The Weird Turn Pro

X-Men 2
Directed by Bryan Singer
Story by Zak Penn, David Hayter, and Bryan Singer
Screenplay by Michael Dogherty, Dan Harris, and David Hayter

As with all sequels there is an expectation is to make a movie larger in size and scale—to make the effects bolder, the action more intense, and to up the ante.  All of this is done pretty successfully in X2—the sequel to the 2001 hit X-Men, creating a movie that is superior to the original.  Although it could be argued that this movie is a prequel to a Wolverine solo film more than a full X-Men tale, there is enough of both to make this movie pleasing to most fans of the series.  Overall the movie is a great sequel for the franchise, a good comic book film and a blast to watch.

No longer burdened with having to establish the concept of mutants or introducing the main characters, the story is put in full swing from the onset with what is arguably the best scene in the film.  A mysterious blue mutant with the ability to teleport, whose identity is revealed later as Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming), attempts an assassination on the President of the United States inside the Oval Office, and narrowly escapes.  The weapon he holds bears the message: Mutant Freedom Now.  This sequence of events exemplifies the successes of X2.  The action is much faster paced than in X-Men, the special effects are even more successful than the original, and the plot is more mature.  Bullets actually hit their mark from time to time!  (Apparently the police recovered from their “stormtrooper” disease.)

Colonel William Stryker (Brian Cox), with permission from the President, raids the Xavier mansion in retaliation, though his goal turns out not to be the mutants as originally proposed.  It’s Cerebro, the mutant detection device invented by Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) before they became rivals in the first film.  It is revealed that Xavier can kill people if he were to concentrate hard enough through the device and Stryker wants to him to do exactly that to every mutant on the planet.

Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is once again caught in the middle of the action as his short reunion to the cast is interrupted.  Everyone at the mansion is off to discover the identity and motives of the mutant who attacked the president and he is left alone to defend the mansion during the raid.  He manages to escort Rogue, Iceman and Pyro to safety and they flee to Iceman’s parents’ home in an attempt to find other survivors.  One really surprising addition to the film is that Wolverine seems to go into a murderous rage that was clearly lacking in the first film but definitely gives his name meaning.  There is a wonderful but brief cameo of Colossus in this sequence sure to make every fan of the series happy and wanting more.

Jean Grey (Famke Jansen) and Storm (Halle Berry) find the assassin—Nightcrawler—only to realize he was not in control of his actions at the time.  Surprisingly, Halle Berry can act after all as is apparent in her scenes with Nightcrawler.  Where that prowess is during the first movie is anyone’s guess.  She clearly only agreed to make the movie if she had more screen time and thankfully doesn’t ruin the film in the process.

Xavier and Cyclops visit Magneto in prison, only to become captured by Styker in the process.  Styker can manipulate and coerce mutants to do his bidding with a drug extracted from his mutant son.  He views mutation as a disease to be cured or eradicated.  Xavier knows Stryker having tried to help his son control his powers in the past to little success.  Styker blames Xavier and his son for the suicide of his wife and is using them both as tools to exact his revenge on the mutant population.

Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), having played the role of Senator Kelly since the end of the first film, finds the location of Magneto and plans his escape.  With the Brotherhood of Mutants dissolved, they recruit the help of the remaining X-Men to solve the crisis.  This teaming could have come off poorly but worked well on screen thanks to good acting on all parts.  The awkwardness of the two opposing groups working together is well placed and the slow corruption of Pyro is excellent.

The mystery of Wolverine’s past is explored a lot in this film and is largely the focus of the second half of the movie.  So much so, it almost feels like a second movie just using the same cast.  This could easily have spelled doom for this movie but thanks to some decent editing you get just enough of the rest of the cast to not feel oppressed by how much less X-Men and how much more Wolverine you’re getting this time around.

Jean Grey, having suffered problems with her powers since the beginning of the film, is set up as a plot device for the next film and sadly doesn’t get to shine as much in this film as she did in the first.  Hopefully this will be rectified in X3!

Overall the movie is well put together, the action is packed to the brim.  The plot (though again with too much Wolverine) is a breath of fresh air in the comic movie medium.  The film stands as one of the few sequels that  surpasses the original in almost every way.

Review by DJ Aengel