X2- the uncanny SPOILER thread!

Cafe Society
1

well, I think it’s uncanny that there don’t seem to be any threads about the movie yet, so… I’d like to humbly submit this thread here for ya’ll.

Anyhoo, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that this is possibly THE BEST MOVIE IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD EVER!!! Yes, I know I said that about everything else, but, y’know, this is the best movie EVER, right now. And I suspect it’ll stay that way for at least the two weeks until RELOADED opens. Won’t it?

Discuss.

(give reference to uh…
SPOILER CODING HERE

The Phoenix Force, Weapon X, Collosus, Kitty, Artie, Project Wideawake (Sentinals). etc etc ad infinitum.

HOLY CRAP MONKEYS X2 is so dense, so many nods to X-fans, and X-history. and and and…

-mutant hyperventilating-

The X-Gene

2

T-minus 7 hours and 30 minutes until my showtime.

I’m optimistic. I mean, Nightcrawler is much cooler than Toad and Sabretooth, so it’s gotta be an improvement in that arena.

3

Actually there was one thread started, but it was a little under a week before the movie officially came out, so died a quick death. :slight_smile:

The opening sequence - whoah! Just … wow.

4

hmm… it seems we not in the western hemisphere have already X-ed ourselves out.

And yes, Kayeby (go Oz!) that opening sequence was so damn sweet! Kurt works SO WELL (and here I was worried this movie wouldn’t be THE GREATEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME!)

Can you see how I’m setting myself up so cautiously for a right royal flamimg from the eventual cynic? *BWAHAHAHAHA

El Gene-o!

5

I saw it on Wednesday and I agree, it was spectacular. (Not the best movie of all time, though :slight_smile: ). It’s cool to see all those mutants-in-training. They don’t contribute to the story, but it’s fun to recognize them. I’m not sure about the ending, and I fear that the third movie (if it’s made) will be called “Phoenix rising”. I mean, Phoenix is more or less unbeatable, what good is the rest of the X-men if she’s there?

6

It was very good.

It equaled the original, but I don’t know if I’d say it surpassed it. Singer did great work by not getting bogged down with the amount of things going on.

My only complaint is with the terrible acting from James Marsden. He had some big emotional scenes and they came off poorly.

Other than that, everyone was great, especialy Wolverine and Nightcrawler.

7

Oh, and can someone try to list the X-men comic book references, the little winks that non-readers of the comic might have missed?

8

SPOILERS - Not many plot spoilers, but things in general

There’s so many small references, way more than Daredevil, that you’d need to frame-by-frame a DVD of the movie to catch them all, but from memory:

Dr. Hank McCoy being interviewed on TV (Beast)
Reme LeBeu (sp?) listed on the computer along with many other mutants by their real names (Gambit)
Hell, everything on the PC was a link to some mutant or another
Pheonix - the stuff that was going on with Jean Gray
All kinds of mutant kids, from Siren to Jubilee to Kitty Pride to…dunno who the blinking kid was, but he was amusing

As to why the movie was really good. First off, they didn’t pull punches. Wolverine killed with impunity, which was just great. He didn’t back down from murdering anyone. Magneto is just evil - not insane evil, but willing ot murder every human on the Earth because they mean nothing to him. Mystique, on the other hand, could be seen as just someone who truely believes in mutant rights and is going with Magneto for the moment, because she likes his plan best. If there was a better plan, she would probably go with that.

Storm has some serious issues with humans, much more so than in the first. Another hook into her personality that could cause her to change sides. Xavior, on the other hand, is still totally unflappable, even though he was about to kill everyone on the planet.

I like the fact that this movie is not geared for kids. People die, and not because they pulled a gun on the good guy at the last second. There’s obvious differences in the mentality of each main character in the film, it’s not just “good mutant, bad mutant, good human, bad human”. I think because of this, it’s a better movie than the first, because there wasn’t time to show the differences in that one. Finally, people die in really horrible horrible ways - like Magneto’s guard. Sure, he deserved it, but yikes.

The last reason I think this movie was better than the first and in general, really good, is that it seems to be an actual beginning to a full story arc. You don’t know what the president said at the end of the movie and there’s lots of loose ends, so it can go almost seemlessly into the next movie. The first movie ended without any obvious story progression and didn’t leave you with a need to see the next movie to see what they’re going to do next. This one ends with the possibilty of Pheonix coming back, Sentinels being built, Magneto coming up with a new plan, maybe all three.

That’s just my thoughts, after almost no sleep and a midnight showing. Who knows if I’ll change my mind later.

9

OK, I just got back from watching, these are my first-impressiony thoughts, so they are muddled.

Nightcrawler was BEE-YOU-TI-FUL! I was worried about Alan Cummings being the actor… but he was great. Adorable German accent and piety. I approved of the special effects for his teleporting. The opening scene was just amazing.

Whoever’s playing Cyclops, he can’t act. His big emotional scene made me wince.

Halle Berry was better this time. She actually got emotions across semi-convincingly.

Thought during an early scene: "Why are Jean’s eyes going all flamey? She doesn’t - oh. Ohhhhh… "

I too was overjoyed that they didn’t pull punches with Wolverine’s badassitude. And the cigars. And the "bub"s. And taking Cyclops’ car.

It’s a shame they had some cool characters in it just for a couple of scenes (i.e. Colossus and Shadowcat).

Ian McKellin is a God Among Men.

Jubilee has been in both movie now, but hasn’t done anything or talked. I’m a little sad, because she was one of my favorites when I was a kid and watched the cartoon. But I suppose she’s not enough of a central figure… the next movie’s probably going to be about Phoenix (not that that’s a bad thing…)

And I want Gambit. Gambit Gambit Gambit. This Iceman fool is no match for the mighty Cajun.

10

Okay, I just got back from seeing it, and you guys are talking about two things that I didn’t catch at all, Jubilee and the Sentinels. Where in the movie did it reference them?

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Can someone break down the story of Phoenix and how she came to pass? I keep thinking about the whole emcron crystal and the Shiar Empire but my friend keeps telling me that Jean already had the phoenix in her. What’s up?

12

Am I the only one who used to chose which x-men I would be if I were a mutant? I’m supposed to see it tonight, can’t wait.

13

No.

I’d be Mystique. Transforming is too cool.

Any votes for the best line in the movie?

I say it’s between, “You are a god among insects.” and “We love what you’ve done with your hair.”

14

Did this just open in the US? It opened here (in Sweden) today, and I went to the first showing, in my favourite theatre*.

I’m not an X-men fan. Never read any of the comics or watched a cartoon. But I’m a movie buff, so I’ll happily pay $10 to see anytjhing on a big screen. FWIW, as compared to the first, this was way better. I like it when good guys aren’t all good and bad guys aren’t all bad. If things are morally ambiguous, I get much more interested. And where the first movie, was all “These arethe good guys, and they need to fight the bad guys ho-hum, we’ve seen it before,” this one was much more interesting.

So Should I get the DVD for the bonus disk with five extra hours?

*One of the few surviving single theatres - seats about 850 people, largest screen in western Europe and 17.000 watt of DTS/THX bliss. Also, it has a true 70mm projector. Any movie will look cool there - including the Ya-Ya girls. The name of the place? Aptly “Royal” (in English).

15

I didn’t think Cyclops came off poorly, really. I liked his reaction in the Jet especially.

The opening scene was outrageously cool.

I was surprised in a good way at how violent it was. It was not really a kids’ movie like the last one.

The kid playing Iceman was good.

The kid playing Pyro was good, and perfect for the part. Not as slick and cool as all the X-types. More of a real person. His big theatrical bit with the cops was a little off, though.

Brian Cox was fantastic and Sir Ian, even though he didn’t dominate the film like he did in the first one, was great.

Everything about this movie was better than the first one. Plot, effects, action sequences, fights, everything.

I have some questions:

I didn’t spot Jubilee, which one was she?
Where were the sentinels referenced?
Who was the screaming girl?
Is the Stryker’s son deal from the comics or made up for the movie?
Who is the tongue-sticking-out kid? Just “a mutant”?

16

Well, these two I have the answers (I think). The screaming girl was Siryn, I believe. Daughter of Sean Cassidy, a.k.a Banshee.

I think Jason Stryker is Mesmero. I could be mistaken, here. But I recall him being called “Jason” by Mr. Sinister during the AoA.

BTW, saw it at the 12:01 show last night. Never done that before, but this time it just felt so right. :smiley:

17

OK, upon further research, I was wrong about Mesmero. I think he might’ve been based on Mastermind.

Well, heck. Their powers are nearly identical. Easy enough to get confused. :smack:

18

Just got back. Good movie. Definitely better than the first.

I too would like to know what the deal is with Strykers son. I don’t remember him from my comic book days.

And what’s with all these people hallucinating and thinking they saw Jubilee?

19

Just saw it and I really, really liked it. I’m one of those comic fans that thinks just the idea of some powers is really cool, and this thing puts just the right pictures with those ideas.

I loved, in both films, how every time Magneto uses his powers, he does it effortlessly. He doesn’t have to concentrate, he doesn’t need to think it through, it’s just a reflex. About as hard for him as walking down a flight of stairs is for me. (Of course, he should have been able to put the X-plane back together in a minute or so, rather than needing 5 hours of Jean Grey with a wrench.)

Nightcrawler was stupifyingly cool. I was worried that they would make the character Scottish to match Cumming’s accent, but he did a good German. I only wish that, when Rogue thanked him for saving her, he’d replied with his charateristic dash. Something like, “Saving damsels in distress is my specialty.”

Storm was a lot better in this movie. 'Nuff said.

I also liked the way Magneto and Mystique were working with the X-men. It’s classic comic-book shades of gray.

By the way, quite a thrill went through me when Grey’s shade turned out to be orange-red (and I’m not talking about her hair). Makes it obvious what the next movie’ll be about. I also expect a subplot about Robby Drake becoming a mutant (since they gave Bobby a mutant-hating little brother, that story’s also obvious).

I guess my biggest complaint, though, was that they watered down Rogue’s power so much. She sucked the juice out of both Iceman and Pyro for several seconds and neither one even fell down. Sorta takes away her big source of angst, which is such a big part of the character. Besides, it can be handy to render people unconscious while you’re using their powers against their teammates.

At the end, I expected Bobby to make a glacier out of Alkali Lake, in order to save the valley from the dam break. It would have given him the chance to go into his ice form. But I guess their ending was better, since it really set up X3. Damn, I hope they don’t take too long to get that one ready for the theaters. I seriously can’t wait.

20

When they found the kid’s in Stryker’s base, Storm says Jubilee’s name. They never say which one is her, but I think I saw a girl with half-Asian features. She was easy to pick out in the final scene with Professor X’s class. She was the one with the big hoop earrings.

IMDB has a credit for James Bamford as Remy LeBeau/Gambit. No idea where he was. http://us.imdb.com/Credits?0290334

Is there a comic precedent for the kid with the round glasses that can change channels with his eyes? He seems to be credited as Jones.