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I've been a fan of the
X-men ever since I found a few (very early) issues of the comic in some
stuff of my aunt's, that was at my grandfather's. I've still got a couple
of long-boxes worth stored away. Comics have long been a place where
great stories can be told, and the X-men have had a lot of them. Unfortunately,
comics have been translated rather badly into movies, for the most part.
See the schlock of Captain America and The Punisher, for example. It
has only been recently that the more fantastic superheroes have been
translated better. The first X-men proved to be worthy of the name.
It's sequal follows in the same tradition.
There are a whole slew of changes from the comic series, many of which are just too bad. The plot of X2 is a combination of Wolverine's history (much, much condensed) and the plot from the graphic novel "God Loves, Man Kills." While I deplore the loss of some great storylines that the changes have made. I hate how Sabertooth and now Lady Deathstrike were turned into throw-away characters. They had some great stories attached to them. However, I do recognize that to keep these plots, would require a hundred or so movies. Needless to say, there are many bits, but most of them are only apparent to long-time fans of the comic. Some of the good things that come out of the movie, are greater character depth. Wolverine's history continues to unfold, revealing some of how deep his soul always has been. Jean Grey and Cyclops loose a lot of their one-dimentionality, particularly Jean. Most of all, Nightcrawler's introduction gives us a view of the man Kurt is, but isn't focused on in the comic as much as it is here. The replacement of Nightcrawler's fur for tatoos is understandable from a special effects point of view, but it brings up the fact that he has always been a very spiritual person. The character who gets the most improvement from the first movie has to be Storm. In X1, she gets only a couple of lame lines. In X2, we get to see some of the sort of person that Storm is in the comics. Good thing they didn't waste the acting talents of a Oscar Winner this time around. :> Over all, X-men 2 is one of the rare things in Hollywood: A sequal that is as good or better than it's predecessor. In this case, I think it is better. The characters are more interesting for non-fans, the story moves along well, and there are plenty of good special effects and action. I do have some reservations about the end of the movie and what it forshadows of X3, but to tell you would give it away. Go out and see it for yourself. |
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Overall, I rate X-Men 2: Xmen
United as being worth $8.50 to go see, and another movie for the DVD's-to-own
list.
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