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 (050803) Of all the comic book adaptations
that have become so increasingly popular as of late, I feel most
disappointed by the showing of the X-Men movie series. Both
movies in the series so far suffer from the same inherent plot
problem, although it's easier to forgive in the sequel, the
curiously titled X2. The follow-up improves upon the formula of
the original and gives a significantly greater amount of action,
but the formula is still rather expository in nature and the
action has a tendency to be rather generic. But there's
something relevant about this fictional world; there are themes
present here that touch upon some of the problems of society.
The heroes are outcasts and must hide that which makes them
heroes in the first place to avoid the wrath of the people they
want to protect, and the villains have understandable motives.
Ultimately, both want different versions of the same thing.
Something needs to happen for the stakes to be raised even
higher and for the conflict to escalate. By the end of X2, we're
still waiting for something to happen.
The movie opens with an intense action sequence, as a mutant
nicknamed Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) attempts to assassinate
the President. Nightcrawler is a transporter, which means he can
instantaneously move from space to another, so even with the
Secret Service shooting at the intruder, it manages to get
incredibly close to the President. The attempt ultimately fails,
but it raises the national suspicion surrounding mutants to a
fever pitch. So when General William Stryker (Brian Cox) reveals
the whereabouts of a mutant training facility in New York, an
operation to detain the occupants is approved. Meanwhile, at the
facility, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) has returned from his hunt to
discover his origins after finding nothing. News of the
assassination attempt has reached Professor Xavier (Patrick
Stewart), and he sends Dr. Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) and Storm
(Halle Berry) off to find Nightcrawler and bring him back to the
mansion. Meanwhile, Xavier and Cyclops (James Marsden) will
visit an old friend: Magneto (Ian McKellen). Little do they know
that Stryker has been gathering information from Magneto and
plans to make a visit to Xavier's school.
Some of this stuff is a little eerie. After the assassination
attempt, there are suggestions of mutant registration (the
political focus of the first movie), arrests without warrant,
evidence, or purpose, and other paranoid, knee-jerk ideas. All
pretty relevant, wouldn't you say? One of the virtues of the
first movie was that it kept a similar social context in the
foreground-primarily because of the Magneto's motives and
Xavier's utopian ponderings-despite the incredible amount of
exposition that was developed. Here, there's less to set up, but
the screenplay somehow foregoes its social issues until a very
late scene with the President. The reason behind this is
probably time constraints, but I'm still trying to figure out
why it takes well over two hours to tell this story. Most of it
is setup for the eventual climax, which revolves around a
replicated Cerebro device (it allows Xavier to find everyone on
the planet) that Stryker intends to use to wipe out all mutants,
with Xavier's power of concentration, of course. This is
slightly less silly than the evil plot of the last movie, which
had Magneto attempting to turn the world's leaders into mutants.
Where the sequel improves upon the original is in the quantity
of action. The opening sequence is simply amazing-a barrage of
bullets, fists, feet, and bodies flying in slow motion, special
effects, and surprising tension. The rest of the action
sequences never quite hit the level of the first, but director
Bryan Singer handles them suitable skill and efficiency. The
military invasion of the mutant academy is intense, allowing
Wolverine's claws to get some exercise. A prison breakout is
staged with creativity but could certainly have stood to be
expanded upon. The climax takes place at, of all places, a dam,
which leads to the obligatory series of events that will
eventually cause it burst. There's a lot going on during the
climax. Wolverine fights Lady Deathstrike (Kelly Hu), Stryker's
personal assistant/experiment, who is also equipped with
adamantium-enhanced skeletal system, Professor X is manipulated
by an awkwardly introduced character, and the rest of the X-Men
split up to do their assorted business. Editing-wise, there are
problems keeping all of this flowing, which is a problem the
entire narrative possesses.
X2 is enjoyable and marks a slight improvement upon its
predecessor, but I can't help but feel that I had a similar
response to this installment as I did original. The story thus
far is simply building up to something greater-something more
significant. Over the course both movies, characters talk about
the impending war that's brewing among the intolerant and
impatient on both sides-mutant and human-and it's about high
time it started. The stage is set; let it play out.
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