X2: X-Men United -- 2003 -- PG-13

So we've gt ourselves a sequel to X-Men that does what sequels like to do. The first one establishes everything and gives us an adventure and a base. The sequel attacks the base. We get what is basically a new villain, though he turns out to be a villain for some time. We get some more Wolverine backstory and aslewof character with just enough characterization to let us know who they are and tell them apart. Then, with as many charactersas this film has, to fully characterize them would create a movie of epic proportions.

One thing about these films that has always intrigued me is the emphsis on the popular opinion about mutants. Racism anyone? Except this one is sanctioned and right. It even goes so far to have a family turn on their own, and one conversation of "I'm a mutant" sounded like one where he might have said "I'm gay."

We do get some stuff that's just weird though. A headpiece was put on Xavier at one point and in the film, it just disappears. Turns out a deleted scene shows it being removed. There's also a curious lack of blood when Wolverine starts hacking people. And is he really that indestructable? Maybe that's how he is in the comic books, but it seemed almost over the top.

My biggest beef was essentially a cheap shot near the end. When everyone gets on the plane, it conveniently has problems. One character opts to sacrifice themself, but upon leaving, enables the plane to take off. I'm thinking, why didn't this person do this before? It didn't make sense. According to everything that happened, there was no reason for this to occur. It served for very little dramatic impact, since the characters were not painted fully enough for a death to actually hurt. I found it pointless and a very bad way to close the film, since (while unexpected), it almost cheapened the experience.

Beyond this, it was a well-constructed film. Everything was setup and while a knowledge of the first film is useful in understanding the second, it isn't 100% required. So a good job was done here and it is worth watching. not perfect, but what is?

X-Men: The Last Stand -- 2006 -- PG-13

In any film, there should be significant change among the characters or situations. This is a trap a lot of franchise films run into is that they're afraid to mix up the status quo. This film is not one of those status quo films. Not only do things get mixed up, but it's done dramatically and visually.

This time, a "cure" for the mutant X-gene is discovered and this cure is being distributed among the mutant popultion, if they want it. The source, ironically, is a mutant whose power is to actually strip the power of any mutant in his immediate vicinity, making that person temporarily "normal." Well, this whole cure thing causes waves among the mutant populace where some are ok with it, some will let others have it if they want, and others unite against the very idea, knowing that the government will use this cure against them at some point.

Add to this a character who is considered a Class 5 mutant, which is apparently the best of the best. This character had supposedly died in the recent past, but it is quickly discovered they survived the ordeal that should have killed them. But with this survival comes the arrival of powers that were believed to be dormant, and with these powers, terrible things are possible, and terrible things happen. This temporary sidetrack from the main story seemed extraneous for awhile, but it finally folded into the main storyline becoming a fairly interesting piece of it, while not fully integrating until the end...and what an ending. Couldn't have worked out any other way.

The biggest piece of these X-Men films is the special effects. This one maxes out the effects to some things we haven't seen in previous films. People disintegrate. A house is ripped from its foundations and floats in the air. The final battle at the research facility at the end is nothing short of wow with all kinds of stuff going everywhere. We also have more mutants than we've seen before, and each one of them has something unique, also achieved through effects.

One weakness in here is actually the variety of mutants. I don't know if this has struck anyone before, but if this X-gene is a human mutation, why is it that no two people share the same power? Wouldn't it stand to reason that eventually, more than one person could manipulate metal, control the weather, create fire or ice, or be super-psychic? Some of the mutations were just a little ridiculous, case in point being the guy whose body manufactures...um...cones? Horns? I don't know what they were, but his body was spitting them out. I get a lot of the powers and could accept them as some kind of mutation, but what purpose is this whole horn thing in the food chain? It was silly.

The character development in this installment remained as strong as the prior films for the primary characters. Some of the secondary ones got some moments, but only enough so we could ID them the next time we saw them or get some of their relationships with the other characters. It didn't really hurt my overall enjoyment of the film, which played out perfectly.

I think being a third film in a franchise, there's potential to lose focus and create a piece of schlock trash, but instead, we maintain the strengths the series has been building on through the first two films and end in such a way that it could end well where it is, or they could continue it onward without any problems at all. Change is good, but in a movie, it's essential, and we got loads of it here without a lot of gratuitous FX. Very well done.