X-Men Week Part 2

Hi everyone! Today we are going to look at “X2: X-Men United” and at Captain Logan’s reviews of the film. “X2,” released in 2003, is an outstanding masterpiece. It is one of the greatest superhero sequels ever made and one of the greatest superhero films ever made, but I think also it’s one of the best sequels ever made.

It is way better than the original, which was already outstanding. Captain Logan makes a great review of this film, but I would like to add my own views and criticize a few of his points.

First let`s look a bit at the production of the film. “X2” was commissioned by 20TH Century Fox after the success of the first film. They got Bryan Singer to come back as co-storywriter and director and become the main primary executive producer, as well as David Hayter as the screenwriter from the first film, although Richard Donner didn`t return as executive producer, as co-storywriter and co-screenwriter. Bryan Singer got “A Lot” Of Artistic Control once again, creating a very complex unformulated and dark story, and adding in many plot twists. Fox doubted, and the fact that this film is 133 minutes long, well over the usual 2 hour running time, which is the most marketable. Studios force on filmmakers in editing, I assume that he had Final Cut Privilege. Also, as the first film got a 75 million dollar budget, this film now got a 110 million dollar budget, a big increase of 35 million, and so it was a really high budget film.

They also got the entire cast and most of the crew back for the film as well. Meanwhile, development was started on a prequel spinoff, which would feature the older X-Men when they were young, which would end up becoming “X-Men: First Class.” Bryan Singer really researched the comic books, along with the writers and producers, to search for a thematically deep story with a human villain. They took inspiration from “Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back,” the greatest film sequel of all time, in that the characters are all split apart and then dissected, significant revelations occur, the love story blossoms, and a lot of things happen. David Hayter from the first film, and the new Zak Pen were both hired to write separate scripts, and then they combined the best elements of both scripts into a new script. Bryan Singer and David Hayter then worked on a new script together. Then, Michael Dougherty and Den Harris were hired to rewrite Hayter and Pen's script.

Now, let`s look at the plot. Captain Logan said the film has a way more thrilling complex and an interesting plot then the first film. Although I think the plot in the first film was great, I agree the plot in this film IS way more of a thriller complex and interesting then in the first film. It is immensely thick. Stryker, a military leader who hates mutants, takes control over mutants by using a fluid from his son’s brain, who has psychic powers to control mutants, and uses this to make Nightcrawler attack the President. Thereby, he’s getting support to invade Xavier’s mansion and capture mutants left and right, allowing them to control to their machinery knowledge and powers. This is fantastically clever because it makes sense that the fluids of the brain of someone with psychic powers could give you control over other people’s minds. After all, he can control people’s minds and this comes from his brain, so the fluid of it might be able to capture that power. It is really clever because it shows Stryker’s biggest weapon is control, and he uses mutants for his cause to attack people and frame them. He uses manipulation, not sheer force, as a weapon and thereby gets the legal right to capture them. It is really menacing because it shows he can use mutants powers to his advantage, and it is really smart as if he makes it seem as though the mutants are violent and a just mildly racist president will act in fear.

Also, he uses it on Magneto, who they have captured from the first film, who worked with Xavier to tell him about the mansion and it`s equipment, which is really smart. Also, he uses his potion not just to order people, but as an effective means of torture, and he uses the fact he holds important mutants captured, including Magneto, who worked together with Xavier to find out crucial information. This is really menacing because it allows him to know all our heroes weaknesses, which shows that both manipulation and knowledge are the most dangerous weapons. It was clever as Magneto having worked with Xavier would indeed have the knowledge. Xavier visits him in prison, Stryker uses gas in the cell to capture him, and has Cyclops attacked by surprise, which was really smart as Xavier would be so naïve to go there. He didn`t know they had the info of them, but they did, because Stryker kept his plan a complete secret, showing Xavier trusts the government. This is smart, as he thought the legitimacy of his way has Xavier’s trust and that he uses his manipulation of the government and knowledge against him, once again showing knowledge and control are the most dangerous weapons.

Then it gets enormously great with them invading The X-Men Mansion, which is really menacing, because it threatens all of our heroes and their safe lives. It allows them access to Cerebro, a machine to find and kill anyone, which they could use to wipe them out. This makes sense, as Stryker thought his excessive spying could indeed know where the mansion is. They even capture 6 kids, creating tension of what will happen to them. This is smart, as with the many troops they had, they could indeed capture some, and it really clever. They had special tunnels ready which weren`t in the schematics, showing Xavier was prepared for violence against his children. He’s not naïve and he kept secrets from Magneto, showing he is prepared for any betrayal.

They have excess to Cerebro, and Stryker has Magneto’s psychic power restrained, making him powerless and wants to use his psychic son, who he also used his own fluids on to, manipulate. He drains the fluid from his spine, making him need to use a wheelchair, to manipulate Xavier while he can`t fight back so he once again uses mutants’ own powers against them and wants to use the strongest mutant against all other mutants. This is really clever through scientific manipulation, showing he tries to overcome natural development through science and making technology a powerful weapon because it gives control over mutants’ powers. It would indeed be believable that he could restrain Xavier’s mind, as he has studied their powers and it is logical he would do this as Xavier mind control powers make him able to control anyone. He wants to use an illusion to make Xavier use Cerebro to find all mutants and kills all of them which is really menacing because it would forever kill our heroes. It would really wipe out a lot of people, and it really utilizes the fact that Xavier used technology to enhance his psychic powers to find all the people with any weapon that is used for good can be used for evil. This is smart as a really strong psychic could indeed control Xavier when restrained, and he could then have him use Cerebro which can control anyone to thereby kill all mutants quickly.

The character development is fantastic. They have all the important characters from the first film back. They are consistent, even more likeable, and even deeper. The characters that still could be further developed are, the fully developed ones get fitting attention in the second place, and the new characters are added almost all of which are deep and relevant to the characters from the first film. 

Wolverine, the principle character of the first film, is even deeper and more likable in this film. He is consistent with the first and further developed organically, adding to the first. He is still angry, confused, lonely, worried, violent, and now also sadistic, but still caring, warm friendly, relaxed, open, supportive, helpful, idealistic, and a team player. He goes to the military base, but finds nothing, and goes back to Xavier. He decides to further bond with the mutants and at the same time tries to have Xavier unlock his memory. Xavier doesn`t want to forcefully make him discover things since he is a fragile and it could destroy him since he has a very dark past and he is frustrated to still be confused. When he is restless having nightmares of the past and can`t sleep, he sees he can get the support of The X-Men with a kid, asking him if he can`t sleep, and Ice Man discussing his problems with Rogue, and cooling his soda. He says that when he is confused, he can get support of The X-Men and becomes less confused. Then, when The Mansion’s attacked, he fights to protect them, becomes vicious, he wants to stay behind, and then he meets Stryker, who can reveal his past, but when his friends won`t leave without him, he goes with them. 

Then he goes to Ice Man’s house and feels a bit uncomfortable amongst normal people, but relaxes a bit. Then, when the police shoot him in the head, knocking him out, he stays calm and just goes with his friends. When he discover Stryker does experiments on mutants, and also did experiments on him, and finds out he was experimented on, he feels frustrated. He is stubborn, wanting to lead the mission and Mystique even questions what he wants, but he decides saving the people is more important and leads the mission. Then, once inside, he goes to look for Stryker and learns he was indeed experimented on in the facility, and he goes after Stryker, claws him, and wants him to tell of his past. Stryker reveals he had a violent past, he worked for his cruel plans, tries to tempt him to follow his cruel ways for answers, and offers him to come with him, but when the area is flooding, he chains Stryker so he can`t escape while they die and he lives. He decides he no longer wants to follow Stryker’s evil plans, not for answers, and then he doesn`t care for such a dark past. Instead, he wants to look for the future and save his friends. Then, when sees Stryker chained up, who acts like his answers are worth more than a mutant boy and his friends, again trying to make him follow his old violence plans, once again he throws his army necklace to him, and leaves him permanently, saying goodbye to the past and Stryker, and becoming an X-Men.

Now he stays with his friends, so is no longer aimless confused or a loner. He has a goal, is friendly and focused, and has let go of the past, and focused on the future. This arc is fantastic. Instead of just having him let go of the past and not let us learn anything of his past, he also has an arc overcoming all his problems. He started to overcome in the first film, really deepening his character and forming a double partner with the first film, thereby creating something even more constructive then a back story reveal, while at the same time he also does deal with his past. At the same time we do learn of his past, also we do get subtle reveals of his back story. We learn he was indeed experimented on by the military and why now. He learns it was a by a general who wanted to kill all mutants and used many as pets. We learn Wolverine volunteered, and possibly lost his memory in the procedure, but I would assume that attempt failed, and I think Captain Logan is wrong on this because Wolverine can`t clearly remember escaping after that or what he did then either. It would imply they failed to erase his memory and was erased later, and we learn he was violent and was part of a great project of Stryker, but it still is really mysterious why did he volunteer, what project was he part of, what relationship did he have with Stryker, how violent was he, who were his family, what was his life like, what were his dreams, and what relationships did he have. This still is kept a mystery and leaving room open for continuation in a sequel or a prequel. Also, what I think was a flaw is that he leaves Stryker to die, that they don`t capture him, yes he should say goodbye to his past, but he renounces his violent ways and becomes an X-Men, meaning he would be wise and not vengeful or cruel. This is still acting very cruel and it doesn`t fit this change. I know Wolverine is violent, but he is supposed to have changed here. What adds to this is that the fantastic Prequel “X-Men Origins: Wolverine. YES I JUST SAID THAT, so I might as well go away, like the great ending to The Blade Trilogy, “Blade: Trinity,” and it was a great Prequel like The Star Wars Prequels. So as Wolverine, which reveals and shows this back story, shows him renounce Stryker’s ways for the first time and start a new life right before losing his memory and everything he loves. Meaning, he had a violent past as Stryker said, but had overcome it, and it was worth turning his back on, and shows Wolverine set the step for again breaking with Stryker now. When he did this, he refused to kill his brother in revenge, as it would still mean being an animal, he gave up on that and his wife didn`t kill him either because it would make her just as bad as him. That was a far deeper change and fitted this better than this, so I think this is a big flaw. Also, I want to point out something we learn here: Wolverine volunteered for the procedure. That is established in “X2,” which Captain Logan loves.

Rogue, who was almost completely developed in the last film, still grows a bit in this one, while not getting in the way. She is now happy, sweet, relaxed, open, warm, optimistic and hopeful, but still a bit lonely. She is unable to kiss Ice Man and tries to avoid it. Eventually, she kisses him and hurts him, but decides she still loves him. They still support each other in danger, bond, and become really close, loving, hold hands while she wears a glove when they are dying. She still does feel lonely and distant. She earlier on acts on her own saving Wolverine, and later on she and Ice Man act on their own, getting the X-Jet to save our heroes and she becomes independent and brave, and a part of the team. So, she grows a bit in this film and it’s satisfying, but still open for a next film.

Ice Man is a great new character. He is warm, relaxed, loving, friendly, open, but a bit sad. He can`t kiss Rogue and is a bit naïve, worried, stressed, but brave. His parents don`t know he is a mutant, and when he tells his parents, they act repulsed, and his brother calls the cops. He permanently leaves them, but he realizes his friend loves him the way he has, and they are his family. He is sad he can`t kiss Rogue and tries to but fails, is sad and depressed, but still loves her, still supports her, and learns to become really close with her. He eventually, along with Rogue, acts on his own, flies the X-Jet to save the X-Men, becoming a team member, brave and self-reliant. He was very well developed. I did have one big problem with a point Captain Logan made. He said he was a happy and a love triangle got defused because it would have been irritating. Why, what makes love triangles irritating? I know he doesn`t like them, but what is the objective reason? Reviewreviewer1 debated “X-Men: The Last Stand” with him once, and it is ok. They disagreed with each other, and he is a great critic, but what I found really unprofessional was that he didn`t give an argument against reviewreviewer1’s argument, but said the film just didn`t convince him of that. Even though it was demonstrated in the film and that it was pointless to argue, which is weird when you are objective, you can use logical arguments, meaning someone can logically come to understand a point and change their view. I don`t mind Captain Logan having a different opinion then reviewreviewer1, but I do mind him using opinion as an argument and using opinion in reviews, not because I believe in objectivity, but because he claims to be objective. Now, if you claim to be objective, you should own up to that because she claims a certain amount of authority which also allows you to be question. I think Captain Logan is a great critic and I don`t mind him disagreeing with reviewreviwer1, but I do think it is wrong for him to use opinion, when he claims the authority of objectivity. I am probably guilty of that as well, so I highly urge viewers to question me and reviewreviewer1, and also this will be further discussed in our “X-Men: The Last Stand” Review.

Storm is also further deepened in this film. We see that she is a bit rough and violent, but also warm, helpful, and understanding. She is still really angry, but Nightcrawler advises her to have faith, and eventually she gets faith in him.

Nightcrawler is really dark and complex. He is guilt driven, worried, stressed, and afraid, but also loving and caring. He is a Christian and looks at his own mistakes instead of others, and he is very helpful, although a bit sneaky.

Xavier is also deeper in this one. He is now very mentor like, advising Wolverine, and also a bit arrogant not telling Wolverine of his past out of concern he can`t handle it. He’s very sad that he sees Magneto suffering, worried, intellectual, and depressed, but also helpful, brave and warm.

Jean Grey is a bit deeper in this. She now is loyal, helpful, brave, and warm, but also worried, but more self-confident and selfless.

Cyclops is still mediocre in this. He is helpful, caring, sad, warm, and loyal and…that is it.

Jean Grey’s and Wolverine’s relationship is still bad because it again is barely developed. Because Wolverine again talks very lightly to Jean Grey and acts really immature while, on the other hand, acting like this is true love, making it a very inconsistent, sad relationship.

Magneto is really deep in this. We again see he is an intellectual, arrogant, manipulative, violent, prejudice, power-hungry, vengeful, playful, controlling, manipulative, dishonest, angry, worried, and we also see more of his relationship with Xavier. He understands Xavier, knowing why he doesn`t tell Wolverine the truth, but also sees him as more flawed then he will admit himself. He thinks this is for selfish reasons, and we see he feels guilty for betraying them to Stryker, even though he opposes Xavier. He would want to protect him from the humans as Xavier is this kind. This is really realistic. Te sees Xavier as his opponent, but as a respectful one, as he is one of his kind. He sees humans as the true enemy, and also we see he read the same book Xavier teaches, The Once Future King, reflecting how they are both intellectuals with the same taste. We now also see that at first he is captured, the humans torture him, and he finds out they want to wipe out all humans and now he changes from wanting to take over to sadistic and destructive he kills people out for fun. He leaves Stryker to die horribly and now thinks of all humans are insects, gets Pyro to join him, no wants to kill all mutants, and he become worse. This is due to Stryker, who is also a deep villain.

Stryker, as Captain Logan points out, is a human version of Magneto. Magneto is cruel towards humans because they were cruel to him and he fears that the fear will lead them to want to destroy them. Stryker fears this fear of Magneto, which is fear for fear of Stryker of this fear, will lead him to destroy all humans. This is cruel because mutants mistreated him, so it is a loop. Both sides confirm why they hate of each other, and Stryker, the human monster, makes Magneto even more of a monster. Stryker is also really deep. He is vengeful, cruel and also really detached from sentience, simply seeing mutants as pets, experimenting on them, brainwashing them and torturing them. He is arrogant and mean-spirited, and very loathing, seeing Wolverine as simply as an experiment, and seeing his son and all mutants as dead, prejudice, and violent. He has a realistic back story. His son was a mutant and went to Xavier’s school, but couldn`t be helped to feel better, and came to resent his parents, invading their minds, causing Stryker’s wife to take a power drill to her own temple, meaning his son came to hate him due to being a mutant, and uses his mutant powers against him, killing his wife.

Mystique is also really deepened in this film. We see she is really sneaky and adventurous, enjoys spying, and sadistically enjoy hurting people, and really faithful in their cause never doubting it and she is really manipulative. Also like Magneto, we see she respects the mutants as honorable opponents and that she doesn`t want to betray them to the humans when she tells them the mansion is a school. She’s arrogant and mean spirited, flipping her middle finger to Stryker’s soldiers, and also a group thinker, wanting to be with Wolverine once he is part of the group. She is really loyal, and we see there is a relationship between her and Magneto. He knew her plan, d they laugh and smile together, he admires her, they really trust and care for each other, and when Stryker is killing all the mutants, she yells “Eric, hurry.” She acts venerable, which she never does, and calls him by his human name, showing they really trust each other, and they act stimulated around each other, so they probably have a relationship.

Then we have Pyro. Captain Logan said it is done very well, and that it is too bad Anakin Skywalker’s fall to The Dark Side couldn`t have been handle this well. I don`t see how that was bad. That was a great character study. We saw his arrogance, his rebelliousness towards Obi Wan, his fear of death, his lost for power, how Palpatine slowly fed these corrupt traits, and how he lost his mother, making him really depressed and venerable. He was really likeable doing heroic things like saving Padme from the bugs, risking his live arresting a dangerous assassin, saving Padme from her monster in the arena, commanding The Clones, saving Obi Wan from Buzz Droids, saving Palpatine from being tied to a chair, saving Palpatine from the droids, etc. Yeah that was off the point, but at least I explained my claim, and at least I was right. I always am.

Anyhow, back to this film. Pyro is really deep. We see he is violent, arrogant, cocky, aggressive, awkward, but caring, confused and stressed. We see he does care for his friends, helping them get Rogue, and going with them to save Wolverine, but at the same time he’s very violent quickly picking fights. He has trouble following Xavier’s teaching. He tries to be a good student but is too violent and cocky that it’s actually strongly inspired by Anakin Skywalker in The Star Wars Prequels. What’s also strongly inspired by Anakin Skywalker is that he is very awkward, creating noise and not liking uncomfortable silence. Then, he feels jealous of someone else with his own family and they once people hurt the ones he loves, he constantly built up anger, and now releases it all at once, destroying sadistically. Also, it’s similar to how Magneto tempts him by acting like he is really good and feeding his ego, telling him he is great, and his violence and arrogance is alright, telling him what he wants to hear, and then he decides to join evil to become stronger, gain power and bring destruction. He is a very complex, dark, tragic character also. He is indeed an immense improvement over Sabertooth and Toad.

Death Strike is indeed an empty underdeveloped terrible character. She is just vicious, but not very important to the overall film.

The film is also really thematically deep. We have many of the same themes, but they are explored deeper, and many new themes are added. We again have the theme that hostility and intolerance is in human nature, which we now see in more detail by Stryker convincing the President to arrest innocent mutants and to send the police after them, showing the government itself hunting down innocent people. We again see how this can make innocent people the victims as now children are captured, and then the police get burned because Pyro feels hurt. We see a new side where Stryker uses mutants as pets because of it and even abuses his own son, showing it can drive families apart, and cause people to treat people as rooks. We see Stryker almost wants to annihilate a whole race, and that it even leads to people like Cyclops being forced to turn against their friends, by being manipulated, and that this almost led to the start of a war, and that even Cyclops’ family judges him.

We see the solution is only taking out those we really need to for their own actions, explaining the dangers, and people need to understand we need to respect other humans and their rights. This is a really wise theme, as indeed people’s families are often judgmental when they are different, and people are often very threatening and manipulation forced to hurt their loved ones. Humans have often come to view others as pets, and if we simply respect others and take out those that don`t, we can be at peace.

We see again how hatred and fear only lead to further escalation by Stryker’s opposing all the mutants and trying to kill them. He risks genocide and causes Magneto to want to kill all the humans, tortures him, escapes and the X-Men to help him, and that the President almost allows this to happen. Friends are forced to betray each other, and that even causes painful sacrifices. It causes the innocent to get caught in the crossfire, and we see Magneto while being tortured, just keeps hating, and just tortures Stryker back. It is openness that creates peace, we see it even causes The X-Men to work with Magneto, it leads to innocent people almost being arrested, that it haunts people like it did Wolverine, and people are turned into monsters like with Lady Death Strike.

This is again wise, as cruelty in humans often only creates cruelty as a response. People often allow the innocent to get hurt out of fear, the stakes only get bigger and bigger, and often suffering only creates more hatred.

We again see Wolverine being lonely and confused, due to his amnesia, that lack of identity can make us lonely and confused. We now see his friends comforting him when he can`t sleep, fighting with him, saving him, and Stryker being evil, that friends can help us become happy and warm again. Those with charming promises, if they don`t care about us, will only hurts us. We see friends can advise us, but also give us a purpose, and they need us. It is better to have a purpose then become aimless as we quickly become aggressive, and we see that they truly can allow us have a new life. If cruelty is an easy answer, it will just make us emptier, and it can cause us to lose track of the here and now.

This is a really smart theme, as indeed friends give us a purpose, and often when you are focused on hatred, it distracts you from love. When you are aimless, you’re quicker to do crazy things, and when you are with friends, you can also advise them and make a difference.

We again see with Magneto that intolerance and hatred can drive good friends apart, which is deepened by how much he cares for Xavier, and how similar they are. We see they understand each other and that Magneto advises him, yet due to his obsession with revenge, he uses Xavier when it hurts him to do so. When The X-Men want to help him, we now see they actually really still have common goals for the mutants, but Magneto generalizes too much, and as a result, wants to do unacceptable things.

This is also a wise theme, as indeed even when someone comforts us, if they want to destroy innocent people, we have to stop him. If that person becomes aggressive, then we have to fight him.

The film is part light, with light comedic moments, and exciting action and adventure, but also dark, dramatically depth, capture and loneliness being really double layered, like the first. It combines many genres: science-fiction, drama, political thriller, action, superhero, and morality play. As Captain Logan mentions, it has a way better pace than the original, it is more action packed, but also deeply developed, it`s characters first, and has really lighthearted moments to contrast the suspense.

The film has really elaborate settings, like The X-Mansion is really wide and mysterious with open half-way, which goes really far, the military base claustrophobic, and mysterious with tight corridors and dark spaces, and the White House setting colorful with many vibrant painting and open windows. The film also has fantastic comedy. It is really funny. Wolverine uses his hand to light out a cigarette because he has a healing factor, so it won`t harm him, but it does hurt, so he hurts himself for convenience. Ice Man uses his freeze breath to cool off a soda, which is hilarious because it shows how casual superpowers can be used, and how easy they can be, aside from all the hatred. Wolverine takes his claw out in front of a cat, showing how paranoid he is…oh, why not? Go all the way Wolverine. He asked for beer at a school, which is really socially awkward, and immediately looks for a beer in Ice Man’s house, which is a bit obsessed.

The action is fantastic. There is a lot of teleporting, kick jumps, many, many soldiers, fast running, tornadoes jets, rockets, super speed, fire, controlling metal, fast jump works, using metal control to take pins out of grenades, blowing soldiers up, claw fights and a dam flooding with water nearly drowning them.

The dialogue is again realistically natural and deep like: “How does it feel Bob?” When Wolverine stabs Stryker, it perfectly shows how sadistic he is, in that he feels hurt by Stryker and wants him to know what it is like, and show really intense anger, showing just how much you can hurt someone by treating them like a pet. Sometimes anger can you make you survive, it conveys that sometimes anger comes from desperation of feeling helpless in a terrible situation, and conveys how angry Storm is out of desperation, not coldness, and sometimes the need needs to discover things of its own. This really conveyed how Xavier believes in the natural course of things and conveys how we can`t force our minds to work a certain way. “Doesn`t anybody sleep around here,” really conveys how surprised Wolverine is by everybody being awake, and lines like “Thanks. No Problem,” are really relaxed, conveying how relaxed the characters are around each other. “I am sorry Charles” reflects Magneto feels bad betraying a former friend. The film also has really intense mysterious spiritual atmosphere of scenes of silence mystery, and creepiness.

The cast is fantastic:

Hugh Jackman is dark, violent, sadistic, fluent and intense, but also sweet and subtle.

Patrick Stewart is again intellectual, wise, relaxed and comfortable. I must not make “Star Trek” joke.

Brian Cox is really manipulative, arrogant, controlling and…holds hands on mouth. I must not make Doctor Cox joke.

Ian McKellen is menacing, arrogant, playful, relaxed, and really multilayered.

Halle Berry is really dark, brooding, and angry, yet also sweet and supportive.

Famke Janssen is warm, sad, and shy in her role.

James Marsden is comfortable and natural.

Anna Paquin is sweet, sad, and awkward.

Rebecca Romijn-Stamos is really playful, adventurous and exciting.

Alan Cumming is really silent, mysterious and dark.

Aaron Stanford is aggressive, cocky and arrogant.

Shawn Ashmore is really friendly and detailed.

Kelly Hu is really menacing.

The direction is even more fluent and energetic, is fast and vibrant, the sets up intimate with dramatic close-ups, and overall, the direction is more sudden, adding to the intensified tension. It has more restrained close-ups, adding to a very internal secretive feeling, the cinematography dark and grisly, but also sometimes light and colorful. It has more intense, contrasting, unsaturated colors, adding to the intensity of the conflict. The lighting is mysterious and intense, being very strong into the camera, and even more confronting then in the first film. So the film really adds a new visual look to the series, and fits the newer story while being consistent with it. It’s still realistic, with the colors fitting and being natural, the direction focused on the characters, the set design elaborate, and the sets gritty, detailed, advanced, and harsh, adding to the aggressive feel. The clean in the jet and mansion, adding a warm feeling, the props are often dirty in the scenes with Stryker adding to the roughness, while clean in Xavier’s mansion. The costumes are dark and complex, adding to the gothic feel, The Special Visual Effects are amazing, The Digital Compositing is seamless, The Green Screen is detailed, and the CGI is fantastic. The fire is organic, the metal hard, the stunt doubles rough, the tornadoes have fluent movement, the jets looks three-dimensional, the water looks fluid, the morphing is really smooth, the explosions really gritty, the makeup is again lively with really rough skins, and really harsh claws. The editing is fast, the sound is intense, the music epic and exciting, but also warm, relaxed, dark, mysterious and eerie.

So “X2” was a great production. I think it is an outstanding masterpiece and better then the first film. I consider this another one of my all time favorite comic book movies. I think it is fairly rated, it got praised, and this is completely deserved. I think Captain Logan is right, and made a great review, and that The Nostalgia Critic is wrong. Go see it. I give it a 10+.

I hope you enjoyed this review that reviewreviewer1 and I made together. Check out his channel and Captain Logan's reviews. Check in tomorrow for the review of "X-Men: The Last Stand."