X2: X-MEN UNITED (Bryan Singer, 2003) R

Reviewed: May 4th, 2003

I'm jubilant to report that according to Monday's Variety, X2: X-Men United has already rung up a whopping $155.2 million worldwide in the three days since its release. In other news, I'll be the dude you'll see standing outside theaters proselytizing, begging more people to see this thing -- once, twice, thrice -- just doing everything I can to transfer even more money into Fox's coffers. Oh, it's not that I'm that rabid a fan (though I do think this is a quite good and frequently thrilling follow-up that's easily superior to its mediocre predecessor); it's simply that I'm convinced the forthcoming (third) entry in the series stands an excellent chance of being the best yet and the more money this sucker makes the more money Fox 'll be willing to funnel into the next. It'll need it, too: so far this 'Xiverse' is shaping up nicely, widening a bit while staying fairly contained, but the third entry promises to massively expand the world, blowing it wide open into an all-out civil (or even world?) war. Lemme admit I've never read X-Men comics so I dunno what they did or didn't include comparatively, but I do know Singer hasn't pandered to the people who haven't seen the original. He's dived in right where he left off, a wise decision since despite sporting a kinda hefty two hour and fifteen minute runtime, there's so many characters here (including a few new ones obviously) that he can't afford to waste a moment. The initmidating juggling act is accomplished with dexterity, Singer and his screenwriters balancing Rogue's burgeoning romance with Iceman, the love triangle between Jean Grey, Cyclops and Wolverine, Wolverine's back story, Magneto in momentary cahoots with Professor X, Brian Cox's villain, Alan Cumming's Nightcrawler, a touch of politics and most importantly Romijn-Stamos's pristine hourglass figure looking as stunning as ever coated in electric blue paint (or is it a body suit?). This is a skillfully made entertainment from first frame to last, even if it does lag a bit in spots, and there's at least four genuinely electrifying action sequences (opening Nightcrawler break-in; School for the Gifted break-in; Pyro versus the cops; missiles versus the X-plane) and a handful of wry little look-what-my-superpowers-can-do gags. Plus, if you're a nerd, the whole thing can be read as a parable about America's tendency to classify and reduce, placing people into tidy compartments, rejecting the non-conformists and ignoring the virtues of equality. Or something. Anyway, I get the sense this adventure is just starting to heat up.

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