And speaking of the X-Men...

[annathepiper]

Went and saw the new X-Men flick with mamishka yesterday afternoon. Under no circumstances should you read farther than the cut tag if you haven't seen X2 yet!

Two DEFINITE thumbs up. Way way up. Lots of random things I liked about this movie include:

1. Ian McKellan once more kicks serious ass as Magneto. Not once did I think "Gandalf", and in fact, there are a couple of sequences involving him where I was going "YES!" and just waiting for some hapless guards to get mowed under. He also got in a beautiful little twist of treachery at the end of the movie, just to remind you that why no, he's NOT on the same side as Professor X and the X-Men.
   
   
2. Storm! STORM STORM STORM! Storm got to do more in this movie, and this pleased me greatly just because she's always been my favorite of the X-Men. I love her overall appearance, I love her powers, and I loved when the team was trying to elude the fighter jets overtaking them and Wolverine demanded, "Aren't there any weapons on this heap?" And nobody answered him, but Storm's eyes went glowy and funnel clouds began to appear out of nowhere. Muahahahaha.
   
   
3. Kitty Pryde's activity during the sequence when the school is being overrun by Striker's troops, especially when she just went *fwip* downward through the bed. AND the clever little reference to her at the end. ;)
   
   
4. Colossus' brief appearances--too brief! Should have seen more of him!
   
   
5. Rogue and Iceman together. Even if they have totally rearranged Rogue's history for the movies, I'm okay with that!
   
   
6. Not a bad little adaptation of Nightcrawler, either! Good German accent. GREAT teleportation effects with the swirling wisps of smoke. The symbols all over him were a new touch but not bad either. And I definitely liked that he was religious without being terribly overbearing about it--and that he and Storm had some initial connecting there and she got him to teleport into Cerebro II on the strength of his faith. Nice touch. :)
   
   
7. Pyro was very interesting in his reactions to the pictures of Bobby's family... in his attack on the cops... and his interactions with Magneto. I liked how we didn't actually see any DIALOGUE in him going off with Magneto and Mystique... wasn't really necessary. Well done!
   
   
8. The bullet just popping back out of Wolverine's forehead, the hole closing up, and Wolverine's eyes popping open again. And the LOOK he gave the last standing cop as they made their getaway, and how the guy just sort of kept anxiously watching him and didn't even bother to try to shoot. ;)
   
   
9. Mystique's activity all throughout the movie. I liked her answer to Nightcrawler when he asked her why she didn't look like everybody else if she had the ability to do so: "Because I shouldn't have to." And she's absolutely right! I also really liked the sequence where she seduced the guard in the bar, since #1 she looked really hot in that blonde chick shape ;), and #2, I didn't realize what she'd shot him up with until the hapless schmoo next showed up in Magneto's cell. DAMN that was clever. VERY well done.
   
   
10. Suitably creepy references to Wolverine's past and what Striker's done to him. Though Wolverine's history from the comics seems to have been messed with a little as well, since--and I know this now that I've actually gone up to marvel.com and read up on his official canon history, so I had this re-confirmed in my memory--it was originally the Canadian government that had done all that experimentation on him.
    
    
11. Deathstrike was cool, though I was sad that she actually got killed off--especially since it was shown that she was actually under Striker's control. I was almost certain we were going to see her shake off the effects of the potion and help the X-Men finish tearing the place apart. On the other hand, the way she died... suitably grim!
    
    
12. Suitably creepy little manipulation of Professor X there, courtesy of poor Jason. I felt sorry for the poor schmoo, pretty much destroyed by his own father. Especially with his last line there about "He's going to be so angry with me!"
    
    
13. And, most importantly, all the little glowy-eyed bits with Jean all throughout the movie right up to her big exit at the end. I kept chanting to myself "PHOE-NIX! PHOE-NIX!" She is SO going Phoenix. I CANNOT WAIT.
    

About the only thing I don't think I liked much offhand was that I think Scott's shaking off Striker's control was too easy. He was attacking Jean, then she got hurt, and then suddenly he was okay again? Little weak on the action there. Especially since I don't think we saw him shake it off on camera.

On the whole though--definite fun all around and I'm going to see this one again real soon, so that I can actually see it with solarbird and spazzkat too!