The Steves kick off a month of their favorite sequels with X2: X-Men United, along with what's making them happy in pop culture today!
What's Making Us Happy?
Movie Discussion
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
The Steves kick off a month of their favorite sequels with X2: X-Men United, along with what's making them happy in pop culture today!
What's Making Us Happy?
Movie Discussion
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
Hello, returning happys and new listeners. This is Steve Bennet-Martin,
Stephen:and this is Steven Martin Bennett. And welcome to a
Steve:lifetime of happiness podcast, where we take you on our journey through some of the movies shows and other bits of pop culture that are helping to keep us happy. Will hopefully bring a smile to your face along the way.
Stephen:And today we're celebrating sequel September by covering some sequels that we love and how they might even be better than the originals starting with X two X menu United. The first, my darling, what's been making you happy
Steve:a cult. I joined
Stephen:you joined a car. I joined a cult. I didn't even start a cult. Whose cult did you
Steve:join? I joined the cult of the lamb. Have you heard of it? I,
Stephen:I don't think I have, please
Steve:tell me about this. It's a new Nintendo switch game that recently came out and it. Was like number one on the charts. And I hadn't heard of it previously when those like surprise games that like come out unexpectedly or you discover, it's always exciting. Yeah. And it's kind of like mixing Hades with animal crossing. Oh,
Stephen:my that's definitely an interesting mix. Yes.
Steve:Especially with the animal crossing, like you're making a cult of the little animals and you can do things like sacrifice them to demon gods or, oh my make them eat poop. Oh, that's worse.
Stephen:I know. It's I, I, that's funny that I think the make the meet poop is worse than sacrificing
Steve:them. Yeah. But it is funny cuz like when the C quests was like, make a meet poop and then like the next day he is like, make a meet poop again. It was funny and they were like, now we're gonna pull the ultimate prank. Sacrifice him to the devil. Oh my
Stephen:so, and so this was rated G yeah.
Steve:G yeah. Mm-hmm so if you would enjoy it, it's a great game to play with your kids. Check it out now and then Nintendo switch E shop. And I think it's on steam and all the consoles and everything as well. Excellent. What about you
Stephen:darling? So I have still been playing Xena blade Chronicles three. We are quickly approaching 100 hours of game time since it came out in July. And I think it was July. Yes. And it's an amazing game. It's just one of you think you have it figured out it totally changes itself entirely and it's deep. It's emotional. It's fun. It's exciting. It's what you would expect from one of the Xena blade games. I do love that, you know, you don't have to have played one or two to play three, but there are fun little Easter eggs in three that are like, Hey, you remembered this from the first two games. So it's nice that new fans can enjoy them. While old fans can get a little more appreciation.
Steve:Yeah, for sure. I mean, I've been enjoying it as well. Just being 120 hour game on average, when I hit the 60 hour mark, I was like, I'm gonna take a little break, but I definitely plan on going back to it because it is impressive. Yes.
Stephen:Now previously on Xmen
Steve:check out our episode, we did a whole episode all about the first Xmen movies. So you can go back over to that episode and check it out. And,
Stephen:and it's been 22 years. You should have seen it by now. Yes,
Steve:but basically previously what happened was the Xmen formed? Yes.
Stephen:Magni tried to in use a machine to give normal humans, the X gene. He ended up getting arrested and locked away. Wolverine left to go discover things about him. and there you go. Well, that's more than I was
Steve:gonna give them. So thank you from our listeners. Now, IMDB summarizes this movie as when anti mutant, Colonel William striker, kidnapped professor X in attacks his school, the Xmen must ally with their arch enemy magni to stop him. That's actually pretty good. Especially since the one on Disney plus was like Knight crawler joins mag Nito to fight bad
Stephen:guys. Yeah. And I'm like, no. And they spelled Knight crawler as
Steve:two words. Yeah. And we know it's one, obviously. Yes. Now this like the original was directed by Brian singer and this one was written by William Doherty, Dan Harris and David hater.
Stephen:Yep. Zach pin and David hater wrote separate scripts. And then they combined the best elements of both into one screenplay with Michael dirty and Harris. They were hired to rewrite and make it cohesive as well as changing characterizations of beast angel and lady death strike poor beast and angel. We're just written out.
Steve:I was gonna say that's a slight character change when you're just not in the movie. Yeah, if
Stephen:it's funny, if you look on IMDB in the quote section mm-hmm, there's a whole conversation between beast and striker.
Steve:Yeah. what could have been now. It was inspired by the comic book runs return to weapon X and God love, man. God loves man kills. Yes. I'm familiar with both of them, but why don't you kind of see or share where you see the similarities and what the comics might have been worth checking out
Stephen:before? So return to weapon X was all about Wolverine figuring
Steve:out his past. So if you you're a Wolverine fan, check that out.
Stephen:Now God loves fan kills was actually more kind of Colossus centric. And it was about a minister who was stoking anti mutant hate and wanting to. Kill off the mutants and things. So what they did was they took striker weapon, X, pushed them together and created a story where the villain from both can be the same.
Steve:Yeah. And once again, sentinels and the danger room were set to occur, but we're cut due to budgetary concerns. And it features in an ensemble cast, including many returning faces like Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian MacLean hall, Berry FKA, Janssen, James Marsden, Rebecca Roma, Stamos Brian Cox and Alan Cummings, Bruce Davison, Sean Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Kelly, who? And Anna Paquin. Woo. Yes. Who are you most happy to see return
Stephen:always FKA. Janssen. I'll be happy with any X movie. If I get my gene gray. Yes. I
Steve:agree. I also liked having more Bobby in this movie. Like I remembered him being a bigger part of the first one. Yeah. And he wasn't. No, but it's because of everything that happened with him in the second one. Yes. And I, I always like liked him. He was a good kind of point of entry character
Stephen:for me. So, and it's always interesting whenever they take Anna pack one's rogue as more from the Xmen evolution, cartoon. Yeah. Where she just has the power absorption ability and not the invulnerability and flight and super strength. And it makes her less of a visually interesting character and the one that we know and love. But it does bring up a little more interaction between she and, you know, male characters and touching and things like that. So I can see where that's all really interesting, but. I do hope at some point in one of the X-Men movies we get Southern bell powerhouse, rogue, maybe
Steve:that's what we'll get from the MCU. Just better watch out Carol dams
Stephen:fingers crossed. Yes. You know, it, people that are introduced Brian Cox is an amazing actor prior to this and post this he's. So it was kind of a big get to get somebody like him. Now of course, he's the star of the swearing show. Yes. Succession. And he's just, Fox did a very good job casting this movie and it, this is my favorite out of the original
Steve:run. Yeah. And I also was very excited to see NY crawler be introduced. Mm-hmm I think they did a really good job with him. Now funny story with NY crawler, Neil, Patrick Harris auditioned for the role of night crawler, but lost out to Alan Cumming because he speaks fluent German. I'm okay with
Stephen:that. And I think it is definitely better. And funny thing, Alan Cumming had already used his German skills when a he played the MC and cabaret on
Steve:Broadway. Well, there we go. Yeah. Now the movie starts off once again, with an exposition from Charles Xavier
Stephen:mutants, since the discovery of their existence, they have been regarded with fear suspicion, often hatred across the planet. Debate rages are mutants. The next link in the evolutionary chain, or simply a new species of humanity fighting for their share of the world. Either way. It is a historical fact sharing. The world has never been human's defining attribute.
Steve:yes. Now can humans and mutants share the world? No,
Stephen:absolutely not. Like we have hard enough problems sharing the world with other humans right now. True.
Steve:How would you feel if mutants were real? Would you be prom mutant, or would you like realize what that could actually mean applied to life and how it affects you? And
Stephen:I would hope that just like I'm pro everything else. Yeah. That I would also be pro mutant and fingers crossed that I was one. Yes fingers crossed, but no, we couldn't coexist. It just wouldn't happen. I mean, we have, we're, it's impossible for us to coexist with people of other religions and races. There's no way that we would coexist with another intelligent species on the planet. Well, then we'll
Steve:just move over to OA and we'll eat, become vegan, cuz we'll eat everything. Plant fate based. Yes. Even plant-based steak. Yes.
Stephen:now a mutant night crawler. Alan Cumming is fighting his way through the white house. He successfully knocks out the white house's secret service detail and avoids their bullets by using his teleportation ability. He reaches the president and raises a knife to kill him. A fallen guard manages to shoot night crawler in the arm, but he escapes away. He stabbed a knife into the desk with a note attached, rainy mutant freedom. Now.
Steve:Yes. Now this incidence stirs of anti mutant feelings around the country, people demand the mutants must register and support the Mr. The mutant registration act, which was name dropped in the first movie. Yes. There's a fear amongst the Xmen that they'll call, call a state of emergency, and they'll also create mutant
Stephen:camps, which we've seen in the comics. And we have seen internment camps in the us during world war II. When they decided that all Japanese people could be dangerous and spies. So every Japanese person was locked up.
Steve:I much prefer summer camps than concentration camps.
Stephen:I agree. And for those of you that enjoy summer camp and camp eat like things, check out our August run of podcast, where we covered all of our favorite camp movies.
Steve:Yes, now funny story of the desk in the president's office. It took two months to build so that it looked just like the
Stephen:original one that's and it does look really good. The fight scene is so well choreographed in this with him bouncing along the walls, using his tail and just, you know, it's one person, but secret service sees him going down this hallway and then a hallway over here and out this door. And there are like multiple subjects and it's really, really well
Steve:done. Yeah. It definitely like reminds me of like a precursor, like now in new Xmen movies, come out, you always look for the quick silver scene. Oh, absolutely. Because they always do like a very over the top, like look at what we can do with our CGI. That's visually impressive. It doesn't need to be like in a fight scene necessarily, although it certainly helps, but the way that he bounced around the screen and used his tail and everything I'm like as much as I was like, but night crawl, it was a good guy. He would never do this. I'm also like, yeah, this is fun to watch. Like just very visually appealing this in a couple other parts in the movie, like showed that you can have an action movie without it being all
Stephen:violence. Right. And, but it was really nice to see cuz so many people might think, oh, what could a teleporter do? That's so powerful. And you're able to see him take out a highly trained group of soldiers roughly all by
Steve:himself. Yes. Meanwhile, Wolverine visits, snowy Alka lake, hoping to learn about his origin, but finds nothing there except an abandoned indicate building near a dam.
Stephen:Well, that wraps up the Wolverine centric story and none of the movie will be focused on him from here out. Right? Yeah,
Steve:of course, because he's definitely the most undervalued and underused. X-Men
Stephen:this is a very Wolverine centric movie. Yes. Just like all
Steve:of them. Now question being that this will be fully spoiled. How would the movie have changed if he just like, happened to like smell something downstairs and go down there then and there
Stephen:then it might have been a, we have to rescue Wolverine type of movie. Yeah. I think
Steve:that would've been better cuz he would've been gone more I don't dislike him. I'm just like, okay, we get it. You love Wolverine. Yeah. He's your favorite?
Stephen:He's the most popular X man. Well now
Steve:speaking of favorites. Yes. The students from Xavier school, gifted youngsters are visiting museum and we learned Jean Gray ex expressing her fear of not being able to control her powers to Cyclops
Stephen:and that since Liberty island, whenever she has a nightmare, the bedroom shakes and her dreams are becoming worse. She has a fear that something terrible is about to happen. Now in the first X-Men movie, they portrayed Jean as weaker than she is in the comics at that time. And in this movie, they begin showing more of her potential. But I get still annoyed at portrayals like this, and they did the same thing with Jean in the animated series. Even making her faint whenever she used her powers too much. And I'm like, she's one of the strongest, if not the strongest X-Men character, there is, you don't need a damsel in, in distress, in your movies. Yeah. Like I don't have a good reason for why they make gene out to be weaker in the first Xmen movie. Whenever storm has full control over her ability and things, there's no reason for them to make her weaker. I mean, now they can work it into the story, but there was no way that they knew that they were gonna get an X two when they made X one. So,
Steve:well, I have to make the women weaker, so that's, the men could seem stronger. Ugh, blah. I know. It's not great. now. In the meantime, students rogue and her boyfriend, Bobby and troubled John pyro. Allardice get into a disagreement with some bullies in museum, one bully seizes, John Zippo lighter. When he goes slight, a cigarette, John causes the flame to flare up. Bobby puts out the fire with his ability to produce freezing air AKA ice. Yes, professor Xavier has to halt the conflict by freezing everyone in time with telepathy except the mutants and tells John to stop showing off.
Stephen:So that's a whole thing of an interesting use of Xavier's telepathy. I know I was thinking
Steve:of that because how would you feel if you were in the mall going shopping harmlessly one afternoon, minding your own business and all of a sudden a half an hour
Stephen:goes by and or what if you were drinking coffee. Yeah. And you go up to take a sip. He freezes your body with his telepathy. So you don't move, but you continue to pour scalding hot coffee all over your face and down your throat. I think he would freeze the coffee too. You can't, that's not what he does. I know. He's not freezing time. He's stopping people's movements with their telepathy his telepathy. So
Steve:are they, are they fully conscious in a way that they're trapped? Are they
Stephen:just like stuck? Oh no. He's fully conscious because as you see the kid on the floor with the ice. Yeah. Like he, I, his eyes are really bulging. So like he knows exactly what's happening at that moment. It, it, it's not the best.
Steve:No, but funny story. Most of the extras didn't mind playing frozen because they were actually mines who naturally are used to not moving.
Stephen:Yeah. And like some of the times in the movie where it happens, they don't realize they're being frozen. Like at the end of the movie with the press conference and things, but I don't know, it's not my favorite use of telepathy in this. It just feels invasive well, and also, I also have issues with the Xmen movies, not adding any visual expression to mental powers yeah, knows pink butterflies or just pink aura or purple aura. Like add some things to it so that you can see it because him just holding his fingers to his hand, it's not as impressive. Cy clamps gets his blast. Iceman gets things there's fire. You easily could have used some CGI pink effect.
Steve:Yes. Now a retired military scientist, Colonel William Stryker, who recognizes the danger that some mutants pose and wants to kill all mutants visits. The. Where nothing could go wrong with that meeting. Not at all. He mentions how close the union came to stabbing the president. He gets approval for an attack on the school, which he has discovered by interrogating the imprisoned magni O the speak in the guise of late Senator Kelly tries to object claiming that it was just a school, but fails later, striker visits, magni O in his plastic prison cell, to question him again, using a chemical place on the back of his neck, striker demands to know everything that magni knows about Cerebro.
Stephen:You know, it's really fun watching this scene and remembering that it's mystique still playing Senator Kelly. Yes. Cuz that
Steve:is where we left her off at the end of the first movie. But if it's been a minute or if you forgot, like I normally forget things, it's just so much fun, fun knowing. So that like when the, the eye flickers, it's not a reveal, but it's more of a like winking at you. Like yeah. You
Stephen:know, And it's also like, we always think, okay, it's good mutant versus bad mutant, but it's not always that sometimes it is mutants protecting mutants. If mystique were truly evil, she would've said, you know, yeah, go attack that school, but she's here going no, it's a school. Yeah. Leave it alone. Like you
Steve:mean, she says, she says, Mr. Striker, do you really want to turn this into some kind of
Stephen:war? I was piloting black op missions in the jungles of north Vietnam. Well, you suck on young mama's tit Woodstock. Kelly. Don't lecture me about war. This is already a war. I love it because it does show in this one that mystique and magni care about mutant lives above all else. And so it helps which they forgot in the first. Yeah. And it helps to put them into the gray area.
Steve:Yes. Now Wolverine returns to the school to get more answers about his past. Professor X shows him the powerful Cerebro system, which can connect him to everyone on the planet. Muttons and humans alike. Wolverine wants the professor to read his mind again for information about his past, but Xavier explains that he can't tell Wolverine everything. That'll have to find some things out for himself.
Stephen:Meanwhile, mystique, disguises, herself as Eureka, Yama, and breaks into strikers computers to learn more about his
Steve:plans. Yes. And one thing I love about this movie is how the interactions in the school are so organic. Like the first one, like you, it felt like a school, like you went from classroom to classroom and like, I felt bustling, but like this one, it feels more like a small, like close-knit group of people that are like living together in the mansion and like a home. Yeah. Wouldn't you agree?
Stephen:My love I do. And that's one of the things that I love seeing about the X-Men movies. Is that the school is more of a school until the first X-Men movie. You never really saw the school as a school for more than the, like the original oh five back in 1963. Yeah. It was five of them going to school there. And then you had the new mutants, but it really wasn't open to a lot of people. This shows that it really is a safe Haven and a sanctuary for mutants. And then Morrison used that in their run of new Xmen to show that in the comics and it continued from there, but I love it. And I love that, you know, you're walking through and you are gonna run into storm and you're gonna run into gene and Bobby and rogue are gonna hear the motorcycle and rogue will come running. It's really good.
Steve:Yeah. And speaking of storm, she has a new haircut and. Her accent's gone.
Stephen:Yeah. Rumor has it. That hall Berry went to Brian singer after she won her best actress, Oscar, and told him that she would have more control over her portrayal of storm, which is why that portrayal is a fail.
Steve:Would you rather have wished that that accent from the first one came back?
Stephen:Yes, 100%. Because even if it wasn't a great accent, it was an attempt at proper characterization. She went from storm being at least Regal and dignified to, Hey, I'm your best older sister, friend. And you get to babysit while we go out where it could have been Logan, you will be watching the children while Jean and I head to Boston this evening. It's wonderful to see you.
Steve:And, but I, I would also, I, I agree with you. I would also argue that in some ways that's another piece of her personality that we see in the comics where I could totally see her saying something like that. First thing you said to kitty pride before she and gen go out for a girls' night But yes. I also was wondering this time around watching it does professor X decline helping Logan because he shouldn't help him because he couldn't, he wasn't capable of helping him, or he simply could help him, but was choosing not to.
Stephen:So he can help him and he, but he realizes that he shouldn't help him the way Wolverine's mind worked after the Adam adamantium and all the bonding process and things that happened to him, his mind is fractured giving him the answers probably wouldn't have helped. Patch the brain back together. As we see throughout the movie, as Logan starts figuring things out for himself, he really starts to grab control of who he wants to be. And I think somebody just giving you the answers, won't help you achieve what you want to along your path in becoming your best self.
Steve:Yeah. At the same time, professor X had no idea that he was about, about to be like, hang on tight. You'll need striker in just a little bit.
Stephen:now I love the cerebral scene where we see all the lights and then the people and the meditation music starts. And it's a really great visual representation of what Cerebro can do. And then thinking back, it also makes me. is this why we couldn't have the danger room because they spent so much money on the Cerebro scenes
Steve:could be very much another scene that X fans clamor O over and Ferver at the mouth at was when mystique was trying to access files on magni. She also saw a list of other names, which include
Stephen:Sam, Paige Guthrie, Remy Lebo, arty, Maddox, Jeanie Madre, SHA koi, man, the
Steve:Maxim loft siblings, Kevin MC Taggart and Daniel Moon star.
Stephen:Some of like, I love the Guthrie's SHA Koy, man, Daniel Moon star, you know, our new mutants Remi Lebo, who is the namesake for our little Remi Le bone. Yes. Gait. Yeah. Jamie mad rocks. The multiple man Wanda and Piero Maximov we know as Scarlet, witch and Quicksilver. Yes. Kevin McTaggert, which is Proteus. So. It's a lot of really interesting names to see, and it's a fun Easter egg for the X fans. It certainly
Steve:isn't out of all the names, it's almost most interesting to see Kevin McTeer because at the time Proteus was a villain mm-hmm and like, not even like a fulltime villain. No. Cause he was dead at that point. He was like dead for a long time. Yep.
Stephen:Because yeah. Something about iron and his body and Colossus had killed him that really affected Colossus with the whole no killing thing.
Steve:Yes. But it's just interesting cuz now he's back in place. Quite an integral role Inoa so no one ever stays dead forever in the superhero world. Thank goodness. Yes. As we find out later, we're very thankful for that. Yes.
Stephen:Gene gray and storm find that the fast Mo moving mutant assassin night crawler in a church in Boston. It becomes evident that he was coerced and he has a scar similar to the one that we had seen on the back of magni O's neck, indicating that he had been influenced by striker himself to do the assassination attempt on the president, which got striker, what he wanted. So it all comes about, meanwhile, Wolverine continues to have recurring nightmares of his mysterious past and gets up to flirt with Bobby in the kitchen. And Bobby blows his Coke.
Steve:Yes. Literally speaking. Yes. now the German phrases that ni crawler shout out to storm and Jean are den Jesus Ross.
Stephen:I but just Bo.
Steve:Yes. And you had no idea. I was gonna put you on the spot with that. Did you? No, not at all. You did a very good job. Thank you. Yes. And that translates to. get
Stephen:out. I am a minion of a devil. I am the spawn of evil, which is different from when he most enjoys saying I am Vogner Kurt Vagner. But in the Munich circus, I was known as the incredible
Steve:night crawler. Yes. Well, he certainly is incredible. now in reality, what Bob and Logan are doing, isn't flirting as much as the certain, like sub genre of the internet really wants that to be the case. Right. Instead they're bonding over not being able to get close to the women that they care about because
Stephen:even Bobby was like I know how you feel about Dr. Gray. Yeah. And Logan's like, Hmm. I wouldn't mention that if I were you short
Steve:stuff. Yes. Storm and night crawler have a conversation on the way to pick up Wolverine Niro explains his scars or angelic symbols. One for every sin,
Stephen:you know, outside of the circus, most people were afraid of me, but I didn't take them. I PTD them. Do you know why. Because most people will never know anything beyond what they see with their own two
Steve:eyes. Well, I gave up on petty a long time
Stephen:ago, someone so beautiful should not be so angry. Sometimes
Steve:anger can help you survive.
Stephen:So can faith fuck you.
Steve:And I crawler that didn't happen. No, it didn't end that way. No, no, no. Storm was just good point too. now Cyclops and professors ex go visit magni in the peculiar plastic prison. They, I love the
Stephen:plastic prison so much. I love it too.
Steve:I love that the note says peculiar and I can't say it, but it should be just awesome. Plastic prison. I just wanna play all over it.
Stephen:Magda explains striker has been questioning him and points out. Is that his son, Jason striker was once a student at the school. To
Steve:a professor, Xavier horror, magni, confesses. He has told striker everything at that moment. Gas has pumped into the prison chamber and both men passed out as magni states. The war has begun outside. Cyclops fights the prison guards, but is defeated by Eureka who he realize officially is death strike.
Stephen:Oh
Steve:my goodness. Were you surprised Eureka was a mutant or did you peg her as death strike from the moment she cracked her knuckles.
Stephen:So there are very few well known female Asian mutants in the comics. Yes. I knew Jubilee was a student. Yes. I knew this wasn't sidewalk. Yep. And then the hand cracking knuckles and things. I was like, that's lady death strike
Steve:you got it. Although they dropped the lady here. Yes. It's just death strike. Yes. She no lady
Stephen:or, you know, in one of the all new Wolverine comics. Gabby tells her that there's no killing today. So today you're just strike.
Steve:Yes, now a handful of people are awake before the treacherous raid on the school for gifted youngsters will reign. Many of the students use their abilities to defend themselves sirens screams. So out it wakes up the school. Kitty runs through walls and soldiers, some of the mutants escape, but several children are captured and taken away.
Stephen:Striker chime turns up in person finding Wolverine and suggesting that he and Wolverine had worked together in the past
Steve:to Wolverine's frustration. Bobby erects, a thick wall of ice to allow their escape. Wolverine says, go, I'll be fine. But rogue reminds him that he is the supervising adult and says, but we won't
Stephen:striker. And his henchman break into cerebral and strip it for parts, Wolverine, rogue, Bobby and PIRO escape in a car and head to Boston to meet storm. And Jean Gray. Bobby is also from Boston. So the groups decides to stop at his house so they can contact storm and Jean Gray.
Steve:Meanwhile, mystique meets Benito's card L'Oreal and a bar disguised as a beautiful blonde woman and drugs him. Gives him an injection of a silver colored
Stephen:fluid, that beautiful blonde woman that she was disguised as she looked familiar. That was actually
Steve:what mystique looks like outside of Steph.
Stephen:Oh, so that's what Rebecca remains Stamos looks like.
Steve:Yes. Now most of the exterior shots of the mansion as we go through this were recycled from the first movie, because there was no budget
Stephen:for them, which is so strange that, you know, a multimillion dollar movie can't have a helicopter fly around to take shots of a sitting mansion. They had
Steve:very specific allocations of their resources yeah. Which they gave up on the third one and they probably should have done some more barriers. Oh. Now while the mansion is attacked in the comics regularly, isn't it normally by superhuman or mutant forces?
Stephen:Yeah. Like it's either sentinels or other superhuman things. It, it just feels wrong. Yeah.
Steve:I mean, something feels deeply personal about these. Invaders coming into their home.
Stephen:It's all. And it's also really interesting. The president said, I don't wanna see any dead mutant kids on the six o'clock news. And some of the time you can see that the guns they're using shoot darts to incapacitate them. But there's other times like the guy that was in the kitchen with Bobby and Logan, that was a machine gun. Yeah. I feel like that
Steve:was also the president's way of saying, but the adults are a fair game. Yeah. Which isn't
Stephen:great. No, we, and we got to see another cameo. I was Colossus who was not Russian, but American.
Steve:I know which wasn't great. But he was also at the time I was like, oh, he's like every friend's older brother I ever had a crash on. I was okay with him.
Stephen:Wolverine hijacked, Cyclops, his car.
Steve:Yes. And even funnier for me is that his radio defaults to NSYNC. Bye. Bye. Bye. Do you believe that this was just because he personally loves and jams to NSYNC? Yes.
Stephen:Cyclops loves
Steve:NSYNC. Is it a problem in their relationship? Because Jean is obviously a Backstreet boys.
Stephen:Fan Jean is 100% pro Backstreet boys. And I think that she finds it cute. And as with all people where one person was pro in sync and the other was pro back street, boys, they're all glad that it actually wasn't pro 98 degrees. That is true. Rebecca remains famous is so, so, so amazing as mystique in this movie. Like she only got one line in the first one. Yeah. But she was still so impressive, but here you really get to see more characterization of mystique. And I think this is the best live action presentation of mystique we've seen in the movies. I love my little, you know, girl from movies. Yeah. And, but that was not mystique. No,
Steve:I mean, there, there's just something about the way that she carries herself and just like crunch edges up the scenery, even when she's in the back. And I can only imagine how hard it is to do when your head covered, had to toe in blue,
Stephen:which is why come the third movie? She liked or, well, no, but well, come the third movie in this one where mystique gets hit by the anti mutant gun and turns into a human was because Rebecca Rayma Stamos said I'm done being painted blue, cuz it took like six to eight hours to do. And it's also the reason why a coming refused to come back for the third movie. That's
Steve:unfortunate. I love blue people. I know if you were completely blue from head to toe, I would want to have sex with
Stephen:you. Thank you. I appreciate that.
Steve:Like, just as much, but like even more
Stephen:I appreciate that very much. Professor Xavier awakes with striker and death strike and striker says don't get up. It's just funny because professor Xavier's paralyzed and he can't. Yes, I'm kidding. It's not as funny, but it is kind of funny that it just shows that striker is a horrible
Steve:person. Yes. He then explains that the middle of brace on Xavier's head prevents him from using his powers. They argue about mutants and striker son, a powerful mutant illusionist who did not stay at Xavier's school. At one point, death strike seems to look around her in a daze, but then trier gives her another dose of that chemical. He used to control her in the back of the
neck.
Stephen:And it's that's when Xavier's like for someone that appears to hate mutant so much, you do surround yourself with a lot of them.
Steve:Yes. Xavier also realized the striker caused the assassination attempt in order to manipulate the president. Striker admits his chemical, but not be strong enough to work on professors. So he brings in his mutant son, Jason, to influence professor Xavier's mind in person. Now his son is slightly altered from the comics, but is the mind control chemical? He uses original.
Stephen:So we see that Jason striker is a character in the comics, but the power they kinda give him is of Jason Windguard, who is mastermind. Yes. And you could kind of extrapolate that wind guard's power of illusion. If you could excrete or if you can like extract the chemical that he excretes in his brain to do, that could be used for mind control. Like it was with gene in the dark Phoenix saga and the comics. So I do find that believable it's they're extrapolating. You have a, you have B most likely we could get to C.
Steve:So he's like taking the juice from his son to,
Stephen:yeah. He has the tubes coming out of his neck and goes into canisters that are attached to the back of the wheelchair. So gross. Yeah. They're, they're kind of, you remember in the comics when they have the mutant growth hormone that they take from certain mutants. Yeah. And that you can use that to sell, to give humans a little bit of mutant power or to make mutants more powerful. I would take it. Yeah. it's similar to that. That they're saying, okay, we're taking what makes you a mutant? And now we're gonna be able to use that to use your power on others.
Steve:All right. Well, speaking of powers, security guard L brings magni to his breakfast. Magni notices something different about him, and then pulls that with his powers, all them iron that was in his blood. And kills him. He then informs the iron taken from the garden to small ball bearings, which uses to demolish his plastic prison, to how and escapes. It's
Stephen:a very visually stunning scene and shows you how dangerous magni O can be, because we hadn't really gotten to see Nito use his powers in that way. Because in the first one we saw him use it to grab metal, to trap people in the crown yeah. Of the statue and, you know, move a chair or move some bars. But in this one, he used it to create metal and use that as a weapon. But also you get more magni. Like there's something different about you, Mr. Lal, too much iron in your blood, never trust a beautiful woman, especially one who is interested in you and you love. That he knows immediately that Raven was responsible for this, even though she had no idea where Eric was. Yeah. And, but he knows if this had happened that his number one person made it happen.
Steve:Yeah. Which is awesome. I like them together. I do too. When they're playing the gray area, not so much bear guys. now Wolverine makes friends with the family's cat. As Bobby's family returns home, they're surprised to learn. He's a mutant. Have you tried
Stephen:not being a mutant?
Steve:Bobby's disgruntled younger brother calls the police. When the police arrive, they order Logan to drop his blades, which he says he can't. Of course. And so the police shoots him in the head because Fe yeah,
Stephen:the bullet stopped by the and of anti skull, but the kids think he's dead because kids are stupid and pyro says, you know, all those dangerous mutants you hear about on the news. I'm the worst one, which is
Steve:like, I was like, well, obviously PIs, a bad guy, cuz he is in the comics. Yeah but they kind of keep him gray area through this movie at least. Yeah. I really wanted him to fight off with Bobby, but I guess that happens in the third, third. Yes.
Stephen:And he fights off the police with Blasier and seems intent on killing several. When rogue pacifies him by grabbing his ankles and then extinguishes the flames with his own power of being able to control flames.
Steve:Yes. And obviously with the comments, like, have you tried not being a mute and they're laying on the coming out, me metaphor pretty heavy here. Yeah. They even go so far as to say it's based along a jeans passed down on the male side, just like the gay ones, allegedly. allegedly. Now what, what was your coming out experience? Like? Did you get any comments like that?
Stephen:Yeah, it was not a good coming out experience. I always like to preface it by saying that mom and dad are 100% supportive and could not be anymore caring and loving. But back in the day, growing up in the Bible belt in the late nineties, early two thousands, when I came out that it was definitely a different time and, you know, being from a religious family, You were taught that gay people were going to hill. And so they were worried about that and they felt that it was a choice, which they don't feel now. They feel that you're definitely born that way. It didn't go well for the first six months to a year, year and a half. We are much, much, much, much better now, but you know, they didn't call the police on me like Bobby's family did. Yes.
Steve:That, that is a plus at least. What about you? It went so poorly. I attempted suicide the next day, so not so great, but again, posting it with that. We're all better now. Yes, storm Jean and night crawler picked, picked them up and they had to school chased by F 16 fighter plan storm creates giant tornadoes over one of the fighter shoots two missiles at the X jet. Gene is able to disable one of the missiles, but the other explodes very close to the jet. They take damage and rogue is sucked out to save, to be saved moments later by night crawler. The plane is about to crash when magni repairs, the hole in the ship and stops them just above the ground. See,
Stephen:that is a really interesting scene. I loved watching storm create all the tornadoes to try to get the jets to leave. And it does like one of them they do eject and the other one they're really close. But he shoots off the two missiles first and we finally get to see gene use her powers long distance and more powerfully. Again, it would've been better to see some color added to it. And she's working on the last missile and you kind of see her eyes flame which X-Men fans know is the Phoenix, Phoenix, flame. And I think that in and of itself scares her and that's why she pulls back and she's not able to stop it.
Steve:Yes. And speaking of someone, who's also probably scared when rogue falls out of the jet, the stunt was performed by real life actress, Anna, a PackMan, not a stunt
Stephen:devil. Yeah. That was really interesting. And the whole, like you're watching and, and you're not really seeing the things like fall into place, but whenever Rob's having trouble with her seatbelt like now watching it back, you're like, oh, they were making sure visually we were set up to know that as soon as something happened, she's not strapped in and she will get sucked out of the plane. Yeah.
Steve:Now magina provides a whole bunch of exposition. Yes. Striker invaded the school just to get to Cerebro with that. He can make professor X focus on any group of people, such as mutants and. Benito also reveals that striker is one of the only people who can manipulate at ANTM the medal of Wolverine's bones. And surely that's just a coincidence. Total mystique has the plans for Striker's base, but they need gene to read Niro's mind to get the location Alka I lake Wolverine didn't find it because it's underground. Oh, mystique tournaments will reign by entering his tent to sky, says Jean Gray after watching them kiss pretending that she's Jean continuing it on. When they fly to the base, the next day, magni to rogue about the white streak in her
Stephen:hair. We love with what you've done your hair
Steve:and then the compliments pyros abilities.
Stephen:So there's some really great back and forth with some of the characters here. And I wanna highlight some of the lines. Like we talked about gene and Logan kissing, but it starts with gene saying girls flirt with a dangerous guy, Logan. They don't take him home. They marry the good guy. I can be the good guy, the good guy sticks around and then they kiss. Do you buy the kiss? I do because they've done a good job in this, just like in the comics showing that Jean is attracted to that dangerous side because she herself has that dangerous, passionate side part of her personality that she's always tampered down because she doesn't want to lose control. And so there's the attraction because Logan has embraced that dangerous side of him and just that freedom. Really entices
Steve:her. Do you think that she's ever tempted to like choose one over the other or is her heart still always with Scott and she's just playing with fire so to speak
Stephen:I think that it she's, she knows that Scott is her soulmate. I think that's always been very clear through all the run of things that it just is this attraction, that in ways they're family and best friends, but a sexual attraction there because they're responding to the fire within each other. Okay.
Steve:Speaking of fire, you also love magni and pirates exchange. So they say you're the bad guy.
Stephen:Is that what they say? It's a dorky looking helmet. What's it for this dorky looking helmet is the only thing that's going to protect me from the real bad guys. What's your name, John. What's your real name, John pyro, quite a talent. You have the pyro.
Steve:I can only manipulate the fire. I can't create it. You are
Stephen:a God among insects. Never let anyone tell you different. And then he hands him as lighter back. And so that thing of hand to hand touching and extending a hand is really symbolic and powerful. And it's that moment where someone isn't telling John stop being you. Yeah. It's telling you, I'm proud of who you are and you can do more and nobody has ever told John them.
Steve:Yes. Speaking of things, people needed to hear. Yes. Mystique and I crawler have this exchange, excuse me. They say you can imitate anybody, even their voice, even their voice. Then why not stay in dis skies all the time? You know, look like everyone
Stephen:else because we shouldn't have to, which I love that. And so if you even take it to the gay metaphor that we had earlier with Bobby and that we deal with in our own lives, where, you know, I've heard many times over the years from people and family and things of, you know, you have to make sure you tone it down at work and you know, don't be you you know, play down the gay, play more straight at work. Yeah. And I agree with mystique, we shouldn't have to,
Steve:yes. Queen a soldier asked striker why they were keeping mutant children alive. He explains it's because he wants to make sure mutants are really dying when Cereba operates. Which is dark. Afaf dark
Stephen:AAF,
Steve:Wolverine volunteers to enter the lab first and strike rule. Want him alive? Magni disagrees,
Stephen:whatever mutant goes in needs to be able to operate the spillway mechanism. What are you going to do? Scratch it with your claws. When
Steve:Wolverine appears at the door, striker, instructs the soldiers to admit him just like planned mm-hmm But as soon as he sees him in person, he knows it's not Wolverine. Logan quickly changes into mystique who kicks everyone's ass and manages to get into the laboratories heavily fortified control room by sliding backwards and flipping people off.
Stephen:I love that scene like her sliding backwards on her stomach and just flipping them off as she goes through the doors that are quickly closing is brilliant. Yes.
Steve:Professor Xavier is in an elaborate illusion created by Jason, who a accompanies him and the guise of a little girl, the two enter the Cerebra room. Although in reality, it's a grungy dome that striker has fabricated. The rest of your group splits up to find the children and the professor, while Logan goes off again by himself, further proving genes, comment that the good guys stick around.
Stephen:She, she was very clear on it. Yes. And, and whenever she looked around, he was nowhere to be found. Yeah.
Steve:Striker goes to the dome and order Jason to make the professor kill all the mutants he finds through Cerebro. Now we mentioned about Shrier Junior's powers. Did you feel like this whole illusion scene, like was making any sort of sense? So, cause I still don't get it.
Stephen:Like I, I appreciate how in his first attempt he had Xavier standing by a window and Xavier standing was enough of a break from reality for Xavier to realize that it was fake. And in this next time around, it was Xavier in the school. The children are all missing except for this little girl. and so it's playing on Xavier's desire to help mutant children and find mutant children. And so I think that this works. I do, I,
Steve:I, every time I see I'm like, yeah, okay. Let's just move on with the plot. Like I,
Stephen:oh, no, it did slow down. Why? See a little girl, because the, just like whenever night crawler sees them earlier. Yeah. And he's about to walk towards, he goes, it's just a little girl and storm goes, no, it's not like it like right there. Night crawler. Like it's a harmless as a girl, the kind, yeah. Like it's. So I see why he transformed into a little girl because misogyny, and you're just assuming that girls are helpless, not dangerous and things like that. It did slow things down a bit, but it did. W for me, make it more realistic that we got to where we got to.
Steve:Sure. Meanwhile, a manipulated Cyclops tries to stop gene gray, magni and mystique using the full power of his optic blast. Gene stays to get through to him while the others go on the two dual among the dam's large machines, the gene letting out a hugely powerful telekinetic blast, breaking the structural integrity of the dam and starting some leaks. Oops. Yeah. clop finally remembers himself and takes gene with him saying that he could see he was attacking her, but couldn't stop himself due to the drug strike had used on him. Is this where gene says she couldn't stop herself either when it came to Logan?
Stephen:No, that's the sort of thing that Tana in private after the mission, Jean and Scott have been X-Men for a very long time and she knows that now is not the time to get distracted. And the truth could only hurt with how everything is true, truly life or death. This time. They all need to be on point. Yes.
Steve:And since it's been about two minutes, we quickly go back to Wolverine because he needs more screen time. He's gone on his own to search the laboratory for its secrets. He finds, this is a room where the Adam adamantium was applied to his bones, sees x-rays on the wall, finds the liquid metals, sees flashbacks of torture as they ducked him underwater again and again, remember is escaping
Stephen:one of the things that's interesting when you watch it back and you see the x-rays on the walls. It's only watching the second time where you're really paying attention that you see that there's his hand. Yeah. With the claw. And then there's another hand that has things coming out of the tops of the fingers. And you're like, oh, those are two separate arms. Those are two different people's x-rays and we get to see where that comes into play right here.
Steve:Striker finds him there. When Wolverine goes to a tax striker, death strike attacks him in a due to the death. She stabs him repeatedly with her own Adam anti clothes. Wolverine also discovers that she has the same regenerative ability he does, and the two battle to a near
Stephen:still mate and see, and that's interesting because before, whenever she attacked Cyclops at the prism, she didn't pull out her claws. We saw her just jump across the room and smack him with her legs and knock him out. This is the first time where we see the fingernail claws come out and they've done a really good job of drawing out like, okay, she's just creepy to, Ooh, she's a combatant to, Ooh. It's a female version of Wolverine kind of thing.
Steve:And on a best Wolverine,
Stephen:Laura, Kenny. Yeah. Yeah. death strike even seems to gain an advantage when he stabs her with an Adam adamantium nozzle and fills her body with it and it quickly hardens and she dies and has adamantium tears coming out of her eyes, which beautiful,
Steve:but sad. Yeah. Pyro leaves the plane, tired of waiting with rogue and Bobby Al Wolverine seems to express great remorse over killing her. Now his remorse, I mean, obviously part of it's the fact that she was brainwashed. And so he kind of killed someone who was sort of innocent mm-hmm but it also seemed like a, not to the comics. Tell us more about their relationship and backstory there.
Stephen:My love. So it's never been the best. In the comics death strikes father actually created the Adam adamantium bonding process that was forced on Logan. And then death strike forced spiral to bond Adam adamantium to her so that she could use this and some other cybernetic enhancements to become an assassin and try to kill Wolverine for what he did to her father. They've had a very long, like really antagonistic relationship. And I always get confused because this is E Rico. And then there was Marico that was his fiance and love of his life at the time. And so it all gets very confusing with that. But yeah, this is, you know, because we've had years and years and years of Xmen comics they try to find ways to do the backstory, but find ways to. Simplify it. Yeah.
Steve:And I can appreciate that for sure. Magni gets to the Cerebra room and Dawn's his helmet. Just as the attacks on the mutants begin, the others fall to the floor, screaming their minds full of pain from the wave. He stops the attack. Then reconfigures the dome. As the metal handles, fly around to different places. Thete enters in the guise of striker and tells Jason to have savior kill all the humans instead of. Because of course she
Stephen:does, and striker leaves the complex, but Wolverine finds him by the helicopter. Wolverine's demanding answers, but striker only tells him that he had volunteered for the procedure and that the two of them used to work together. He says, Wolverine is a failed experiment. You were an animal, you're still an animal. I just gave you claws. Wolverine decides to chain him to the helicopter and go back for the others, because if we are gonna die, you're gonna
Steve:die. Yeah. Now in the comics, you know, Wolverine starts off a mysterious stranger, but we learn more and more over the different arcs, the focus on Wolverine or the Wolverine standalone series that also run typically on forever. Yeah so with all of that history, how do you feel they kind of simplified and consolidated and took pieces of it to make it cohesive for the movie?
Stephen:I actually appreciate this because they could have drawn it out way, way, way too long with just the weapon X side. There are to. there were many years between weapon X and Wolverine first finding the X-Men. So there's enough backstory to keep giving Wolverine his own side stories in these movies. They don't need to stretch out the, where did I come from story any longer than they have. So I appreciate that this was a, a good resolution to it.
Steve:Yes, I agree. The rescue group has reached the cerebral chamber Knight. Crawler brings storm in himself inside in order to get Jason to stop. The illusion storm makes a cold in the room. Jason finally gives in revealing professor Xavier as the ceiling panel started to collapse because of the damn collapsed sing night crawler rescue storm, and then the professor, the group runs away and finally finds a way
Stephen:outside in the meantime, magni and mystique, a found striker and commandeered his helicopter PIRO has voluntarily joined them. Because of course, however, rogue flies, the X jet over to the helicopter pad and crashes. And as everyone struggles aboard Wolverine notices, striker chain, the dam, clearly the work of magni,
Steve:striker, and a mans to be let go, pleading Wolf Wolverine and suggesting Wolverine will forever be an outcast. Like his friends, Wolverine decides to take his chance with his fellow mutants. As he walks away a child named Artie, the boy sticks out his black fork ton striker, and they leave him for dead. Yep.
Stephen:And the team discovers that the plane is not fully functional and can't lift off, but the dam is bursting and they're all about to die out of left field. Yeah. Jean Gray leaves the plane and prevents everyone from getting her back on board, like night crawler can't teleport out. She won't let the ramp be brought back down. And she brings the jet back online, Cyclops refuses to leave her behind. He's freaking out. She holds off the flood waters while lifting the plane saying, I know what I'm doing. This is the only way she saves the group. And then when she can't hold back the millions of tons of water anymore, lets it all go. And she's overwhelmed. The whole team is devastated at losing gene, especially Wolverine and Scott. Yeah.
Steve:And I remember that this happens, but rewatching it, it's almost easy to forget because it seems to come out of left field. Like, is it just me like
Stephen:it? So it does seem like we could have done something or like in my mind she goes out, she lifts the jet. She holds back the water. Once the jet is high enough, she lets night crawler come grab her and they get away, but that wouldn't have gotten the story to where they needed to go. The first time I saw this, I started crying at the theater because I was like, no, they just killed Jean. And she had just sacrificed herself and you know, all good Phoenix stories involve Jean Gray, sacrificing herself for her fellow. Xmen like in the original story where she uses her telekinetic power to surround herself, to pilot the shuttle back to earth. And she was using the telekinesis to keep the radiation out while everyone else was safely in another chamber in the shuttle that the radiation couldn't get to them and ends up the radiation was killing her. This is something similar. It was the easiest way. I think that they were like, we have to do something that shows that she's a hero that she's super powerful, and we can also show her flaming while she's using her powers.
Steve:I'll give you that. now out the white house, the president's televised speech is interrupted. Everyone in the room, freezes accept the president and the mutants. Ooh, professor Xavier presents him with information taken from striker lab. The mutant message is simple. We are here to stay
Stephen:and then we hear something different this time because the beginning and ending narration of the first movie and the beginning of this one were all Xavier. But now we hear Gene's voice as the camera pans, over the water of Alka at lake mutation, it is the key to our evolution. It is how we have evolved from a single celled organism into the dominant species on the planet. This process is slow, normally taking thousands and thousands of years, but every few millennia evolution leaps forward. And we see a Phoenix Raptor appear in the water where gene sacrificed yourself. And we know that she's still alive. And right before that, we had seen, I seen with Xavier where he is talking to students stops. One of kid says, is everything okay, professor? And he goes, yes, I think it will be. So it leads you to believe that he then recognized that he noticed Gene's consciousness out there. Yes.
Steve:And nothing could go wrong in the third one with any of that, there are done this great track with the story.
Stephen:It could have been really good, but Brian singer left to go do Superman. Lop went with him
Steve:and we'll get to that when we cover X three eventually. Yeah. When we cover movies, we wished made us happy. final thoughts on this ending though, for now my love
Stephen:I appreciate the ending that they gave us with the Phoenix Raptor. It helped me not to be inconsolable. It made me excited for what the third movie could contain. I think this is an excellent sequel. I think that because of the groundwork laid by the first one, they were able to just go full story, full action with this one. And that's why it's better than the
Steve:first one. Yes, I would agree. This is better than the first. You know what El also is the best. Yeah. I, I
Stephen:think it's our
Steve:listeners. Our listeners are the best and we would love to hear what you thought of X two, as well as this episode, you could do that by emailing us at happy life, pod, gmail.com,
Stephen:or you can get in touch with us on all the socials, whether that is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok at happy life, pod,
Steve:and a Nick. Until next time everyone stay, stay happy, mutant and proud.