X2: X-Men United

This was such a great movie... but first, the previews. They ran a great preview for the next Matrix movie, showing the Twins and Zee and so many other new characters and a fight sequences with Neo vs. 100 Agent Smiths. Looks amazing on both a story level and the effects level. They also showed a preview for Sinbad which looked mediocre and one for The Hulk. I think Hulk looked ok, but maybe a little too Computer generated for its own good. I mean, in the days of quality animation like Final Fantasy and The Ani-Matrix episodes (like Flight of the Osiris, a 20 minute short showing before Dreamweaver) you can't skimp on the graphics, they have to look super realistic or the audience can't suspend disbelief.

Ok so on to the movie... I am going to try and keep this simple and not too revealing. For those of you who want to be completely surprised, don't read the next paragraph, certainly not the last couple of sentences. This movie was great as I said before. Great story, well acted, good script, with enough effects for audiences to feast on. The studios gave this movie double the budget of the first one, and you can really see where the extra money comes into play. Nightcrawler's teleporting alone is an amazing stunt and the choreography is incredible.

There are plenty of inside jokes that will only be relevant to comic-book geeks but luckily I took my roommate with me and he is totally into comics. Secrets to keep an eye out for: Try and find the following Xmen in the movie - Collosus, Siren, and Beast. They are there, although I am not sure if they get listed in the credits. Also, lots of litle nods to the original movie, like the fact that Wolverine steals Cyclops' motorcycle at the end of the last movie and at the beginning of the movie, he tosses hime the keys and says, "Your bike needs gas." I am cheesy and dig noticing little things like this. Also Rogue has a boyfriend, someone good goes bad and there is definitely going to be at least one more movie. Subject of which will be the closing shot of this one, but that is all I will say. Enjoy it, I sure did.

Seth