X2: X-Men United [Special Edition]

I wasn't very impressed with X2. In fact, I posted a review of it on the message board back in May, and really received some heated feedback from others. I even saw the movie again with my daughter, hoping it might spark me into the enjoyment zone, but I still felt the same as the first time. I just thought it was silly and dull. It was visually okay and somewhat exciting at times, but I just had a hard time swallowing all the goofball comic book drama.

Nevertheless, I will admit I have a difficult time accepting comic or super hero movies as serious pieces of film making. My favorite would be "Unbrakable" and that really doesn't follow your traditional men-in-tights leaping tall builds genre. I guess I just enjoy something that touches a closer to reality when it comes to these types of films. However, my second favorite is "Batman", mainly because I loved that dark touch that Tim Burton gave it. Sure Batman has its corn-ball silly moments but I enjoyed the whole look, feel, and emotional outcome of the film. I guess it goes without saying that my third favorite is "Batman Returns", and again it's that Burton touch that I enjoy so much. What can I say? I'm dark, I'm evil and I want to take over the world..."Come Mr. Bigglesworth"!

5/10

I'm with you on the original "Batman," Tim. It's still my favorite comic-book movie of all. And I enjoyed "Unbreakable," too, although, as you say, it really isn't a traditional superhero film. But "X2" moved me all the way through, even touched my heart at times, something not even "Spider Man" could do.

John

John,

I dunno why, but when Colossus said, "I can help you" and Wolverine responded with, "Help them", I thought that that was a really touching scene. Good stuff, huh? :)

Eddie

Howdy!

Have a question about John J. Puccio's review. What he says about the movie: "Loved it." He gave the Video a 9 (out of 10), Audio a 10, Extras a 9, and Film Value an 8!

Since the 2 disc set is quite reasonably retail priced at $29.95, he "loved" the film, and all other aspects of the disc received at least a 9, why does it's value only rate an 8? What's missing in all those high ratings that totals up to an 8? Just wondering about the new math. ;)

Anxious to see the DVD, especially since I missed the film in the theaters.

Hi, Cagey,

We at DVD Town use "Film Value" to gauge the film and the film alone. We don't have a "cumulative" rating since having individual ratings for the Video/Audio/Extras seems self-explanatory enough. :)

Eddie

Or I just can't add, not an unreasonable possibility considering my mathematical abilities.

But, actually, Eddie's right. The "Film Value" rating only applies to the film itself and what we thought of it. An "8" in DVD Town's scale means a very good film; a "9" is a near classic; a "10" is a definite and generally agreed upon classic.

John

Yeah, but there within lies the problem. X-Men 2 was not very good, therefore it is unworthy of an 8.

lol... :P ;)

Wolverine and Yuriko have really weak superpowers. just claws basically, and some other powers that aren't visually exciting like super fast healing, and antamantium exoskeleton. That's my big complaint about this series, and it's why i don't like the X-Men series all that much.
Just as ebert says, "I can't help wondering how a guy whose knuckles turn into switchblades gets to be the top-ranking superhero. ".. "Odd, then, that Wolverine is one of the dominant characters even though his X-Acto knuckles seem pretty insignificant compared to the powers of Pyro or Cyclops."

My 2nd complaint was that I wished the movies followed the cartoon series much more. I remembered the tv series was much cooler than the movies, and showcased the mutant abilities much more. Plus, it had an awesome credit sequence in the beginning with great theme music which is stuck with me to this day. I wished they just took that song and put in into the movie, and had created some slick sequence like that for the movies.

Plus, the bad guys suck.. Toad? Mystique? Yuriko? A big tongue, morphing, and claws.. ehhh.. the powers are much better on the good guys side. plus, Magneto is supposed to be superpowerful, not some frail old man.

I just want to add.. I've never read the comics. ergo, am not sure of which (movies or tv series) is more faithful to the comics. But, i hear both take liberties to the comics. I wonder which one do the comic book geeks prefer more. The movies have a big advantage though cuz they're newer, and have better production vales. The show maybe has nostalgic value for people, but has cheap animation.

has anyone seen the cartoon series and the movies? what do you think is better, the movies or the cartoon?

The heroes with more down to earth powers tend to emerge as leaders - maybe readers identify with them more. Captain America has been the most frequent leader of the Avengers even though he's almost always the least powerful of the group. Batman is the heart and sould of the Justice League, and so forth.

Wolverine's healing powers are pretty darned potent, though. Combined with his adamantium skeleton, he may actually be unkillable. The comic books have hinted that he's been around for a few hundred years and may indeed be immortal.

Of course, it might just be the whole brooding loner thing that teenagers think is pretty cool. :)

He could of been killed for a short period of time. Magneto actually ripped out all of his admantium and he was stuck with bone claws for a while.

Cyber actually broke them off on one hand.

you might have a point, chris. but, i still think Logan's got some weak as heck powers, as do Mystique, Yuriko, and Toad. How would Wolverine stand a chance in a fight with Storm, or even Pyro? Storm can send him flying to the sky, and then attack him with lightning, or hail. Or, she could just keep Logan in the sky, and leave it at that. Pyro can throw so many explosions at Logan that he'd wish Stan Lee gave him better abilities.

just for fun, i'd say Storm has the most deadly (therefore cool) abilities. controlling the weather means there's almost insane levels to her destructiveness.

Xavier is obviously the most powerful mutant of them all.

Also, the "X-Men" movies, like the "X-Men" comics and most narrative media, focus on the most-charismatic personas for audience-interest purposes. This is why Wolverine is front-and-center in the stories that the movies tell, though he isn't the leader. Cyclops is the field leader, but he's the field leader not because he has the best powers but because he has leadership qualities.

I mean, let's put it this way. With all of his faults, Wolverine is the "most-human" of the characters, but the other mutants are relatively boring despite their superpowers. Why? Because they lack Wolverine's personality.

I just watched X2 and have a question. Didn't Mystique become Sen. Kelly at the end of X-Men? He (she) appeared briefly in X2 and she then becomes almost everybody else. Wouldn't people wonder what became of Sen. Kelly when she stops being him? Am I missing something? Does anybody care?