Thursday, May 16, 2024

X-Men `97, “Bright Eyes” Part II, Review!

 Re:cap - “Bright Eyes” Part I; Nightcrawler was the priest at Gambit’s funeral, but Rogue was missing. The X-Men head to Genosha to help in rebuilding after the destruction by the Wild Sentinel. Rogue encounters Thunderbolt and then Captain America on her quest to find Henry Gyrich. The clues lead her to a compound in Mexico. 

She finds Gyrich, uses her power of absorbtion on him, and they both scream! Jean Grey and Cyclops are searching for survivors at the Citadel. She finds a telepath and they discover that it is Emma Frost in a new diamond form. Trask contacts the X-Men and asks them to meet him at a UN building in Madripoor. Part II continues with Jubilee and Roberto entering his family’s building. A butler takes Roberto’s jacket saying his mother is waiting for them. 

Roberto stares at the door of the parlor and Jubilee encourages him. He finally admits that he is a mutant. His mother, Nina (Christine Uhebe) pours herself some wine to take a drink. She says it is a relief with his excuses of four houses burning down and pirates kidnapping him. His family waited for Roberto to tell them. He hugs her. A nice family moment. 


Then, she thanks Jubilee for helping Roberto. Then, there is the turn when Nina says it shoudl be kept private. She says the shaerholderrs would want the controversy of a mutant in the da Costa family! Rogue suddenly wakens to find Nightcrawler in front of her. Confetti falls as we see that it is Dia de Los Muertos, honoring ancestors, family scenes almost out of Coco (2017). 


Rogue sees this and finally the death of Remy leBeau hits her. Kurt says Anna Marie helped Gambit and Magneto to live. She breaks down crying and finds the X-Men are there for her. Powerful acting by Lenore Zann! At the Mexican compound with a monitor beeps while Gyrich is in a hospital bed. Someone enters and the radio switches to “The Purple People Eater.” 


He puts on Gyrich’s glasses and says he almost ruined the man’s surprise. Hands cover Gyrich’s mouth and his killer leaves the room. A rainy night as the Blackbird reaches Madripoor. Wolverine’s sniffs sleeping gas that knocked out everyone in the building. Morph runs over to the vending machine and gets a can of Diet Pingo. It lifts aside to an elevator that the X-Men take up while Morph sips the Diet Pingo! 


The elevator opens to show rows of advanced model Sentinels in glass displays. Rogue sees a fallen guard with OZT on his uniform. Wolverine doesn’t recognize the organization. Traks is at the edge of the building in the storm ready to jump. He says OZT came from the Sentinel program. Morph realizes that Mister Sinister is building a new type of Sentinel! 


Trask leaps and then Rogue grabs his jacket. She asks for more information, but he has nothing. So Rogue releases his jacket! Trask falls and we see him screaming. Rogue looks down at his body. She didn’t save him, but he already wanted to die. Nightcrawler is shocked, Wolverine says she did what had to be done, and Morph can’t believe this is the X-Men. Rogue blames Trask for Genosha and killing Gambit. 

Then, there is an explosion. Cyclops recovers and then runs to check on the others. Trask is zombiefied into a techno-organic creature. He swings around his head horror movie-style floating in the sky with glowing eyes. Cyclops says he is a human Sentinel. So technically, Rogue didn’t kill Trask, he was already transformed. Trask is the Prime Sentinel. 


They were introduced in X-Men #65 (1997). The Prime Sentinel starts its attack. Rogue’s unconscious body rolls and Nightcrawler bamfs her away, great sound effect! Cyclops and Jean Grey leap off the building so he can optic blast the rubble. Jean catches the shattered building with her telekinesis and tosses it into Buccaneer Bay! The Prime Sentinel is there on the street. Jean senses Trask’s mind in it. Quicksilver rains hundreds of punches on it. 


Prime Sentinel blasts Quicksilver and Morph! Wolverine slashes the Prime Sentinel and Beast punches him, but they are blasted. Prime Sentinel is bashed by telekinetic rubble. Then, the two duel in the sky like Neo and Agent Smith in Matrix Revolutions (2023), a swirl of bluish telekinetic energy and the orange power of the Prime Sentinel. It is behind Jean and punches her falling to the ground! 


Then, the Prime Sentinel is struck by Cyclops’ full optic blast. The possessed Trask brings up what he said in the Sahara desert in the season premiere. A canister is dropped by Cyclops pinned by the Prime Sentinel. It explodes and the Prime Sentinel screams! Out of the shadows, Cable appears, he says it was an electromagnetic cluster grenade. This is exactly the weapon I thought could be used to stop the battle droids! He should give a few to the X-Men. 


Jean has scanned Cable’s mind and knows his identity! Cyclops knows he is his boy, Nathan. We see Cable’s face reflected in Cyclops’ visor. Cable tells him that Trask works for someone more dangerous! In front of several screens is that man who had killed Gyrich, Bastion (Theo James)! He is the head of OZT and introducd in X-Men #52 (1996). Mister Sinister walks up to him and thinks he acted too early. He wants his prize. Bastion with an ordinary voice says that Trask’s attack gave them data. He says the villains have failed since `92! The beginning of X-Men: The Animated Series


Bastion says he has repaired an alien satellite and sees the transmission  Empress Lilandra’s marriage annoncement! Mister Sinister is suprised that Xavier is alive and Bastion says that it was a lie told by the X-Men. At a darkened barber shop, Bastion activates a juke box to play “Purple People Eater” as Magneto watches him. He takes out a towel and then razor to Magneto. He has his arms strapped down, his mouth covered with tape, an inhibitor collar on his neck. Bastion calmly shaves him saying that Magneto only has to “listen and obey.” A new villain who is the mastermind behind the Sentinels, working with Mister Sinister, "Bright Eyes" 


Four Sentinel Blasters out of Five! 


#XMen97, #BrightEyes, #EmiEmmettYonemura, #CharrleyFeldman, JBBallard, #LenoreZann, #HollyChou, #GuiAgustini, #RayChase, #JenniferHale, #CadDodd, #JPKarliak, #AdrianHough, #ChrisPotter, #ChristineUhebe, #GavinHammon, #TheoJames 

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