X-Men Movie Marathon: Episode 3: X2: X-Men United

    The X-Men Movie Marathon continues with the best one of the series. This  is X2: X-Men United!

    X2, like it predecessor X-Men, is a very good movie with very few flaws. This one just takes the "Very Good" part to the extreme. In fact, out of all of the X-Men movies, this is the one I've been dreading to review. This is one of the greatest comic book films ever made, and yet there isn't a whole lot to talk about with this film.
    This time around, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) has just gotten back from Alkali Lake, where he was searching for answer about his past. When he arrives, he learns that the mutant Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) has attack the president and that Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) and Storm (Halle Berry) are going after him. After Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Cyclops (James Marsden) leave him in charge of the school while they go visit Magneto (Ian McKellen) in jail, the school is attacked by William Stryker (Brian Cox), a mysterious man from Wolverine's past. Wolverine escapes with Rouge (Anna Paquin), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) and Pyro (Aaron Stanford) and teams up with Jean, Storm, Magneto and Mystique (Rebecca Romijn) in order to stop Stryker.

"And for my next trick..."

    Don't get me wrong. X2 is a very, very good movie and if you haven't seen it yet, then fix that. But it's a movie that is a pain to review, especially seeing as how I review X-Men less that two days ago. You see, this movie is X-Men, but better. Most sequels manage to do things different from the previous films, with varying results. X2 does things differently from the previous film, with the exact same results. The acting is still great, with the exception of the perpetually poorly handled Cyclops. The new additions are good, particularly Cumming as Nightcrawler and Ashmore as Iceman. Stanford is okay as Pyro and I still don't quite get the hype around Lady Deathstrike (Kelly Hu).
    The special effects are still very good, though they haven't really been all that improved upon. Brian Singer is still doing a fine job directing. The most notable upgrade since the last film is a much more interesting and emotional story. Sometimes too much can be happening at once and character can disappear at the blink of an eye (Sometimes literally), but the story is overall much more effective and exciting than in the previous film.

Romance?

    And that's about it. Really. I'm sorry for such a short review, but, as good as this movie is, it just does not need that much of a review. It's pretty much "See this movie. Now.". It's a very good movie with a great cast, great story and great action. And really, what more do you need. X2: X-Men United gets a full 6 stars out of 6.