X2 review

I just saw X2 with the wife and brother-in-law. Pretty fucking sweet. Wolverine goes psycho. People not normally working together work together. Nightcrawler bamfs around like it's noone's business. And all-in-all it's a strong movie than the first.

A few complaints:

• Certain actors didn't carry over from the last film. Both Pyro and Kitty Pryde were different than in the first movie and this hurts continuity for buffs like me. Bobby was the same and, sure, the characters were basically cameos in the first film, but it still hurts.
  
• Some powers weren't very well fleshed out. This left my wife and brother-in-law asking questions to explain some of the powers. This wasn't at all true in the first film. True, there were a lot more powers to cover but I still think they could have done a better job. Perhaps some of the scenes that did help explain them are on the cutting room floor.
  
• Cerebro sucked. Cerebro was so cool in the first film. It seemed to suck in this one. Maybe it's just me or the way it was explained but I didn't like it.
  
• Not enough Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) or Colossus. This is explained rather well but I still really like those characters and want to see more of them. Dammit. Maybe the actors weren't strong enough for lead roles. Maybe they thought it would complicate the plot. Either way, I got a taste and it wasn't enough for me.
  
• Some poor plot devices. One at the end which is plot necessary isn't explained at all from what I can tell.
  
• Dumb gadgets. Like "Cyclops' motorcycle" in the first film, there were some dumb-ass gadgets. In this one it's Cyclops' car. Dumb. This is the X-Men, not Inspector Gadget or James Bond. They already have The Blackbird, the cool jet that's in the comics, and Cerebro and the whole X-Mansion. They don't need cars and motorcycles and boats and hovercraft and space shuttles and on and on. This isn't Batman...
  

Enough of that shit. Here's some of the stuff I loved:

• bamf Kurt Wagner rocks! Nightcrawler was my favorite X-Man until the Claremont/Miller Wolverine series converted me to el skint. He was so very cool. Well acted and well developed. And the teleport effect was one of the coolest I've seen, better even than my wildest expectations. The introductory scene with Nightcrawler was cooler than Dante's vision of the ninth ring.
  
• skint Wolvie goes all out and it rocks hard. I missed the berzerker animal Logan from the comics in the first film but he raises his head here. He's a perfectly realised character and I love it.
  
• Great story. It felt right and made sense (for the most part, except for the occasional dumb plot device). It felt like an X-Men graphic novel, as it should.
  
• Good continuity. X-fans are continuity hounds and, apart from some actor inconsistencies, the continuity between this film and the first worked.
  
• Perfect setup for a sequel. Let's hope for an X3.
  

That being said, this is a better film than the first. Now since I gave the first four stars it guess I'll have to give this one *****.
'nuff said.
Bub