X-Men Week Part 3

Hi everyone! Now we get to the third film in the series, “X-Men: The Last Stand”, released in 2006. A lot of people hate on this film, as they do on many threequels, but much like another often derided threequel “Alien 3,” it took a lot of risks.

Some people say it was bad because Bryan Singer left to do “Superman Returns,” but Brett Ratner is the director for this film, who is a good director, and had come off of making such films like the first two “Rush Hour” movies, “Red Dragon,” and the Nicolas Cage movie, “The Family Man.” I haven't seen “The Family Man” yet, but I hear it is much like “It's A Wonderful Life,” which I have seen movie knock-offs of, since “It’s A Wonderful Life” is one of my favorite Christmas specials.

It really does have continuity with the first two films, both story wise and thematically.

The plot again is really thick, dramatic clever, original, logical, and this time immensely epic. A cure is invented by using the powers of a certain mutant, which is really clever that a mutant’s powers can stop other mutant’s powers, which makes sense because a mutant’s powers can be anything. A father with a mutant son develops the cure, which I thought was brilliant, showing him try to help mutants and his son, while still seeing it as a disease. That is really believable, as nicer, strict people often see differences as diseases, but don`t feel as though this makes people evil. It simply makes them feel sad for them, and it is really original that people now accept mutants, not seeing them as evil, but still seeing them as a problem, and wanting a solution, showing a human combination of fear, selfishness, caring, and selflessness. This is fresh for the series and it is very believably, similar to how more modern, but still somewhat fundamentalist parents react to Christianity. That is how I even reacted to my son being against prosecuting the Eastern Orthodox. He was still my son. My daughter, on the other hand, that was a different story. The president now respects mutants, and has appointed a mutant in a high position, which creates a more ambiguous situation where the government understands the mutants and wants to help. It is troubled with how to, which really expands upon the ending of “X2” and organically fits the series, showing this film does have great continuity, and it makes sense as the President saw he needed to find away to create peace. He now became friends with Beast and appointed him in a high position and wanted him to help him find a peaceful solution. Beast is a mutant who is very wise and knows how to, and now Magneto is again the pure enemy, which is believable as he now hates the humans more, where Xavier sees a possibility for growth. That cleverly goes back to the conflict of the first film. Mystique tried to find out about this by sneaking in, which is clever, and makes sense. It is important for them to know the government’s plans, but she is captured, creating tension of what will happen, and when the cure is made public, many people desperately want it, but others start protesting. Many see it as a cure, but others think there is nothing to cure. They say mutants are the next step of evolution and this creates a really multilayered conflict. Mutants are a natural process and gifts since they make us unique, or are they a curse because they hurt us? This is believable as some people like being different where others hate it. Some want to be unique, and some think that the differences that are good depends on your point of view.

Then, what’s also really clever is that the government wants to make it voluntary, showing that the solution is allowing people to choose what makes them happy, yet Magneto and the mutants want to destroy the cure showing they are now terrorizing others. They want to force mutants to accept themselves, not chose who they want to be, and make the same mistake as the humans. Yeah Magneto, that is what the left winged is for....Look what else do you expect me to do here? Yeah ok, I am getting a little repetitive, but come on, what else does this material allow for?

He and many evil mutants fear it will be forced, and at the same time don`t want any mutants to be cured, so he wants to destroy it, but thereby forcing his opinion on others, which is a really clever idea. He recruited other fearful mutants, which makes for a really epic story with many mutants. It makes sense they would fear. It would be forced, as they are afraid. Humans will be intolerant like they were in the past. Filmmasteradam complains that, as they had a mutant in the cabinet, and a President who understands mutants, Magneto is acting to paranoid, wanting to fight the cure. Um…the cure is also possibly used to destroy all mutants. Again, Magneto has all the right to be paranoid after everything that happened in “X2.” Him getting tortured and all mutants almost being murdered, he wanted to commit genocide, remember? He criticizes Magneto for being too unlikeable, but that is the point of him growing worse, as part of the escalating conflict. Oh and uuum…he compares him to Hitler, again criticizing him for being too unlikable. Well, that is the point. He became what he was fighting. Oh, and also…um…yeah, he is a holocaust survivor. He is completely understandable in being too paranoid.

He uses the powers of one to sense mutants to free Mystique, but someone uses the cure as a weapon, hits Mystique, who saves Magneto, and becomes human. This is believable. A cure is the strongest weapon against mutants, so when you are being overwhelmed, you would use it to permanently make them no longer a threat. A mutant could have the powers to sense other mutants, which is clever.

Magneto leaves her because she is no longer a mutant, which is a really dramatic twist that someone has their powers taken, because it is their identity. Magneto abandons the women he loves because he prefers ideas over people. Magneto solely values mutants only and he only values the idea they are mutants, not how well he knows them. He gets stuck in ideas, and this is especially believable that he became so narrow minded after he was tortured in “X2” and saw humans indeed wanted to exterminate mutants, and as a result, wanted to kill all the humans. Filmmasteradam complained about this because it was inconsistent with the comics. Well, it is a movie with its own continuity. Adaptations mainly need to work on their own, and you watch adaptations without checking the source material. So there you go, hypocrite. I know what you are thinking…didn`t you often act hypocritical? Yes, but I am hypocritical about hypocrisy, and that is different. Why? Because I say so, and I am never wrong, except when…no, never!!! Confused Matthew complained about this saying it took away Magneto’s three-dimensionality by making Magneto not appreciate Mystique saved him. Well, because he doesn`t care if some humans are nice. He thinks all humans are insects. Remember “X2?” He mentions it was against Mystique’s will she became human. Umm…yeah, and so is it for all humans that are human against their will? Part of discrimination is not valuing choice. Also, he would not be that narrow about humans. Then why did he call them insects in “X2?” Because he was friends with Xavier, who was a collaborator, which would be worse, that really depends though. They betray your group. They still are your family, where humans are an evil kind, viewing collaborators as less horrible. Look at “The Prince Of Egypt,” with how Rameses reacted to Moses supporting the Jews. He was less mean to him then the Jews, and the Nazis treated Germanic war prisoners better then Slavish and Jewish prisoners. So, him being friends with Xavier could perfectly fit into this thinking, which is solidified by him treating all humans as evil after having been tortured by Stryker, calling them insects, and wanting to kill them all without exception, while not killing any of the X-Men, including the ones he barely knew. Remember, he and Mystique didn`t want to betray the X-Mansion. That is part of racial thinking. You value ideas over people and race over choice. He asks why Magneto is doing this, for if he doesn`t have any sympathy for the mutants that are victims of humans, well mutants that stay mutants. That is racial thinking. That is why if Germans got handicapped, Hitler wanted to have them killed, especially World War I and later World War II veterans. That is where Socialism gets you. Again, come on, I have little to work with here, seriously. I mean I am doing valuable things, but no wait…that is no excuse. Weakness cannot be allowed. I need a break. I am going to get a soda.

Also, he complains Magneto would therefore just be a bigot. Well, yes. He, like in “X2,” has become a full discriminator because he has grown to believe in superiority of mutants and hates the humans. That doesn`t mean he doesn`t care for anyone. He cares for those who are still mutants. However, he values the group over the individual, as he already did in the first film. This means he has now become as Hitler at his worst, which is a smart parallel, and fits what happened in “X2.” He grew worse and worse for deep reasons and became what he hated. Defensive bigotry became pure hatred. So becoming more absolutely evil fits a complex change in his character and is for logical reasons. He doesn`t just become more one dimensional, he gradually falls deeper, fitting the theme of escalation, and he still cares for the mutants preservation. This is still three-dimensional, so no, he isn`t just a villain for The X-Men to fight.

He uses this to garner more support and frees more mutants, now making for a really epic storyline. He now has an army and is enormously strong; really creating a lot of tension, and it is believable about mutants being forcefully turned human, which would make mutants more paranoid. Also, we have the Phoenix storyline. It is really dramatic that it turns out she is the stronger mutant there is, and that her powers saved her, but that she had an instinctive mental power based personality, which corrupted her. She saw herself as godlike, had no respect for others and endangered them.

Showing how dangerously corrupting powers can be is believable. Having such strong powers would make her see herself as godlike, and that Xavier tried to bury this personality against her will because she didn`t respect others and didn`t want to learn to become wiser and was a danger. This is believable, as he basically did the same many mental institutions as well. Forcing people to be helped so they don`t endanger themselves or others. This is smart and clever as indeed she would endanger herself and others. He wouldn`t voluntarily suppress her evil, so he would see little other choices, meaning he suppressed one person’s mind to protect many, and also maybe to protect the person herself.

Captain Logan complains it is morally reprehensible to suppress someone’s free will, especially when they are innocent. Yes, but Xavier did it out of compassion for mankind and was kind trying to help her, become wiser and not kill or drug her. He is wrong, but he is compassionate, caring, and it is a very human mistake because he was just really afraid she could destroy the world and herself. Yes, he causes the deaths of many people, but he tried to prevent that in a really difficult situation. He made a human mistake. It is indeed dark, but there isn`t anything wrong with that. It creates drama and tension, dark stories are good, and this was an ambiguously complex plot twist. Then we have the complaint that it would mean the Jean Grey we knew was an artificial construction created by Xavier to keep the world safe and the real Jean Grey is essentially an evil force of nature making her character very messed up. Well first of all, so what? That personality she developed might be artistically created, but was a real person with a real soul. She was still a deep complex character. Second, she had 2 personalities. Her evil side was her mutated personality, but she also had a real mind that was suppressed by her, so the good Jean Grey was a real natural person that was simply freed of the control of her other stronger side. Yes, it is dark. She is such a corrupted person, but again, what is the problem? Some films are dark. That creates more tension and more intensity. Where is the objective complaint? This is a really surprising plot twist, and is very tragic. Also, they at first take her to the mansion to help her, and then she becomes violent, breaking out, and fleeing to her old house, feeling lost, creating tension and drama, of that she doesn`t know where she belongs. This is believable. The Phoenix would flee, as it felt mistreated by Xavier. Then, we have Cyclops’ death. Captain Logan complains it comes out of nowhere. Well yes, it is surprising, and is depressing. Well yes, it is a dramatic death. This adds to our bond with the characters, and he complaints it happens so early on that it would be stronger near the end. Why? The part near the end the film is the most intense, but it then can be less impact on the story and it doesn`t become more meaningful. This is a meaningful death. Cyclops being killed by an evil Jean Grey is really dramatic that such a good person dies, and is killed by his lover that loves him who is so corrupted. Does every film need to follow a formula? This is like Redlettermedia complaining the prequels had no obvious main character or that in “Alien 3,” the characters died early on. It is narrowing down what a film can do and very subjective. Earlier on, death raise the stakes in the story by showing how dangerous Jean is and makes the X-Men tested more. Matthew said it would be better to just say he rode off. No, giving him some attention even when you say it is too little, it’s better than nothing. It removes his character believably. Oh, and he said the characters don`t care or talk about it. Um...Xavier did when talking to Jean, Wolverine questioned Jean about it while she was in control and this worried her. Also in "Blade," Whistler dies earlier on. Remember the guy early on in “Iron Man,” Yinsen? Look at the first “Alien,” with people complaining about “Alien 3,” or “Blade Runner.” Do I even need to elaborate Senator Kelly is a villain who died earlier? Deaths in the middle of a story add to the tension and help complicate the story. Killing helps creating depth.

This death also makes sense. It is believable Jean would kill Cyclops as she is instable, and it is also believable Magneto would try to recruit Jean as she is so powerful, and her hatred for Xavier could allow him to sway her. Now that he and the X-Men don`t work together anymore, he would have the mutants prevent them from getting in, and then they start fighting them to get in when the phoenix starts shaking up the house. It is smart they would then try to fight them as they would need to protect Xavier from the Phoenix, and be worried he is in danger. They manage to get in, which is believable, as they are strong warriors, so it is smart they could defeat them.

Also he mentions it helps establish how defeated Jean Grey is by the Phoenix and how deadly she is, but wouldn`t establishing that near the end when she will be defeated be too late to create this tension?

Then we have Xavier’s death. Captain Logan`s complaint is it’s painful he dies by being ripped apart, molecule by molecule, till finally he disintegrates in a giant explosion. That was really trippy mean and…huh, what? Well, yes it is very painful. This makes the story intense and makes it very emotional. He complains that it is so early on, making it more depressing. How does this make it more depressing? We get the time to get over it, and we still have many characters we love. He complains the film has too much comedy, making this awkward. Well aside from the few Juggernaut (Vinnie Jones) one-liners, very few from Wolverine and Beast, and maybe one other, there wasn`t any comedy. This film doesn`t have more comedy. Then he complains this isn`t really a dark film, but more a film with a few dark scenes in it. Well, how does that make them more depressing? They are still developed, and this film is just as dark as “X2.” There are many dark scenes, Xavier dies, we see his funeral, we see The X-Men feeling hopeless, we see Mystique losing her powers and Magneto abandoning her, we see Wolverine killing Jean Grey, we see Rogue feel alone, we see Magneto being depressed. So this film is really dark, and therefore, this is very natural, deep drama.

So the plot is great, and I won`t spoil anything more, but it is a great ending to the trilogy.

The film is also fantastically thematically deep. They show that the President understands mutants, appoints a mutant in the cabinet, and respects mutant rights. This shows tolerance can grow because they try to understand mutants, and a key to that is being open to them. We see that even Xavier fears that times can change, and Magneto thinks talking is impossible. They just want to execute them, but they really want to help. The cure is actually only given to those who want it, and we see that the key to the growing of tolerance is the mutants of the X-Men helping them and protecting them, and everyone being able to make their own choice. We see the key to tolerance is being violent to cruel individuals and judging people for their choices. It is forgiving when possible, like when Angel saves his father as he is trying to do the right thing. We see it is intolerance that almost causes mutants to feel like they have no choice, that it can mainly come from trying to force someone to be something you want. This can come from any side.

This is a really wise theme as tolerance can come from many sides, including those mistreated, and that if we just allow others to be themselves, they can let us be ourselves as they have nothing to fear and we punish only the aggressive for their actions. We will suppress cruelty and allow for the creation of tolerance, and by forgiving people when possible, we can build mutual peace.

They show a cure being developed by a father who has a mutant son, who sees being a mutant as a disease and pities mutants. The people want to give the cure to help, they think mutants are sick but still people, and he doesn`t really want to force it on anyone. He wants to help people, showing as Nightcrawler said “Pitying people can also lead to kindness. Showing disgust doesn`t lead to hatred.” We see it isn`t rude to see people who are different as bad, though as it often makes them happy and enables them to help others, like the X-Men do with their powers. They can be happy as themselves, like Angel was, but trying to give people the option to be themselves is good. That is why Angel saves his father.

This was a wise and deep theme. Also, as anyone should be allowed to chose whether they want to be themselves, and being different often does give great talents, though not always. Often pitying people can cause us to be nice to them.

By many people taking it, they show that for some people being different is a curse. They show sometimes people do want to be normal, as you just want to be accepted, but also it is sometimes just nice to be yourself, as Beast mentioned. He shed on the couch, and felt very happy seeing himself as normal. Rogue still felt different from Bobby, although regular friends were closer to him, she takes the cure for herself and is happy she can now touch him. Jean’s powers greatly hurt her and make her go insane. Storm acts like they aren`t a disease, while she is simply very strong, where Rogue is unable to touch people, and she feels not understood, showing people often don`t understand some differences can be painful. That is why Rogue had a right to take the cure.

This is true. It is sometimes just distancing to be different. Sometimes we are just sensitive and need acceptance. If people don`t accept that venerability, we only feel more lonely. Sometimes differences are just burdensome handicaps, like having OCD.

We also see some mutants take the cure, like Rogue, and are happy with it, and feel like they can live a healthy life like Rogue. We see she really needed it and others pressuring her to be different, like Iceman, made her feel restricted and stressed. By the government making it optional, the X-Men can support them, and the innocent, like those at Worthington Labs, are accepted and protected, and peace can be made. Angel wanted to be normal for his father, but realizes he wants to be himself. When he refuses, this allows him to help his father. His father also wants to cure him for himself. This made him hurt in the first place, and this is what Magneto fears. If people are forced to be different or normal, this makes them unhappy, restricted and aggressive, but if everyone can make their own choice, people can feel happy and accepted. We can make people happy and reach our fullest potential.

This is a smart theme also, as indeed when people can choose for themselves, they can follow their own needs and be happy. If we try to force people to be like we want, they can quickly become violent and aggressive. It can restrict them, and if we can enjoy the virtues that really fit us, we can be happier and help others be happy.

Matthew says we rarely see the mutants who want the cure. That it is brought up a few times, but never explored, and we never get to the heart of the issue. Well, why is it only important to show why some people would want to be normal? It’s also important that the thinking behind trying to cure differences, and why making that option is good, which was deeply explored as I mentioned. Also, the film analyses how tolerance can be created, so the film has many deep themes. But that isn`t the only thing that matters, you are now focusing on what the film could have been. That isn`t that strong a criticism, and the film does have a lot of thematic depth, and again we see it isn`t just a threat for the X-Men, it is something Magneto sees as a threat. They realize how everyone should have their own choice in it. We see the thinking behind it, and also we do see how it is tough being different. Beast feels it is hard to fit in and mutated, we see it drives Jean Grey insane, but we also see how it is distant for Rogue. She is glad to have the cure, she is angry at Bobby, we see Wolverine tells her she can choose and she argues with Storm on it. They do more then have her get the cure, but as there are more people, she could have discussed it the cure itself with Bobby and Kitty, who she was jealous on. It apparently isn`t explored well, let me say this to that.

By Magneto and his friends trying to destroy the cure because they are afraid it will be forced, and because they believe mutants are superior, they show that sometimes our own fear of suppression can make us suppress others. This is really deep and smart. We see Magneto fear they want to suppress them as they hate them, but he hates the humans, feels superior to them and discards mutant turned humans, and threatens mutant’s choices to be themselves, threatens to kill people, and almost allows Jean Grey to destroy everyone. He commits genocide like Hitler, who he always hated, and becomes what he hates. Showing generalizing and making the choices for others make us what we are fighting.

This is a really smart theme, as indeed if we generalize other people for generalizing we are just as horrible.

Wolverine is happy, supportive, relaxed, brave, helpful, comforting, friendly, but worried, sad, stressed, and weak. He at first is still a self-minded team player, and he loves Jean Grey so much. He was angry at Xavier for blocking her inner personality, and at first was blind, giving into her lust, being naïve and impulsive, then he sees she isn`t herself. When they lose the professor, he tries to get Jean back, still not accepting that she will also destroy herself, and to help her, they might need to kill her because it would be better for her. Because she will kill many innocent people, he then comforts the X-Men, realizing they have to stand for Xavier’s legacy, now that Xavier is dead. Then he works better with them as a team, and for the sake of Jean. The people kill her, like I killed my wife as she was homeless, ok…Even though I am not under the influence. I admit that was an awful reference. (I just would like to apologize. I’m not the one talking about a wife, son and daughter, that’s reviewreviewer1. Watch his reviews to see the kind of jokes he makes. But I find them funny.)

Rogue is really deep in this film. She is sad, depressed, lonely, unconfident, unsure, angry, loving, stubborn, and whiney. She was already unhappy because she can’t touch people in the first film, especially the second, and now that she sees how others can touch Bobby, like Kitty Pride, who just needed to be saved, and was saved by Bobby, she becomes jealous, feeling as though she cannot be close to him. He defends himself about it, but she stays sad, and when she hears of the cure, she becomes very invested in it, and closed off from the other mutants, who hate it. Kitty Pride can touch him and his close to him, and he comforts her when she is sad, just as friends, although she is attracted to him. Rouge feels very jealous, even when Iceman is just cheering Kitty up. She feels very lonely as she again is separated from him, but she feels jealous because she can get friendlier with him that she can touch him. That is a really complex, deep love triangle. She feels really insecure, realizes how jealous she is, and how she cannot live that way. She is angry, frustrated, wants to take the cure, and worried of whether she does this for Bobby or herself. She leaves and Wolverine tells her she needs to choose for herself. She realizes she can make the choice, be happy with herself, eventually realizes she really wants it, takes the cure, becomes happy and relaxed. Captain Logan complains she should have realized her powers saved her life, but it is better to die soon then to live and never be able to touch people. Touching is the base of human bonds. You need it to be happy. Now reviewreviewer1 discussed this with him, and here is where subjectivity comes in. He explained that he thinks that made it seem, as he says in the review, that she only did it for Bobby, but she makes it clear she feels sad about not being able to touch people in general. She is jealous because she can`t touch him, and he complains that doesn`t make her thoughtful, but a stereotypical teenager. It is normal to be jealous that some girl can be friendlier with your boyfriend then you. He said the film just didn`t convince him of that. Reviewreviewer1 couldn`t convince him it was handled well. Well, that isn`t an argument. Reviewing is not a matter of seeing something a certain way, but logically analyzing, and it was demonstrated in the film that Rogue, by talking of her powers, as being terrible in general. She was just frustrated of her powers. This was why she was jealous, they didn`t just focus on the love triangle. That is just what was in the film, and it was established how they could have done it better beyond that you say so. Also, I mentioned she was still frustrated from her powers in the first 2 films. He said he didn`t trust the film to remember that because it felt like a different continuity all together, but it is the exact same issue which ended openly. The connection is obvious and saying you don`t trust the film to have continuity and therefore not accepting continuity, thereby not seeing the whole story is not accepting one element because you don`t accept another. That is a domino effect. His complaint in the review is it looked she was doing it for Bobby isn`t true. She simply doubted it a bit. She isn`t in denial and has grown. He also complained she didn`t consider the gifts of her power that she should have considered. Well, it is simply too painful to be an issue. Then, we have the issue of Bobby. She is supposed to be in the right, even though he doesn`t cheat on her. What he is presented as not flirting, they show her jealousy is understandable, not justified, because she takes the cure. She doesn`t break up with Bobby. He also complains love triangles are overused, but any elements in film are used many times. When something is deep, it is worth using any ties. He complains she doesn`t talk rationally with him before she does it. Well, because it is really private and it is really stressful. Some difficult choices we need to make on our own. Also, people complained it was wrong of her to take the cure. She had a special power that made her capable of special things. Yeah, and she couldn`t do the most basic thing of touching people because of it. That is horrible and someone said it was a bad example to show for kids. When you don`t like something about your body, you can change it. Um…she was handicapped. Her body was really abnormally functioning. It robbed her of the most basic form for human joys and bonds. That is what Medical Science is for. That was what the right to chose over your own body means. It is easy to judge someone with no disabilities, as someone with OCD. All I can say is shut up! You don`t know what it is like to be different your whole life, to be insulted and alone, and come on, those that cannot walk have operations, so they might be able to. If there was a means to cure blindness, you would have the right to take that.

Storm is this film is more worried, warmer, friendlier, sweeter, more optimistic, still tough and brave. Captain Logan complains it makes no sense that Xavier wants her to lead the mansion, and she becomes a control freak because of her acting. How someone sounds doesn`t decide who they are acting. It doesn`t define characters. Actions and words do. Throughout this and the first 2 films, she led many expeditions, gave good suggestions, and comforted people. She isn`t a control freak, but a good leader, and fitting to lead the mansion, how would you feel if I say you were a dumb critic because I don`t like your voice?

Ice Man is warm, helpful, friendly, caring, understanding, sad, brave and optimistic.

Kitty Pride is brave, thorough, helpful, friendly, sad, homesick, unconfident, and a bit love struck.

Cyclops is depressed, sad, and angry.

Pyro is violent, sadistic, loyal and arrogant.

Mystique is sadistic, playful, loyal, very vengeful, and disloyal when Magneto betrays her.

Jean Grey in this film is confused, lustful, playful, wild, intense, and grows to become destructive and insane. She is also angry and scared. She gives in to her destructiveness, killing Cyclops, and at first gets back in control, but she allows her power hungriness to take her over and gets convinced Xavier wants to control her instead of helping her. She wants to indulgence in pure destruction, including her own, and gets convinced no one loves her. Then she kills Xavier and joins Magneto, but still thinks she might care for Wolverine. At the battle when they shoot at her, she gets destructive, and then Wolverine makes her realize this only is hurting her. He cares for her and she allows him to stab her.

Magneto really completes his arc from the first 2 films. Now he hears of the cure, he becomes afraid humans want to force it on the mutants. He wants to act violent and take mutants right not to be mutants. He now becomes really arrogant, believing mutants to be gods, believing all humans to be insects and really suppressive, forcing mutants to stay mutants. He abandons Mystique when she is turned human, and then becomes overly ambitious when Jean seems to become very powerful. He looses Xavier, yet continues to become crueler, violent, dangerous and extreme, killing loads of innocent people and mutants, wanting to kill an innocent kid, creating terrorist attacks, and recruiting Jean, who destroys many people. He becomes abusive, using fellow weaker mutants as pawns in a chess game. He really becomes pure evil, then is taken out, and becomes depressed, but hopeful for the future, having his powers maybe back. So he really becomes what he fought, being prejudiced, cruel and oppressive. Then he sees himself being turned human and becomes even more depressed.

Beast is great. He is calm, caring, helpful, moralistic, cautious, jokey, brave, and straightforward.

Angel is insecure, and silent, yet also proactive, caring, and head strong. Matthew complained he did little. Yeah, he was a minor character who showed why the cure was made, and how it affected him, but characters are normal. Look at “Finding Nemo,” or the guy who blackmails Bruce in “The Dark Knight.”

Then we have the tone. Captain Logan complains it feels really different from the first 2 films so much, that it doesn`t seem to take place in the same universe. We still have a world of intolerance and division. We still have an ambiguous conflict, serious characters, dark death scenes, and he complains there are many underdevelopment mutants, but that is natural. It is a war now. There is a cure, so way more mutants are threatened, so it becomes a bigger conflict. He complains they get irritating one-liners, but only a few get a few, and they are over the top, but a few, and appropriately in action, exciting fun moments. He complains they don`t explain why there is “A Danger Room.” Well, because we can understand why it is. To train and we haven`t seen all parts of the school. Of course they build new things, such obvious things don`t need to be explained. They also didn`t explain in “Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back” how they got such a big fleet or how they got Taun Taunts. He explains they don`t explain why there is a Sentinel in the Danger Room. Well, it is something they either fought or was an invented program so it isn`t important to know why. Yes, they haven`t used mutant cast systems before because they didn`t encounter such strong or so many mutants. The world changes and we don`t learn everything the first time. This is natural and it doesn`t require explanation. This film is a lot more epic, huge, more plot and theme driven, and less character driven then the first 2. It is a bit different, but in a natural way. It is different, not inconsistent, because the changes make sense. It’s fresh and it still has the mood of the seriousness, realism and ambiguity of the first 2 films. It is fresh and true to the roots of the series. It has a dark tone with some nice light touches, fitting the dark, but optimistic story.

It again combines many genres, political thriller, character drama, morality play, action, superhero, and science fiction. The film is very well paced, with always something new happening, while still having enough character development and especially themes. Also, having action, and a lot of drama, while taking it`s time to be funny.

When I first saw this film in the theater, I thought that Brett Ratner rushed the ending of the X-Men trilogy by killing off Jean, Cyclops, and Professor X. He also had Rouge, Mystique and Magneto lose their powers, and a bunch of X-Men were knocked out. However, all of the actors who portrayed the X-Men were great. These include Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Romijin, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, Anna Paquin, Halle Berry, Ellen Page, and Kelsey Grammer to name a few.

Hugh Jackman is relaxed, warm, stubborn, witty, fluent, confused, stressed and worried.

Halle Berry is sweet, whiney, venerable, natural, and can really get the whiney voice as well as the somberness in the eyes across.

Ian McKellen is really charismatic, sadistic, arrogant, obnoxious, intense, and really gets the sadism across in the whispering voice, and can really also look sad and cold.

Patrick Stewart is wise, relaxed, and comforting.

Anna Paquin is sweet, intense, and sad, can really create insecure looks and look stressed.

Kelsey Grammer is sophisticated, nuanced and also intense and exciting. He would make a great duel with Wolverine. What, we are tolerant nowadays? Right, you saw the movie. Go away! To those saying reviewreviewer1 is a hypocrite Catholic, that’s a redundant phrase.

James Mardsen is sad and depressed.

Shawn Ashmore is warm, friendly, caring and sincere.

Also, the stakes were higher, the battle was well done, and it shows how everything is like a chess game, which is what Magneto always had shown. Also, it left certain things up in the air for future movies, like Cyclops possibly not being dead, Xavier alive and would come back (spoilers: in the post-credits scene, Moira MacTaggart checks on her comatose patient, who says hi to her in Xavier's voice, which leaves her startled), and all of the X-Men who lost their powers would have gotten them back. The action is intense, the drama is relate-able, and the story had a decent ending to this trilogy. However, the people who worked on it did a nice job, and I have grown more acceptable to the movie after I had seen it in the theaters.

The sets in Jean’s house were broken down and dirty, adding the stressed feeling of despair. The sets at the military base are grimy and dirty, adding to a hopeless and somber feeling. The film hereby adds an even more somber look to the film. The props are smooth, but flawed in The X-Mansion scenes, adding to the worry yet the warmth. The costumes are harsh for the evil mutants and disorganized, yet fluent on the nicer mutants, the direction fluent and dramatic using fluent moves to add to the warm emotional moments and complex fast moves to create great drama and stress. The sets-ups use complex formations to add complexity and intense close-ups for dramatic moments. The cinematography vibrant and sad in the scenes discussing if they should close the mansion with dark brown tones, and soft tones in the mansion scenes creating extra calmness before the fight with blue and green, and dark colors along with grey and blue during the battle, which are very unsaturated, like in the first two films, again creating a conflicted tone, being consistent with the first two films, but darker tones. The lighting is intense with dark, brooding lighting in the dark, in the church scenes, creating a feeling of aggression, and a setting sun, lighting in the discussion of closer, the mansion adding somberness. The editing is energetic, fluent and harmonious in warmer scenes, adding a feeling of comfort like in the first two films. It’s quick and sudden, adding adventurousness in more dramatic scenes, the sound poignant, sharper and more precise, adding to the even more intense story, but it is more fluent, adding to the emotion. The music is emotional, epic and stressful and a lot more energetic and operatic while still being serious, adding freshness, yet consistency to the series, and The Special Visual Effects amazing. They are realistic and vaster then in the first two films, being more dramatic yet still realistic. The stunts are really natural, The CGI is fantastic, the wind detailed, the lighting fluent, the morphing, seamless, the explosions rough, the disintegration three-dimensional, and the miniatures look completely like they have size and mass.

So “X-Men: The Last Stand” was a really great, as well as an underrated film, and fitting end to trilogy. It didn`t deserve the hatred it received. It gets a 9-.

Next we will be doing another really underrated X-Men Film, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine. See you then. Bye.

Also, make sure to check out reviewreviewer1’s reviews on the entire X-Men series on his channel, since he and I did this joint review.

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."

X-Men Week Part 1

Ok everyone, today we are going to be looking at “X-Men,” which came in 2000. “X-Men” was strongly responsible for the resurgence of superhero films, although “Blade” laid the groundwork in 1998. Superman had crashed with “Superman III” and “Superman IV: The Quest For Peace,” and then when Batman seemed to be working, “Batman and Robin” killed it. However, “Blade” was a huge success and caused people to turn to Marvel instead of DC, and “X-Men” certainly delivered.

This film is a great start to the series. Where “Blade” and “Batman” had been very surreal, “X-Men” is serious and realistic. Its characters are serious; it deals with political scheming, prejudice, and being responsible with your powers. The politics really make the film more sophisticated, and it also contains espionage. The film centers on a three-way struggle between the humans who want to prosecute mutants, Magneto who wants to rule humans, and Xavier who wants to keep peace. The conflict is really thick, they want to turn the world leaders into mutants so mutants will be in charge, which is a clever reference to Constantine’s conversion to Catholicism ending Christian prosecutions and making Catholicism the preferred religion. But they have to use Rogue, a girl who ran away from home when it turned out touching people would kill them. Since she can absorb Magneto’s powers, Mystique disguises herself to act like Rogues friend, and convince her to leave. Wolverine tries to save her but Magneto uses the metal in Wolverine’s bones to overpower him, and threatens to kill many cops unless Xavier let`s him go. It all comes together in a finale where they defeat Magneto and his henchman at the Statue of Liberty, which is great symbolism.

The film really analyses freedom, individual human rights, friendship and purpose, but it also has a lot of great action scenes like Wolverine fighting Sabertooth and Mystique, but they all serve a purpose. The CGI still holds up very well. The film also has a great dark, brooding score, and the direction is dramatic and emotional.

Also the film has great characters played by great actors, who give the film deep emotion next to its smart intellectuality.

Wolverine is a wonderful protagonist. He has a back story that he was experimented on violently and brutally by the military which he served in, and from this got his adamantium skeleton, a very strong metal skeleton. He lost his memory, and as a result is violent, aggressive, angry, silent, depressed, and aimless, but also warm, caring, moral, and comforting, but also a bit stubborn and rude. When he meets Rogue, who needs help, he is cruel to her at first, telling her to get out of his truck, but he decides he can`t leave her. He gives her food and supports her, they bond a bit, and he tries to save her when they are attacked.

Rogue is immensely deep. She has the back story that she got a power that makes it impossible for her to touch people without hurting or killing them, causing her to feel lonely and weird. Hey does she know my number?

She travels across the world alone, aimless, shy, depressed, and desperate. She is unconfident, scared, sad, and outspoken, but warm, nice, and helpful. Wolverine supports her by giving her a ride, acting warm to her by giving her food, being nice to her, advising her, and she starts to feel relaxed and calmer. At the school, she feels a bit at home, thereby she feels happier, but she is still afraid of not being accepted. When Wolverine stabs her and she takes his powers to save herself, people get scared. Mystique manipulates her, she feels paranoid and worried, and Wolverine comforts her by telling her he will be there for and that these people care for her, and she feels happy. Magneto captures her and tries to kill her. She is scared, but Wolverine and the team risk their lives saving her, she finally feels at home and safe, although still being very missed when Wolverine leaves. Rogue is really engaging because she is very tragic.

The relationship between Wolverine and Rogue is really deep. Wolverine is confused, angry, and aimless, Rogue is lonely, depressed and aimless. He cares for her and supports her. They share their loneliness and grow to care for each other. When Rogue is endangered, Wolverine becomes her mentor figure. He saves her, and they become true friends for life.

Xavier is also wonderful. He is peaceful, calm, comforting, decisive, pragmatic, worried, helpful, a leader, brave, and often worried and friendly.

His relationship with Wolverine is also really deep. Wolverine is afraid and aimless. Xavier is friendly, caring, and comforting of him, and offers to help him get answers. Like Wolverine, he’s proactive, passionate and warm. He is also decisive, getting Wolverine to solve his problems with Cyclops and join the team.

Ice Man is done well. He is also friendly to Rogue and endeared by her, making her feel shy and awkward, but endearing her and making her happier.

Storm is also deep. She is a minor character, but she is shown to be brave, tough, warm, selective, decisive, and a bit angry. She feels angry towards regular humans for their intolerance, but she is also forgiving and nurturing. She supports Senator Kelly when he regrets discriminating humans when he is dying and she talks with him intimately, worried, helpful and as a team player. She is really interesting in that she isn`t completely enlightened, relaxed or tolerant. She has some anger, but still is moralistic fighting for the humans none the less. She’s principled, not giving into her anger, fighting for the humans. She somewhat resents protecting them and being brave and helpful, and can also be friendly, although she is a bit selective by being nice to other mutants. So she is a flawed hero, she acts wise, but does have negative feelings, and doesn`t act on, which makes her very moralistic and sympathetic, yet a bit dark and much multilayered.

Jean Grey is ok. She is warm, helpful, relaxed, and brave. Also she has telekinetic powers that have a lot of potential, but she can`t master it yet, making her really mysterious also.

The relationship between Wolverine and Jean Grey is odd because it is extremely underdeveloped; really feeling like it is there just because it was in the comics. Also, it is so flat. Wolverine just makes passionate jokes, there is no warmth or passion, and feels more like minor attraction, but he acts like he loves her (Luckily, this isn`t very important). Also, it makes Wolverine rather mean spirited, hitting on a woman who has a relationship with someone else. That is just really cruel to that person, making them have to chose, and hurting the life of the person you want her to leave you for. Since he is supposed to have a good heart, meaning he thinks of others feelings, grows to be friendly, and even bonds with them near the end, and becomes caring and selfless. Meaning, he wouldn`t hurt 2 nice people. It is terrible that at the end he still hits on her. That is just mean, it was a very bad character development, and was inconsistent with Wolverines character and arc.

Than Jean Grey and Cyclops have an off-screen relationship, which is cool, but just underdeveloped and unimportant.

Cyclops is just a leader, a bit whiney, brave and helpful.

He hates Wolverine just for flirting with his girlfriend, which is just really immature. He acts so light about it, while being so insistent. This being so important, it feels really immature and flat.

Senator Kelly is great. He is really loyal to his cause, scared but persistent, hateful and paranoid, but grows to venerable, warm, and bonds with the people he hated, and is forgiving. He hates mutants, but then he becomes one. He’s dying and is venerable and asks for their help. He sees that, as he himself is a mutant now, not all mutants are evil. He grows to see some of them are kind by helping him when he is venerable, and no longer hates them, forgives them by bonding with them, and regrets his mistakes.

Magneto is fantastic. He is arrogant, violent, manipulative, passionate, idealistic, and cruel by sacrificing innocent people to achieve his cause. Yet, he is compassionate by trying to avoid killing innocent people, like with Senator Kelly, by mutating him and trying to catch him. While trying not to shoot the cops, but abusive, by being willing to kill innocent people when it benefits his cause. He is very intellectual, talkative and stubborn by not listening when they tell him his plan kills people. He has the back story the he grew up in a Concentration Camp during The Holocaust and was separated from his parents. Later on, he thought humans would discriminate mutants like Jews and became vengeful and arrogant. He is great because he’s an intellectual and so ambiguous, making him mysterious and complex, similar to Count Dooku later on in The Star Wars Prequels.

His relationship with Magneto isn`t delved very deep into this film but it still deep, as Captain Logan mentions in the few scenes we have with them. We see Xavier really understands Magneto, but is hopeful for more in him and disappointed over their lost friendship. Magneto is tired out of Xavier’s bossiness. We see this by Xavier telling his points in just a few lines and acting really sentimental, saying he looks for hope, and Magneto giving quick dismissive responses. This relationship is really deep because it is so tragic and so understandable. It is understandable that Xavier wants to be optimistic and wants to find a peaceful way because he loves humanity. Of course he would want his friend to be able to help him, but Magneto opposes him because he simply sees no hope with the immensity of the intolerance. This is natural and it is logical that he has given up because creating tolerance is really difficult.

I thought Mystique was wonderful. She is angry, she is stealthy, manipulative, very sadistic by smiling at all her evil deeds, cold, violent, passionate, loyal, and also I think she doesn`t wear clothes because she has embraced her animalistic form. She likes how she has an animal like body and is proud of it. Therefore, she doesn`t wear any type of clothing, fitting her animalistic appearance.

Sabertooth is just angry and sadistic. It feels really obvious Bryan Singer didn`t feel any passion for this character.

Toad is just gross, violent, jokey, and…that is about it.

Hugh Jackman can really look angry, and talks raspy, but also sounds warm, holds someone comfortably, and move violently.

Patrick Stewart is wise comforting and relaxing.

Ian McKellen, who also played Gandalf in “The Lord Of The Rings” Trilogy, is charming, intellectual, intense, menacing and natural. He had previously starred in Bryan Singer`s film “Art Pupil,” where he was also great. He’s really the guy whose stories are nice to listen to.

Famke Janssen is sweet and fluent.

James Marsden is intense and witty.

Halle Berry is tough, brave and warm. She has a cat’s qualities. She`d be great to play a cat character...oh, ouch. Thank goodness I never saw that movie, and I never will. No, you can’t make me! That is one of the worst comic book adaptations ever!

Anna Paquin, is venerable, she can cry naturally, is sweet and intense.

Tyler Mane is intense and menacing.

Bruce Davison is obnoxious, mean spirited, but also venerable.

Ray Park is gross and intense.

Finally, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos is intense, making and colorful.

So all in all, this is a great film and it gets a 9-. It is one of the best superhero films and one of my favorites.

Make sure to check out reviewreviewer1's YouTube channel out, since he and I worked together on this script. Stay tuned tomorrow when we look at one of the best films in the X-Men franchise.