The Reel Rejects - X2: X-MEN UNITED (2003) MOVIE REVIEW!! FIRST TIME WATCHING!!

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Starting point is 00:01:03 And that app is Rocket Money. More on them after the reaction people. Really quickly before I go to Tara, guys, full transparency. I have seen just about all these films. So being fully transparent because we get accused in the comment section of having seen these movies. I have not. I haven't seen any of them. So I'm stoked. I love the first one.

Starting point is 00:01:23 I said after that movie was done, I was like, I think I'm an X-Men girl now. Like, I completely get it. Yeah, and off camera, she couldn't stop raving about it, too. After we had an awesome discussion, too, on camera, we then had another one off camera. We're like, damn, we should have kept the camera rolling. We're going to get started here. X2, X-Men United, comments.

Starting point is 00:01:45 Ooh. Oh, my God. And if I'm wrong, cut me up. That has to be. To be continued. Oh, my God. That's what I'll say. I can't believe it.

Starting point is 00:02:01 Oh, the composer was also the editor? Really? Wow, it said John Ottman film editor. Oh, weird. Huh. Boy, you don't usually see that very often. Yeah, that's wild. Anyways, if you are listening to us on Apple or Spotify,

Starting point is 00:02:16 get out those Wolverine Claws and Claw away at those five-star ratings. Yeah, baby. Because that was her first time seeing X2XMen United. Also, reject nation shop.com. We got so much cool merch on there, especially Sheijack Nation gear on there. Look at this. This is amazing, right? Is it so cool, you guys?

Starting point is 00:02:36 I'm going to get my gray one in the mail very, very soon, and we got a little cult of Sheejects here. It's our Sheejack baby. We would love it if you guys would get it. And if you share the pictures with us, we are reposting them, me and Roxy, and the real rejects. Yes. Tara, what do you think of X2 X-X-Men United? I loved it. I thought it was just as exciting as the first one.

Starting point is 00:03:01 It was weird to me that, what's his name, Cyclops, Marsden wasn't in as much of it. I was thinking that, but I was thinking that because they were building up more of a romantic relationship between Gene and Wolverine, that maybe, I don't know, they just needed more screen time with them, but that wasn't the case. I loved the underlying message of Succession Guy. What is his name? Brian Cox. That Brian Cox's character is like, you can do so much when you're driven by spite. The fact that he was a child student and they're like, we couldn't do anything with him. He had to go away from the school.

Starting point is 00:03:39 It's sort of like a spite can do so many things. I have felt that way where I'm like, spite me up, baby. I'm really productive. So you can see why Brian Cox reached the point to where he was at and became so evil. He was just driven by that. and I like that story. I like the foundation of that story because it made a lot of sense to me

Starting point is 00:04:00 why he would be so driven to do what he was doing. And I'm glad they took care of it and I especially love the ending that I believe Gene sacrificed herself but she didn't die. She's in the water. I don't know what she becomes.

Starting point is 00:04:18 But I mean, that's what I think happened. I don't know, but this is what I'm feeling in my heart and I love that storyline. Yeah, well, I'm very happy you enjoy it because this is actually one of my favorite X-Men films. Really? Yeah, I love this film so much. I remember seeing it back in 2003 and obviously being so excited because I loved the first one so

Starting point is 00:04:38 much and I'm like, damn, that was a great sequel. I echo a lot of everything you just said. Really quickly, I just want to get the one little tiny negative out there because it's such a great film. I really do feel like Cyclops was done dirty in this film. He is one of the main leaders of the X-Men group. Yeah, he's not really in it. I think he was in maybe 10 to 12, maybe 15 minutes at the most of screen time in the movie.

Starting point is 00:05:03 And I get it. There's a lot of moving parts in this film, which I'm going to get to in a second. And, you know, a lot's going on. The team is really divided throughout the film, which I thought they did a great job of how they kept on segueging through different storylines and through the different factions of groups. They did a great job of that. But Cyclops really was done dirty in this film. If I was going to point to a negative, I would go to that.

Starting point is 00:05:26 Now that we've got the negative, or I was going to say negatives, but the negative out of the way for me personally. I love this movie. Like I said, it's one of my favorite X-Men films. It's everything a good sequel should be. It does a lot of what worked in the first film while still being its own thing and doing a lot of ambitious, different things that elevates, you know, the genre and doing, again, new things that, you know, just the stakes are. risen just a lot higher uh the visual effects are up the action is great uh there's a lot of emotional characters uh as well and the story development and the character development just goes to another level i love the backstory that we get into with wolverine especially learning about him getting the

Starting point is 00:06:10 adamantium with uh william striker i think he made a great point about william striker like the spite and vengeance said he gets because his son jason was at the school uh with um charles Xavier and he tried he wanted him I guess he I mean he wanted him cured or wanted him in his version of like in his mind cured and you know Charles couldn't do that for him not at least not in his mind how he wanted yeah couldn't help him in how he wanted him to right and so like now he's got a hatred for all mutants and again his motivation was incredible and again I love like he's literally him and Magneto and Eric Lentcher they're very much the exact same person just one's a mutant one's not and obviously Eric has a traumatic past you know being in the holocaust and his

Starting point is 00:06:56 hatred for humans and obviously now we see with uh Brian Cox's character with William Stryker you know with what I'll be it a less painful one that he had to deal with but more now with his son actually like more the mental trauma pain is pain yeah pain is still pain but like again they're very similar characters in that sense and I thought that was a very again ambitious and interesting way to go with a with a villain if you will um but again you don't agree with what i always say the best villains are the ones you don't agree with but you understand their motivations and i thought that was again very uh in intriguing storytelling at least from the villain's point of view they've done that every time because they did it with magneto when i was like oh i understand

Starting point is 00:07:37 his pain and going through what he went through yeah exact same thing yeah and again you don't agree with what he's doing i mean again his plan and the plan in the first film was to turn everyone into mutants and he didn't know that they were going to die because he didn't see that the senator Kelly had like evaporated into water or whatever right he just thought everyone was going to turn into mutants so it's like well how can this world fear us and hate us if they are all are mutants so isn't it you know again I I understood what he was trying to do right he was trying to go the more diplomatic and less violent way and then it's like okay that plan didn't work now now I'm going to take the more violent way especially after what striker just tried to do with us right and again I like

Starting point is 00:08:15 that they reversed it back to that now after what striker had just done this way. So it's understandable again with Magneto trying to do this. Having said that incredible action sequences, again, I love that we got more into Gene Gray also. We got to get to know more of her character and just how powerful she is. Obviously, you know, from the very beginning we started, she said she's, you know, starting to hear voices all over like and we know she's a telepath but just like you could see her her powers were just really evolving there and obviously we got the introduction of cut wagner the night krala i thought allan coming did an incredible job in this film i really uh i love that this character is like he's a very again diplomatic type of character he relies on faith he doesn't like to be violent

Starting point is 00:09:05 um kind of like charles xavier and you will i mean i know charles is not very a i don't know if you would say faithful person, but he's a very diplomatic. He kind of operates up. Yeah, yeah, but he doesn't like to use violence unless absolutely necessary, more like self-defense type of thing, you know? So I like that, you know, Nightcrawler was in a sense that way as well. So I really. And that makes sense, sorry to interrupt you, that like everyone on that team is kind of,

Starting point is 00:09:29 they don't necessarily use their powers unless they absolutely have to. And we saw that that's kind of where Cannonball, I don't Cannonball, but Tyro belongs because he, he was, going to use it regardless, which is why him going to the opposite side made more sense. I guess if you're a Karate Kid fan or a Kobri-Kai fan, the best way you could say it is Magneto's side is Kobri-Ki and, you know, Charles Xavier's side is Miyagi-Doh. You know, they use it for self-defense only while Magneto's side strike first, no mercy. So I guess that's the best way to put it if we're going off

Starting point is 00:10:06 Cobra Kai and Karate Kid rules but yeah no that's a that I agree with you like Pyro you could see like he's a complete loose cannon

Starting point is 00:10:15 the entire time he does not belong on that squad I mean I mean you he was right and also too there's that scene

Starting point is 00:10:21 that they set up with us with Magneto where he said you're a god among insects and like he was just really relating to him and all that so

Starting point is 00:10:28 and I love that scene too I think I agree with you though one of the best scenes was in the end there with the president I was really It was a really emotional character-building moment just for not only the mutants, but for the humans, like, look, this is a, we don't want this to be a war. We want to unite and try and work together to some resolve and some peace here.

Starting point is 00:10:48 Like, let's make this world a better place, you know, together. Right. And I thought that was a beautiful message in there. Like, you know, let's not discriminate. Let's not, you know, fight amongst ourselves. Right. You know, we're not all bad. Like, just because there's a few bad apples, which is just in any part of the world.

Starting point is 00:11:05 course doesn't mean we have to be at war. And I think there's a, you know, there's a beautiful underlying message in there. Reject Nation, as a business owner, I'm actually terrible at tracking finances, believe it or not. It's something I work on a lot because I can be forgetful. I can have terrible oversight when it comes to tracking things. I'm sure you can understand the immense hatred that comes with the feeling of forgetting to pay for something or the feeling of consistently paying for something you forget to cancel or something that you just simply haven't thought about in a while, so you keep paying for it, which is the same thing as what I just said. Anyway, that's why I started using Rocket Money about a year and a half ago, and that's

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Starting point is 00:12:55 Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to rocketmoney.com slash rejects. Once again, that's rocket money.com slash rejects. Help up your game and being financially responsible and reap the dang benefits, people. I got some trivia pulled up. Before we get into the trivia, which I want to hear all of that. Yeah. What did you think about some of the action sequences, the cinematography, the music by John Ottman, did you like that X-Men theme that we got?

Starting point is 00:13:19 Because I know we both like the composing from Michael Kamen in the first film. True. In this one, though, I thought there was more emotional aspects. I felt it really with the strings when we first got into Cerebro for the first time in this film. the music like took me away on an adventure and I love that. The special effects specifically, I like that they're still using a mixture of practical and it's not like a ton of CGI that I can see.

Starting point is 00:13:45 The type that I do see is really great special effects, especially when Mystique changes into the other people. It's very seamless but also the fact when she's on the ground and Cerebro is being affected and she's switching over, we see her switch over to like 10 multiple people within a few seconds. I thought that special affected a lot of, just a lot.

Starting point is 00:14:11 But I also never felt like any of their effects, even with the ice, like the ice wall was really cool when they shot it down. It looked very practical, which I really, really liked. And I don't, I can't even, I mean, of course with the side,

Starting point is 00:14:29 The bullet was very good. Yeah, when he got shot and he put that out, that's awesome. I always love everything that I see from Magneto in regards to, like, when he makes the sphere and he walks over it. And, of course, I just am like, you guys should have learned your lesson. Like, why are we not thinking to not use these metal weapon? Even I called it, and I never watched X-Men in the first film. I was like, your guys' guns are not going to work with this guy. Like, what are we doing here?

Starting point is 00:14:56 because he controls like all things metal. I really like that too. So I think everything shot in this movie looks really well in conjunction with the music. But I think what this movie does the best of is the casting. And I think I said that in the first film is that everyone cast in this

Starting point is 00:15:16 is someone very believable. There's not an actor that I don't think shines within the role that they're playing, which is good. Because I think if you have one person who's kind of not doing the best or we don't really believe it

Starting point is 00:15:31 it kind of doesn't work and so I think everyone did a really great job in this but you know what my least probably favorite and I think he still did a great job was pyro so I was kind of glad that he went to the bad team because it wasn't really

Starting point is 00:15:47 I was like this is a really cool thing when he's like hey man if you're looking for bad mutants I'm the worst of them all and he goes throws the fire fireballs everywhere, right? And I'm like, that's dangerous, y'all. But I'm kind of glad because I didn't get very attached to him that he went to the other team. For sure. I totally feel you there. I mean, again, there's so much happening. So I wouldn't say this was a criticism, but I would just say like he was a little bit underdeveloped. But again, there's so many moving parts. There's so many characters like freaking Cyclops was barely in the damn movie. So it's understandable that they couldn't get like deep into his character. So I agree with you, though. I will say too, I think this film is extremely well paid. for a two hour and 12 or 10, whatever it was. Doesn't really feel like it.

Starting point is 00:16:30 Oh, I've never felt the running time. Also, too, one last thing I did want to say before we get into the trivia, I really like that they really started developing because I really felt that emotional connection and the chemistry between Rogue and Iceman, Bobby. I really like that relationship because, you know, you really feel Rogue's pain, especially in the first movie.

Starting point is 00:16:47 Like, yeah, she did have a, you know, that older brother, younger sister type of relationship with Logan and there's that family dynamic, but she felt still so alone because she can't touch, physically touch anybody. It's so hard. It's mentally debilitated when you can't physically touch anyone. And now there's this guy who, like, knows he still can't physically touch you, but he still wants to be with you. But in a way, she can't.

Starting point is 00:17:11 She has a slight. For a second or so. But I still think there's, again, we talk about these underlying beautiful messages that this film is delivering upon. And I think there's something beautiful in there. Like, even if I can't touch you, I still want to be with you. And I think that's another beautiful message in there. And I did love their chemistry together, their interactions. It was nice to see them, like, to be able to do it.

Starting point is 00:17:33 You were right about the Mime thing that they hired them to not move, which is great. I did remember that. During filming, Hugh Jackman's sister visited the set. As a joke, she made up in Jackman's full Wolverine costume and makeup and walked around the set. Apparently, she was very convincing as Jackman. Brian Singer was not aware that it was not. Jackman in the Wolverine costume and commented of her work during shooting that Hugh is acting very strangely today.

Starting point is 00:18:03 He couldn't tell that it was Hugh or the sister? Yes, he couldn't. Maybe they have the same body to idol. Who knows? I was going to say like a humongously built man. Yeah. Professor Xavier's wheelchair from X-Men 2000 was bought by a lawyer who also worked for the same law firm as Sir Patrick Stewart's attorney.

Starting point is 00:18:22 When production began, the studio realized they had no chair anymore, so the lawyer rented it back to the studio. As Stewart said in an interview for a significant sum. I love that, as though those lawyers need extra money. But smart, freaking move, that's amazing. That's awesome. Unlike the first movie where Rebecca Romaine wore contact lenses, this time, Mystique's eyes are rendered digitally. That's smart because, again, you're already, she's already going to. through so many hours of makeup

Starting point is 00:18:54 with the prosthetics all around her body. Like, that's torture for her with the context. So I'm glad that they gave her that break because it's already a difficult process as it is. So I think that was nice of them to do. I agree. So it says, this is a spoiler one. It says, on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno,

Starting point is 00:19:11 Hugh Jackman related a story about something that happened during the filming of the Weapon X flashback scene while he was filming the corridor run in which he's nude and backlit. I did, I was like, are we going to see his, nope. Okay, he turned the corner and saw the female cast members and also James Marsden's mother

Starting point is 00:19:32 waiting for him hooting and hollering and waving dollar bills. Oh, God. I think that's hilarious. It's weird, but it's also very funny. They're like, Hugh, we can see your epidermis. I'll read one more. Although this idea did not carry into the movies in the comics, Nightcrawler was the son of Mystique and Azazel, a member of the Hellfire Club, who's introduced in X-Men First Class.

Starting point is 00:20:00 He gained his mother's blue skin and his father's slightly demeanoric appearance and teleportation abilities. That's right. Well, luckily, we're not going to watch First Class for a while, and Tara's probably going to forget that info. So it's so good. I will. I just want to say one last thing, that the ice wall separating them was a real ice wall. figure. And it weighed 3,500 pounds. Jeez, 3,500, that I wouldn't guess. That's incredible. That is what I'm talking about, a practical effects. But that takes a lot of work from the team. And also, too, I think we saw some of the

Starting point is 00:20:34 cameos. We saw one, which I will not spoil who it is. Obviously, you guys know who it is, but I will not spoil for Tara until we see the next film. We saw Hank McCoy in the news. I did notice that. And also, too, I'm pretty sure, and again, you guys let me know if I'm wrong. They're in the classroom. One, the student on the far end, really the closest to Professor Xavier. I'm pretty sure that was Jubilee. And then I believe the character that was going through the bed when the the mercenaries from Stryker was about to shoot. I'm pretty sure that was Kitty Pride. But again, if I'm wrong, you guys let us know. And Tara, any final thoughts before we end this video? And any final thoughts just going into the next X-Men. I love it. And I'm very

Starting point is 00:21:14 excited to keep watching because these first two have set me up that they're making good films. So I'm happy. As long as it continues on this path, bingo. Yes, yes. All right. Well, that was X-2, X-Men United. Let us know in the comments. What did you guys think of this film? Are you enjoying the journey thus far that we're getting ready for Deadpool and Wolverine? Obviously, next is going to be X-Men, the last stand. The film that came out in 2006, it's the next one we will be reacting to and reviewing. So if you don't want to miss it, make sure you subscribe and Bring the bell Ring the bell!

Starting point is 00:21:53 And we shall see you guys on the next one. Love y'all. Peace.

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The Reel Rejects - X2: X-MEN UNITED (2003) MOVIE REVIEW!! FIRST TIME WATCHING!!

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