X-2 is one of the most anticipated movies of the summer. The word was out that it was going to be good so I decided to go see for myself. I?m not a huge X-Men fan although I am a fan of comics. I actually thought that last summers Spiderman was one of the best movies of the summer. After the pleasant surprise of Spiderman, I was going to be shocked if X-Men even compared but I decided to check it out anyway.

Just like Spiderman, I decided to take my son Nathan out of school a little early to catch an early matinee. I wasn?t really worried about the PG-13 rating because I knew from the advance trailers and previews that the movie was going to have a good measure of comic book violence. We arrived early to obtain a great seat.

There we where, in our seats with a large soda and a medium popcorn. The THX sound comes to life and we sit and eagerly await the movie. It was a pleasant surprise to see a new trailer for The Matrix Reloaded that is to be released in a few days, so far things were not so bad. The opening scenes have a narration playing behind the scenes.

?They had 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? By the way it is a historical fact, sharing the world has never been humanities defining act.?

At this point I am thinking, ?Oh boy another attempt of Hollywood at promoting the, ?one world all live together? theme with evolution as a backdrop!? Well, I thought this was what many people were going to be thinking. We have all heard the criticism of how Hollywood makes movies promoting ?their agenda? whatever ?their agenda? is. I can almost hear now the criticism of many on this very issue. Unfortunately, they will miss many of the spiritual associations in this movie.

For a action style film the action begins immediately. We see a mutant attempting to attack the President of the United States. At least this is our perception. We are introduced right off the bat to a new character in the movie series, Night Crawler. On the surface, we assume that this character is a demon. Night Crawler has a pointed tail, body mutations and is a ?demon? like looking creature. What would he be doing trying to kill the President? He appears to also have superhuman like characteristics. He can transmutate and seems to have special powers that can?t be stopped by humans. We assume he is going to kill the president until he thrusts down next to the presidents head a dagger that reads, ?For Mutant?s, Freedom Now!?

It seems as if the desire of most of the mutants is to be accepted despite their differences. It is an underlying theme throughout the comic book series and the movie. The theme of acceptance, respect, and love are prevalent. On the surface, with so many characters, there is the concern that the character development in this movie will be thin. I must tell you from the outset, that I was very pleasantly surprised. While I am often critical of the lack of character development, the primary characters in this movie are characters that we can all identify with. While it will help seeing the first X-Men movie, it is not a requirement to understand and appreciate the characters here.

When looking at Spiritual connections in X-2 one does not have to look far or even hard. The spiritual references are all through this movie. There are numerous scenes that take place where light shines through representing God?s work and change. There is also ample evidence of water used to symbolize baptism. This is especially true regarding Wolverine, one of the characters that the audience appreciates the most. We also see doves that represent a spirit of freedom and crosses that represent Christ and the sacrifice he made for all of humanity. While I thought Spiderman was one of the most Spiritual Comic Superheroes we have a new king of the heap with X-2?s Night Crawler.

As mentioned earlier, one of the very pleasant surprises of this movie is the introduction of the new character Night Crawler. It seems as if Night Crawler is a character who has a personal relationship with God. He is presented as an angel like character who was specifically sent to earth by the angel Gabriel. We see him taking refuge in a church, wearing a cross made of images that resemble nails, he spends numerous moments in contemplative prayer and scripture quotations. He prays the Lords prayer and recites the 23rd Psalm from memory. He is also marked by what he calls the ?sins that have been committed.? Just the fact that he recognizes that sins mark the body is a unique approach for a movie of this nature. He is willing to make sacrifices and step out in faith to save and help all of humanity and mutants. It seems as if God has a special respect and love for humanity and mutants and Night Crawler is a special agent of Gods? saving ability, really, not just spiritual but also physical. I can?t recall a movie that provides more opportunity to presenting God and Christ since the movies The Matrix and The Apostle. The unique attribute of this particular movie is that this message can be conveyed to individuals who had no intent of attending a movie with such strong spiritual symbolism.

X-2 also has other attributes that address spirituality. We see characters portrayed as a God like character who has the control to open up the universe and locate where anyone is at. He is all knowing and in regards to life or death, presented at times to be all powerful. We also see ample scenes that represent death and resurrection. This includes a willingness for a character to present Christ like attributes. In one scene we see Wolverine killed only to come back to life. When given the opportunity to bring about justice on the person who killed him he forgives and lets him go, because it is apparent that the person did not know what they were doing, much like Jesus who said, ?Father forgive them for they don?t know what they are doing.? regarding the soldiers who crucified him. Don?t get me wrong, one of the pleasant things about Wolverine is that he is willing to dish out ?justice? to those who deserve it but he also has a special ability to care for the children and the innocent, much like Jesus did. There are numerous other sequences that relay the message of love, self sacrifice where someone even splits the waters to prevent the death of the ones they love and they thus deliver them from the sure death that awaits them.

The truth of it is that to mention all of the spiritual parallels of this movie would result in a page like Lord of the Rings by Greg Wright. Then again, that might be a good idea; the forum responses to this movie will be more than interesting to view and respond to. X-2 shows mutants who come to respect and accept each other who formerly hated each other as a result of a willing sacrifice of a mutual loved one. We hear about the importance of believing and loving without seeing in a scene that resembles Jesus talking to Thomas. We hear what resembles church and choir music in the background throughout much of the movie. The truth is I could go on and on.

Technically this movie is superb and far better than the first X-Men. The special effects are spectacular and the acting from top to bottom is top notch. We actually have a wonderful story of redemption, sacrifice and love to go along with a top-notch action movie. We get all kinds of gravy on the biscuit though when we get the strong Spiritual overtones in this film, which promotes in many ways a Christian Worldview like no other movies since The Matrix and The Apostle. As far as I am concerned, this might be one of the best summers in years for the movies and X-2 is going to hold its own, with no doubt. It will certainly be in contention with The Matrix Reloaded and it is wonderful that both are so full of Spiritual truths.

I loved Spiderman and gave it a 10 on a scale of 1-10. X-2 is just as good if not better and that is coming from a Spiderman fan that was not a real fan of X-Men. That is, was not a fan until now.

On a scale of 1-10 I?ll give this one credit for at least the number of times I would like to see it again to catch on everything that I missed the first time. A rare and wonderful 10