To Me, My X-Men.

I'm not sure how it'll play to people who didn't grow up on the comic, but last night's midnight showing of X2 was much better than I had anticipated. Offhand, I can think of three setpieces (Nightcrawler at the White House, the assault on the mansion, and Magneto's escape) that were the closest thing to fanboy pr0n I've seen in ages (LOTR notwithstanding), and that's not counting all the great little flourishes and knowing winks throughout. In fact, to a person, everyone returning from X-Men (which I was lukewarm about) seemed more comfortable this time around -- even Halle Berry, although she's still miscast. And both Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler) and Brian Cox (Striker, the bad guy) fit in nicely. Sure, the film drags a bit in the last twenty-five minutes or so (as they set up X3), but overall Singer & co. hit this one out of the park...a very auspicious way to kick off the summer of Hulk and the Matrices. (Of course, the crowd helped too - when in the first five minutes Wolvie is backpacking in Canada, and the guy at the end of the row said something like, "Why doesn't he call in Sasquatch or Puck for back-up?," I knew I was with my people.)