Review time! Rambling, followed by non-spoilers, followed by spoilers. I know someone's going to harp "But you hate movies!", and this is truth. But I've also said continuity is the bomb, and this goes not just for the X-Men comic, but the movie as well. A lot of the first movie's details are picked up (even the puncture scars Logan left in Mystique at the end of the first movie make for a cute scene, and yes she's still posing as Senator Kelly). And the seeds of future movies are planted too; halfway through the movie, it seemed they were prepping for The Dark Phoenix Saga, and by the end of the movie it was blindingly obvious. This movie was very faithful to the X-Men mythos (even more than the first) and it gives me confidence that a movie version of DPS would be excellent. I salivate at the thought.

For those who don't know what Dark Phoenix was, it's easily the greatest X-Men story ever, and possibly the greatest story in comic history. It's basically a slow boil over 30+ issues as Jean's powers amp up to the point where her mind can't handle it, and she becomes something akin to a minor god. Plot highlight: Jean plunges into a star (telekinetic flight through space) and absorbs it's energy, causing it to supernova and killing over 6 billion inhabitants of a local planet. She loved every minute. The story is still referenced today; there was a cool spread of Jean a while ago during a plot recap before a related story. Big image of Jean at the heart of the star with a look of insane ecstacy plastered across her face. If I get my scanner next week like I plan, someone remind me to upload it.

Some fun previews; The Matrix Reloaded looks like it's worth watching just for the effects (I still think the first one blew). Secondly, I am amazed that someone has seen fit to make a movie version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (yet another comic gone movie). Granted, it's a highly acclaimed series, but how many people have even heard of it? Oh, and the prices they charge for popcorn and drink are highway robbery. But you knew that.

Enough rambling! Non-spoiler thoughts ...

Actually, my entire non-spoiler review was going to consist of "Kurt is and always will be the king!" about 30,000 times; yes, he's an old favorite of mine. We get glimpses of ShadowCat, Colossus and Siryn (cool!) as well, plus Bobby and John (Pyro) get bigger roles, but Nightcrawler is the only real addition to the team. His teleporter effect is close to the comic version, but subdued, and very effective. He looks like a ghost moving in and out of reality. The plot also correctly notes his inability to teleport to a location he can't see or doesn't know well, lest he risk ending up in a wall. Also, remember when I wondered if Kurt's religion would be kept intact? I'll put it this way; he couldn't be more Catholic if a chorus of angels followed him around singing the Halleluah chorus. He's found in a church, half his lines are praying, wears a very visible cross, etc. He's also German (and spouts it sporatically), and grew up in a circus. The best was when he took out a room full of people by teleporting, punching, teleporting, puching, etc. It makes him impossible to hit while delivering non-stop blows, and I could name a dozen times he's done that in the comic. Very well researched background and behavior. A lot of that looked CG'd, but I'm getting used to that in movies so we'll just ignore it.

ShadowCat appears briefly to jog through walls (like the first movie). And the big metal-muscled Russian bruiser (Piotr Rasputin aka Colossus) gets a nice cameo too. Rogue, Bobby (Iceman) and John (Pyro) get to come along too, but they're second tier characters after the main team. Jean, Storm, Nightcrawler and Logan get most of the spotlight. From the original bad guys, Magneto is here (though he's not the main antagonist) and Mystique gets more attention, including actual lines! There's also some minor cameos if you watch closely; when Mystique is browsing a list of names on a computer, I distinctly saw "LeBeau, Remy" in there (Gambit). There's also a TV interview featuring Dr. Hank McCoy, who as the Beast was a founding member of the comic book X-Men. There's probably a lot of Easter Eggs I missed. A really weird idea was to introduce Lady Deathstrike, one of Logan's old adversaries from Japan (first he fought Sabretooth, now Lady Deathstrike. Who's next movie; Omega friggin' Red?). It's more fitting than it sounds though.

The movie seems to have some daring scenes; Rogue undressing (granted, mostly off-camera) and Rebecca Romijn Stamos (Mystique disguised as a human) hitting on and about to go down on a security guard in a washroom like something out of a porno. The scenes just seem tacked on but they're tolerable. Actually, Mystique's shape-shifting effects seem better in this movie; she does it a lot, sometimes in rapid succession.

It's a good, typical comic book story. I'm sure someone can knock holes in the plot, but it really fits the X-Men. Everyone gets some good material, unlike in the first movie cough*Storm*cough. Several subplots bubble, like Logan and Jean's romance (I am so sick of that) plus the aforementioned Dark Phoenix Saga, Logan's past, Rogue and Bobby's relationship, and an allusion to the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants reforming. They're all well juggled, although the final scene involves a sacrifice which is really stupid if anything, making it less effective as a result. Very forced; a shame.

It has funny moments too; Mystique mimicing Nightcrawler's voice back at him, and giving a room full of guards the finger as she stylishly escapes through a closing door. Or poking fun at how much boy bands suck Nothing laugh out loud, but it has some light moments peppered in there.

All in all, big thumbs up. This movie was sw33t. I like how they're making it feel like a big ongoing story rather than single self-contained ones; continuity has always been the X-Men's (or any comic's, really) strength. Good action, good plot, good effects, good characterization. Very nice overall package.

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Plot synopsis time.

The big idea here is that yet another human (Colonel Stryker) wants to kill off all the mutants, and he's going to use mutants to do it. He has a drug that inhibits an individual's will so they'll follow his orders, and this is put to several uses. One is Magneto's interrogation (he's still in plastic prison), which means he spills his guts on Xavier's school. Another is to get Nightcrawler to make an attempt on the President's life, which pursuades him to authorise Stryker's further plans. Another is Lady Deathstrike as his personal assistant, though for most of the movie she seem perfectly normal aside from an annoying habit of cracking her cough*adamantium*cough knuckles. The movie opens with Nightcrawler invading the White House, as well as Logan returning from his investigation of the abandoned Weapon X compound in Canada (where he found nothing). There's also a small scene of Jean having trouble controlling her telepathy, which in hindsight I now see is the first hint of Dark Phoenix. There's also a short scene between Logan and Bobby, who's a little jealous of Rogue's friendship with him.

As Storm and Jean take the Blackbird to find Kurt after the assassination attempt, Xavier and Scott go to see if Magneto's behind it. In the process of visiting him they get captured as a commando raid descends on Xavier's school, armed with insider info from Magneto. Most escape thanks to Siryn's sonic scream waking everyone up (Teresa Cassidy was the daughter of the Banshee in the comic, and her scream could shatter steel), and metal-man Colossus leading everyone out an escape route. Logan cuts a sh*t-ton of guards up and runs into Stryker, who recognizes him. Turns out Stryker was instrumental in the experiments on Logan, but before Logan can get answers, he's cut off by a giant ice wall (courtesy of the Iceman). Logan, Rogue, Bobby and John leave another way than the rest, and head for Boston to hook up with Jean and Storm, who have found Kurt and convinced him to return with them. Stryker loots Cerebro from the mansion (Magneto told him about it, as he helped Xavier build it) for reasons that become apparent later.

Meanwhile, Mystique has been busy. As Senator Kelly, she has discovered what Stryker's up to, and comes up with a plan to free Magneto; namely, seduce a guard, drug him, and pump his arse (literally) with iron. When the guard later brings Magneto his meal, he instantly senses the iron increase in his blood, and proceeds to remove it through his pores. Ouch. Magneto has manipulated the iron in blood before in the comic, so while it strains suspension of disbelief, there's precedence for his ability to do this. There's only enough to make three pellet's worth of metal, but it's enough to shatter his prison and rip holes in guards. Ah, freedom.

Meanwhile, the four escaped X-Men stop at Bobby's house (his parents live in Boston) for clothes and munchies (oh, Rogue's been running around in her nightie during all this. Why is she not wearing gloves every second?). Bobby attempts a kiss from Rogue with mild expected reprecussions. Once his parents and brother come home Bobby chooses to tell them about how he's really a mutant (they thought Xavier's was a prep school), which prompts his brother to call the cops on them. Wen the crew is greeted by police outside and Logan gets shot in the (adamantium-plated) head, Pyro takes it upon himself to torch everyone and takes it too far. This is obviously playing to Pyro being a member of the original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in the comic, and ends in a nice scene where Rogue steals his powers and uses them to put out the fires. Jean and Storm pick them up and they take off, only to find they've been followed by F-16's.

Storm gets a chance to shine here, as thier only defence is a maze of tornados. The planes are downed, but not before a pilot can successfully lock on two missles. There's another scene of Jean's powers increasing as she dismantles one remotely (not the literal fire in her eyes, a symbol of the Phoenix), but the other cripples the plane and sends it spiralling. Rogue goes flying out the hull breach, and in a moment any X-Men reader could have seen coming a mile away, Kurt teleports out, catches her, and teleports back in. Did I mention how much I like how well this movie emulates the comic?

Mysteriously, the plane's hull intergrity spontaneously repairs and the plane stops in midair just as it's about to crash. Oh, hi Magneto. The lot chew the fat here as Stryker's ultimate plan is revealed; since Xavier can reach every mind using Cerebro, he can also telepathically kill them. Of course he can't do it willingly, but Stryker has his own telepath, and an agenda; Xavier failed to "cure" Stryker's mutant, mentally-deficient son many years ago, so Stryker will now delight in his son using his illusion casting powers to trick Xavier into using Stryker's makeshift Cerebro to kill all the mutants. Stryker's base turns out to be where Logan was in Canada earlier, only he missed it because it's really underground beneath a lake. So the X-Men head there, Mystique and Magneto in tow. There's also some nice scenes here where Logan steals a kiss from Jean, and Mystique trying to seduce Logan. Rogue and Bobby are close all this time, wanting to kiss and touch but mostly being unable to. Pyro is becoming increasingly discontented with the group, and responds positively when Magneto subtly suggests he switch sides. Rogue and Magneto also have a "moment"; he did try to kill her after all ...

It occurs to me that the movie, at this point, is playing off of "God Loves, Man Kills", another classic X-Men story. Again, Xavier is tricked into mentally killing all mutants (in GLMK, he was brainwashed) and Magneto joins the X-Men in stopping him. Magneto's not such a bad guy, which is what makes him such an interesting villian. He actually led the X-Men for an extended period in the comic, and taught the New Mutants. He plays both good guy and bad guy (you'll see) in X2, which makes the character much more engaging than the first movie.

Infultrating the base is cake for Mystique as she gets her best scene yet, and once in the party splits up; Storm and Nightcrawler go to rescue the children Stryker managed to poach from the mansion, Logan goes after Stryker for answers, and Jean, Magneto and Mystique head for the Professor before he can kill all mutants (including them). On the way, the latter group runs into Cyclops, who has fallen under Stryker's sway and attacks them. Jean takes it upon herself to handle him as Magneto and Mystique continue on to Cerebro. Rogue, Bobby and John warm the bench in the Blackbird.

Storm and Nightcrawler's mission to save a half dozen kids is fairly uneventful, so we'll ignore them. Jean manages to take a full-force optic beam from Scott, protecting herself with the mother of all telekinetic shields. Careful Scott, you're going to push her too har ... whoops. Jean lets loose a telekinetic shockwave which literally cracks the base, and the dam it's under, making a flood a very real possibility. Oh well, it snapped Scott out of it, and the two of them run after Magneto and Mystique. Logan finds the room where the adamantium was fused to his bones and has a few flashback. The room also has a door out the back. Since things have turned against Stryker, he has left guards to make sure his son and Xavier are uninterrupted as he himself turns tail. He runs out the back to a waiting helicopter, leaving Lady Deathstrike to cut up Logan. In fact, this fight scene is brutal; both have healing factors and claws, and there's tons of slashing and impaling. One point where LD viciously attacked Logan's back drew audible gasps from the audience. Logan barely wins, but just when he's about to go after Stryker, he hits the ground in pain. Oops, too late. Xavier has mentally located all the mutants; time to die.

Except for Magneto. Remember that telepathy-proof helmet? He gets past the guards by magnetically removing the pins from the grenades the guards are carrying (kablooey) and shuts down Cerebro. Ah, villiany time. Magneto manipulates Cerebro so it now targets humans instead, and Mystique (as Stryker) tells his son to get Xavier to do just that. M&M take their leave as Xavier is now being tricked into killing all non-mutants. Logan catches up with Stryker at the helicopter and tries to get answers out of him, but when he finds out the danger the base is in from an imminent flooding, he chains up Stryker for later and heads back to help the others. John gets impatient and leaves the Blackbird, to Bobby and Rogue's objections.

Meanwhile, everyone else arrives at Cerebro and tries to figure out how to stop Xavier. Nightcrawler teleports Storm inside (a risky move he preceeds with a prayer) only to find ... a little girl. Yes, our illusionist has enough wits to prevent Storm and Kurt from even seeing Xavier, much less stopping him. Storm causes a small blizzard of intense cold, which snaps Xavier out of it and probably didn't do Cerebro any good either. Kurt teleports them all out of the Cerebro room as the base starts falling apart due to water pressure. Magneto and Mystique find Stryker and the helicopter and take it for themselves. They also find John, who willingly leaves with them.

The X-Men carry Xavier, Stryker's son, and a half dozen of Xavier's students to the surface as quickly as they can (guided by Logan, who found them and knows the way out). Unfortunately, they're still on the wrong side of a failing dam and the helicopter is gone. Rogue, however, has decided to take it upon herself to learn how to fly the Blackbird (is it supposed to move sideways?) and lands/crashes near the group. All aboard. The craft is sluggish to get off the ground though. Rogue's "landing" apparently knocked something loose, and the group scrambles to fix it before a wall of water hits them. Of course, the dam has conveniently chosen now to break, and a tidal wave as high as the trees is bearing down on them.

Here's the stupid part I mentioned; Jean sneaks out to shield them telekinetically from the wave while also trying to lift the plane and fix the systems. Her willing sacrifice here is obvious; she purposly blocks Kurt from teleporting down to save her, and even takes over Xavier's mind to speak to them. Why she couldn't do this stuff from inside the plane is a huge mystery to me. Anyway, the strongest hints of the Phoenix are here, as Jean is literally aflame with power, glowing like a small star. She succeeds in saving the others, but the wave overtakes her in the proccess. More strong Phoenix imagery; the Phoenix originally burst out of the ocean after saving the X-Men, and that's exactly what I was expecting here, with that big flat expanse of water. But no dice; maybe next movie. Scott and Logan take her "death" particularily hard, of course.

The group meets with the President and shows them what Stryker was doing, and warn him that a war has already begun, with casualties on both sides. The final scene closes with the narrative (by Jean this time) from the intro to the first movie about evolution leaping forward, as the camera pans over the new lake formed by the dam breach. As this is said, one can almost perceive a firebird shape under the water ....

I'm not going to read the spoiler.. I hafta wait until Monday at the least to watch X2 Can't believe you beat me to the theatre and I was the one who posted about it two weeks ago

I'm going to see either X-Men 2 or Cowboy Bebop this afternoon.

Yep!

FF8 is a Console RPG. Therefore it is hated by everyone with taste.

I almost went to see X2, But Instead, I took to long in setting up my dad's new Router/Firewall thingie. Oh well, I got him to buy Spirited away. It is my absolute favorite movie of all time. If not my absolute favorite anything of all time. I normally can't watch a movie again for months, if not years... But After seeing it last weekend, I watched it again yesterday, part of it today, and will probably watch it again tomorrow (Ughh.. My dad can't stay awake for movies.. Its weird).

I give Spirited Away 6 stars out of 5. Or 3 thumbs up. Which ever.

(btw, I like animation. In case noones noticed.)

Bullet Proof Monk isn't out? Brian Clevinger roasted it in his April 27th news post:

TF: Never heard of that one.

SPOILER TALK FROM HERE ON IN!!! You have been warned ...

That's my point; they went through the motions to set up future plot but didn't really do a good job of it. Would it really make sense to someone not familiar with the Dark Phoenix Saga? Explain to me why she couldn't have done all that crap from inside the plane. Explain to me why she stopped Nightcrawler from going and getting her. Explain to me what on Earth the Professor meant when he tried to answer Scott's "Why?" with "Because ... she made ... a choice." Uh, yeah. I'm going to choose to drink a bottle of Drain-O; when someone asks why be sure to tell them it's because ... I made ... a choice.

It was a glaring sore spot on an otherwise above-average movie. I think I'll buy it when it comes out (rare for me )

Right about what? Why couldn't he have grabbed her after they were airborne? She purposely let the water engulf her, and made clear her intentions through the Professor on the Blackbird. I could probably come up with some justification from the comic (the Phoenix killed herself there too, albeit under completely different circumstances) but that still doesn't help the average moviegoer. I can't help but think a lot of them walked out totally bewildered at what seemed like nothing more than killing Jean for the sake of bringing her back (which, essentially, is what it is).

23: BulletProof Monk might be out in the US...
Sometimes I can get the US DVD before the movie is out here in Germany.

Go to the quicktime page, they have a nice trailer. It's the latest Terrentino.

And X2 (and the matrix movies and LOTR) have a worldwide premiere (Guess to prevent loss by priate copies, import DVDs, etc). But the low priority movies take their time.

Everyone must watch Spirited away (if they like excelent animated movies). Heres a link to apple's trailer page.

Try using a real browser! Tripple HAH!

No really though, QuickTime's plugin thing includes an IE ActiveX controll, and an NS4 plugin IIRC. And thats it. So maybe if Opera supports one of those interfaces it'll work...