Tagline: The time has come for those who are different to stand united (more)
Plot Outline: The X-Men band together to find a mutant assassin who has made an attempt on the President's life, while the Mutant Academy is attacked by military forces. (more)(view trailer)
User Comments:
less cerebral, more conventional than the original
(more)
Date: 20 December 2003 Summary: less cerebral, more conventional than the original
`X2: X-Men United' is the widely admired sequel to `X-Men,' one of the
finest movies ever to be derived from a comic book series. The original
film, in addition to being a superb piece of action cinema, dealt with
such
weighty issues as prejudice and alienation, showing how groups of people
who
are seen as `different' from the norm are often ostracized from and
mistreated by society as a whole. By creating an entirely new set of
people
to serve as its outcasts - in this case, mutants endowed with
extraordinary
physical and mental powers - the film was able to strip the issue of
bigotry
down to its barest essentials and to make us see anew just how great a
part
`irrational fear of the unknown' plays in determining the ways we treat
others. Quite an accomplishment for a film that was designed,
essentially,
to be little more than a commercial popcorn entertainment.
This second entry in the series, though it has generally received more
positive reviews than the first one, seems less concerned with message
and
theme and more concerned with action and plotting. Part of the reason
for
this may lie in the fact that the initial film, because it was
introducing
both the characters and the concepts to the audience, was forced by
necessity to deal with the theme in a more direct and comprehensive
manner.
Perhaps when it came to `X2,' director Bryan Singer and writers Michael
Dougherty, Dan Harris and David Hayter simply felt that the theme had
been
explored sufficiently in the first installment and that any further
concentration on it would appear redundant. The problem is that, without
that added intellectual and sociological dimension, `X2' starts to feel
an
awful lot like every other comic book action film - heavy on adventure
and
special effects and weak on character development and point. In fact,
even
with the added bonus of almost 30 extra minutes in this episode (it runs
an
overlong 134 minutes), many of the characters in the film do little but
stand around and look helpless while a select few run around saving the
day
and getting all the valuable screen time.
There's a wonderful scene about halfway through the film in which a
teenage
mutant boy `comes out' to his genuinely astonished parents, informing
them
that their `ordinary, average' child (whom they had just considered
`highly
gifted') has been harboring a deep dark secret within himself, a
revelation
that no parent would ever want to hear and no child would ever want to
have
to make. The reaction of both stunned disbelief and reluctant acceptance
(`We still love you no matter what you are') on the part of the boy's
family
speaks to anyone who has had to face a similar situation in his own life.
`X2' could use more scenes like this one to help the audience connect
better
with both the characters and the events taking place on screen. And it
was
scenes like this one that made the original `X-Men' soar as a movie, for
that film really seemed to be able to zero in on universal aspects of
human
nature. `X2' doesn't do nearly as impressive a job in this
regard.
Every so often, `X2' feels as if it too is getting ready to expound on
one
of its potentially intriguing themes - as when the President of the
United
States has to decide whether to take draconian action against what he
believes may be a `terrorist' organization among the mutants - only to
have
the concern fizzle in a welter of action movie clichés. After all, what
could be more pertinent, timely or relevant to today's world than the
threat
of terrorism and the potential for civil rights abuses arising from the
fear
it causes? Instead of making this premise the crux of their movie as
they
should have, the filmmakers drag all the characters over to some secret
underground complex next to a snowbound lake to do battle with a pretty
conventional villain and have them indulge in all the explosions, gun
battles, kickboxing fight sequences etc. that are the standard
accoutrements
of any self-respecting modern day action film.
People seem to be enamored of `X2,' even more, perhaps, than they were of
the original `X-Men.' I wish I could count myself among them. But as
one
who genuinely loved the original, I must say that I am less than enamored
with this particular installment. I may be a minority dissenting voice
in
this regard, but I view `X2,' for all its special effects wizardry, as a
disappointing missed opportunity, a film that fails to develop on a
deeper
level the great themes that were laid out for it in the original. I have
my
fingers crossed for `X-Men 3.'
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