X-Men 2 VCD

X-II: X-Men United -Uncanny Sequel

Everybody has read them or heard about them the huge variety of super heroes from the Marvel house of ideas that also gave birth to the unique team called "X-Men" who form the center of this review.

"X-2: X-Men United" continues to show the international group of gregarious mutants in search for others of their kind with their mentor Professor X (Patrick Stewart). This time they have to team up with Magneto a.k.a. Erik Magnus Lehnsherr (Ian McKellen) to face the threat of new villain William Stryker (Brian Cox) who wants to wipe out mutant kind.

Besides introducing Nightcrawler a.k.a. Kurt Wagner (Alan Cumming), the producing team this time also presents the fire controlling Pyro (Aaron Stanford) who decides to join Magneto's team towards the end of the movie. Overall the actors blend into a fine cast whose individual members offer quite pleasing performances. The character development of some of the heroes seems to take place by leaps and bounds, e.g. that of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) about whom more background information is revealed or Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) whose expanding telepathic abilities are further highlighted. Others like Cyclops (James Marsden) or Storm (Halle Berry) still hunger for lots of improvement as far as the character depth caught on celluloid is concerned. Director Bryan Singer and his production staff are facing the difficult task of tackling with around 40 years of X-history and by now at least a dozen of high priority characters whenever they shoot a new episode. Informed viewers know that the original team created by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby consists of Cyclops a.k.a. Scott Summers, Marvel Girl a.k.a. Jean Grey, the Angel a.k.a. Warren Worthington III, Iceman a.k.a. Bobby Drake & the Beast a.k.a. Hank McCoy. However, for various reasons Bryan Singer chose to disband the original team to present a newer one that leans more onto the comic's post Dark Phoenix era. Other key points of the comic book that won high acclaim in the late 70's due to the exceptional work of writer Chris Claremont and John Byrne remain intact. The love triangle that puts Jean Grey in the middle of team members Logan & Scott Summers or the difficulty that Rogue (Anna Paquin) has in keeping up relationships because of her power absorbing ability do not stray too far from their original ideas. For most viewers that are unaware of the core X-history it probably isn't hard to accept Rogue as a warmhearted fragile teenager even though she only reflects a pure shadow of the mature die-hard character shown in the comics.

"X-Men" is a comic that can look back on a rich background, probably the most complex in today's comic world. Add to that the fact that around a dozen related titles have been created due to its ever increasing popularity, which are likely to be tied up to the story due to varying demands and you will start to get an idea of how hard you have to try to make all the parts of each and every new X-project match. Viewers will have to give Singer credit, for he by far and large seems to have chosen the correct path. X-enthusiasts may therefore push up their expectations for the likelihood of expanded screen appearances of heroes like Gambit a.k.a. Remy LeBeau & Jubilee a.k.a. Jubilation Lee and maybe introductions of daring new features like the X-mansion's Danger Room, Kitty Pride's (a.k.a. Sprite) lovely pet dragon Lockheed or enemies like the Sentinels?

As far as I am concerned, I believe the director should have dared to add a bit of 'Yellow Spandex' here and there to underline the difference of the movie's various characters even more. Other than that, comic lovers & movie viewers alike might feel the need to return to the theaters to find out what kind of fate Mr. Singer has in store for the film version of Jean Grey and her evolving Phoenix persona in the up-coming X-tale(s).

Reviewer: Snoopy