / 5
SOUNDTRACK: 4 / 5
TONE: 5 / 5
ENJOYABILITY: 5 / 5
REWATCH VALUE: 5 / 5
OWNING VALUE: 5 / 5
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