Coming Out

(Please note: plot points discussed in close detail)

Bryan Singer's "X Men 2" is better than the first, I suppose; more
twists, more characterization and action and all. Still heavy on
the dialogue though--I can't see this complicated universe being
explained away so easily without a lot of dialogue.

Ian McKellen owns the movie. When he's onscreen everyone acts with
purpose and intelligence; when he leaves the picture the mutants
founder around like so many chickens with their heads cut off. Famke
Janssen's sacrifice doesn't seem to make sense; so what's the
difference if she turned the plane on and stopped the tidal aboard
the plane? Was she trying to kill herself, because she had to
choose between a real man and a putz (Marsden's character is badly
underwritten)?

Stewart is underused. Kelly Hu is underused. Halle Berry is
overused--the logical choice to send in after Stewart in that second
computer room or whatever that was (okay, Cerebro) was Janssen, not
Berry; as is, she took forever bringing the room's temperature down
when Janssen could have just done her telepathic fu. But Berry's an
Oscar winner and Bond girl, and probably insisted on a Big Scene.

The gay subtext (that mutants, like homosexuals, suffer societal
oppression) is nicely underplayed, I thought. Singer does much
better here, I think, mainly because it's full of twists; I would
guess he loves twists (see "The Usual Suspects"), and presents them
with some clarity and snap. But he doesn't create a genuinely
unique world, the way Tim Burton or Robert Altman did in "Batman
Returns" or "Popeye" respectively. The movie's okay, not great.