Rated PG-13 (Sci-Fi Action/Violence, Some
Sexuality and Brief Language)
Running Time: 2 Hours & 14 Minutes
Cast:
Patrick Stewart-Professor Charles Xavier
Ian McKellen-Eric Lehnsherr/Magneto
Hugh Jackman-Logan/Wolverine
Famke Janssen-Jean Grey
James Marsden-Scott Summers/Cyclops
Halle Berry-Ororo Munroe/Storm
Alan Cumming-Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler
Anna Paquin-Anna Marie/Rogue
Shawn Ashmore-Bobby Drake/Iceman
Aaron Stanford-John Allerdyce/Pyro
Daniel Cudmore-Piotr Rasputin/Colossus
Brian Cox-Colonel William Stryker
Kelly Hu-Yuriko Oyama/Lady Deathstrike
Rebecca Romijn-Raven Darkholme/Mystique
Bruce Davison-Senator Robert Kelly
Cotter Smith-President McKenna
Directed by Bryan Singer
 |
| Wolverine goes berserk in "X2: X-Men United," still one of the best comic book films ever made. |
Note: Part of the "X-Men Trilogy" Blu-Ray set.
After the surprise critical and box office
success of the original “X-Men,” 20th Century Fox immediately commissioned a
sequel. Bryan Singer knew the first film was not perfect and there was a large
room for improvement. When “X2: X-Men United” sliced into theaters on May 2,
2003, critics and comic book fans hailed it as one of the best comic book
movies ever made. Almost every flaw from the original was corrected and Singer
pushed the themes of prejudice, warmongering, and terrorism further into the
real world.
The film opens with an assassination
attempt on the President by the mysterious Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming),
prompting Colonel William Stryker (Brian Cox) to use the attack as an excuse to
use deadly force against the mutant population. A few months have passed since
the events of the first film, and Logan (Hugh Jackman) returns from his trip to
Canada, finding no new answers to his mysterious past. Professor Charles Xavier
(Patrick Stewart) assigns Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) and Storm (Halle Berry) to
search for Nightcrawler while he and Cyclops (James Marsden) visit Magneto (Ian
McKellen), still confined to his plastic prison. Unfortunately, Xavier learns
that Stryker has been forcibly extracting information from Magneto but before
he can warn Cyclops, the two are promptly captured by Stryker’s personal
assistant Yuriko Oyama/Lady Deathstrike (Kelly Hu). At the same time, the
X-Mansion is subject to a military raid, with the soldiers capturing as many
mutant students as they can. Logan manages to hold them off and escapes with
Rogue (Anna Paquin), Bobby/Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) and John/Pyro (Aaron Stanford)
to Boston. Mystique (Rebecca Romijn) hacks into Stryker’s personal computer and
learns of his plans to eradicate the mutant population, effectively committing
mass genocide. She springs Magneto out of his plastic prison and the two
propose a truce with the remaining members of the X-Men. The X-Men and Magneto
must now put aside their differences and put an end to Stryker’s plans before a
war breaks out between humans and mutants.
The plot of “X2” was heavily inspired by
the Marvel graphic novel “X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills;” the only major
difference is that instead of a minister, Stryker is now a military scientist
in the film. Recall from the original “X-Men” that Singer dealt with the main
themes of prejudice and alienation on a more personal level, as exemplified by
Rogue and how other mutants would react to people ostracizing them. In the case
of Magneto, he takes it upon himself to become the savior of mutants before the
humans can fire the first shot. With the sequel, Singer takes it one step
further and examines those same themes from the human perspective, how one
man’s blind rage and extremism could cause more damage than what any other
mutant is capable of, feeding into the public’s paranoia that the only way to
get rid of mutants is to kill them off. There is this great scene where Xavier
tries to reason with Stryker and explains to him that mutation is not a disease
but he angrily shouts, ‘You’re lying!’ Stryker then reveals the horrific
experiments he had done on his son, lobotomizing him and treating him as
nothing more than an animal before remarking, ‘My son is dead…just like the
rest of you.’ The fact that Stryker wants to commit mass genocide parallels
what Hitler did during the Holocaust and ties into Magneto’s reasoning and his
view of Humanity, that they are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past, and
destroy themselves and mutants in the process. Singer doesn’t lose focus on
what the mutants go through when they first reveal themselves to their parents,
echoing a common gay ‘coming-out’ scene. When Bobby Drake shows off his powers,
his mother immediately asks whether he ‘tried not being a mutant.’ The reaction
from his younger brother is understandable considering he could’ve looked up to
Bobby as a role model but now sees him as little more than a ‘freak of nature.’
I also want to mention that there are tons of references to other characters in
the X-Men universe, such as cameos from Colossus (Daniel Cudmore) and a
pre-Beast Hank McCoy (Steve Bacic). When Mystique hacks into Stryker’s computer,
you see files on mutants ranging from Remy LeBeau/Gambit to Franklin Richards,
long before there was any talk of a “Fantastic Four” film! The plot in “X2”
improves upon the original in every way, expanding upon all the central themes
of X-Men, with an important message about the destructive power of prejudice
that doesn’t seem heavy-handed thanks to some amazing action scenes. It does
suffer from one flaw that’s carried over from the original film; the focus is
once again on Wolverine. When Magneto says to him, ‘Once again you think it’s
all about you,’ it’s ironic because it IS all about him! Nonetheless, Singer
tries his best to give every major character at least one scene to shine.
Everything I’ve mentioned about the acting
from the first review applies here. Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and Ian
McKellen continue to shine in their respective roles but most impressive is
newcomer Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler. Despite being an outsider due to his
demonic appearance, he takes pride in his powers and due to his Christian
faith, he doesn’t view humans with hatred, but instead pities them, knowing
that they ‘will never know anything beyond what they see with their own two
eyes.’ I was also impressed with the makeup effects and the addition of angelic
markings on his body, reinforcing the fact that he is a devout Christian. Famke
Janssen is a lot better as Jean Grey, thanks in large part to the foreshadowing
of her character’s eventual fate which got every comic book fan talking about
what Singer had planned for “X3.” Due to her Oscar-winning performance in
“Monster’s Ball,” Halle Berry’s role was expanded with more screen-time and
while she looks more comfortable as Storm, her performance is still a little
stiff. Brian Cox as William Stryker is also excellent, playing a less
traditional villain who is not motivated by greed but by prejudice and the
desire to eradicate an entire race, seeing them as less than human. This time,
Cyclops gets shortchanged and while he has a rather emotionally dramatic scene
near the end, Singer should’ve have fought to keep James Marsden’s scenes as it
was reported that Fox commissioned them to be cut for time length. You would
think that with such a large ensemble cast, something would screw up along the
way but Singer succeeds for the most part in making every character, regardless
of them being major or minor, compelling. There’s a lot less one-on-one battles
in “X2” save one and that’s between Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike. It is one
of the most exciting fight scenes I’ve ever seen in a comic book film with both
slicing and dicing everything in sight. The opening attack on the President,
with Nightcrawler teleporting everywhere is certainly one that was most talked
about after I came out of the theater. There’s also the aerial dogfight between
the Blackbird and two fighter jets, perfectly showing off Storm’s immense
power.
“X2” arrives on Blu-Ray for the first
time, part of the “X-Men Trilogy” box set. Picture quality is sort of
in-between, better than “X-Men” but not as good as “X3.” The detail is still
impressive, featuring bold, deep blacks, especially in Stryker’s military base
and the tornadoes during the Blackbird dogfight have more depth to them. The
fiery image of Jean Grey near the end is particularly striking, ironic considering
the importance of that scene and its foreshadowing. The lurid, green color
palette used in Logan’s flashbacks is stronger, showing new detail that I
missed when I originally watched the film on DVD. Audio quality is impressive,
thanks to a more bombastic score from John Ottman, who also serves as the
film’s editor. I always felt that while Michael Kamen’s score was good, it was
too subdued. You’ll also hear gut-wrenching flesh being torn as Lady
Deathstrike forcibly jabs her claws into Wolverine’s spine and then there’s the
distinctive ‘BAMF!’ as Nightcrawler teleports all over the place. Like I said
with “X-Men,” Blu-Ray is definitely the way to experience “X2,” and what a
dazzling cinematic experience it is!
When "X2: X-Men United" was
released, critics were overwhelmingly enthusiastic, with an amazing 87% on
Rotten Tomatoes, making this one of the few times where a sequel surpassed the
original film in almost every way. Fans flocked to the theaters (I remember the
lines were so long, they stretched as far as the eye could see!), allowing “X2”
to gross an impressive $215 million domestic and $408 million worldwide,
surpassing the original “X-Men” due to strong word-of-mouth. Bryan Singer
creates a thoroughly engaging sequel that features great acting and special
effects, never losing sight of what made the comics so great: the freedom to be
different in a world of fear and intolerance. It’s sad to see what became of
“X3” after this crowning achievement but it doesn’t diminish the fact that this
is one of THE best comic book sequels in recent memory!
Final Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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