The beginning of X2 is no less daring than its predecessor.
Taking place about a month after the events of the first film, the sequel
opens with a startling attack at the White House. A lone, blue-skinned mutant
with powers of teleportation single-handedly gets past an army of secret service
agents and almost manages to stab the president before a downed agent wings him.
He vanishes, leaving behind a knife with a note attached that reads, "Mutant
Freedom Now". Upon hearing of the assault, Professor Xavier, fearing the
government will launch a new campaign of terror against the mutant population,
decides that the X-Men should try and find this assassin first.
Using the psychic power-enhancing machine Cerebro, Xavier locates the assassin
in Boston, and sends Jean Grey and Storm in the X-Jet to retrieve him. Meanwhile,
back in Washington, the president, still badly shaken from the attack, gives the
authority to William Stryker (played by the great Brian Cox) to invade and
arrest all members of Professor Xavier's school for gifted children. Stryker, a
stridently anti-mutant military scientist, presents evidence that Xavier's
school is more than just a haven for gifted children, it is a mutant stronghold,
with it's own jet that rises from a hidden hanger beneath the basketball court.
He receives most of his information about the X-Men from the imprisoned Magneto
who is mistreated by Stryker and is given a mind-control drug to make him more
susceptible.
Meanwhile, once Jean and Storm locate and subdue the assassin in Boston, he
turns out to be a devoutly religious former circus performer named Kurt Wagner,
AKA Nightcrawler. Nightcrawler had attacked the president completely against his
own will. He had also been a captive of Stryker, who used the mind control drug
on him so that he would kill the president and start an all-out war between
mutants and humans. Although the attack failed, Stryker has not yet been foiled.
After capturing the Professor and Cyclops while they visit Magneto in his
plastic prison, Stryker launches a spectacular raid on Professor Xavier's school
with a small army of heavily armed commandos. He's not only after the children,
but the secrets of Cerebro, as well. There's just one problem: Wolverine had
been left behind to baby-sit the kids, and he takes extreme exception to having
intruders in the X-Men's lair. The ensuing battle between Wolverine and the
armed soldiers is one of many highlights in this fine film.
If the first X-Men movie was great, then X2 is simply magnificent. Working with
an even larger cast of characters, Director Bryan Singer effortlessly juggles
all of their storylines as he propels the overall story forward with great
intelligence and a brisk pace. There is not a wasted moment in this film; every
scene, no matter how small, serves the storyline, which builds to a startling
showdown in a secret underground base. Ian McKellen shines once again as Magneto,
as does Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, who as the shape-shifter Mystique is given far
more to do in the sequel, and nearly steals the film from her co-stars. Hugh
Jackman's Wolverine is another standout, as is Alan Cumming's Nightcrawler.
What's truly amazing about X2 is how Singer and the screenwriters manage to give
everybody in the cast their moment to excel. Halle Berry's Storm, James Marsden's
Cyclops, Anna Paquin's Rogue and especially Famke Janssen's Jean Grey all have
their great moments.
The DVD is loaded with extras, such as two commentaries: one with Director Singer
and cinematographer Tom Sigel, and the other with the writers and producers.
There's a second disc with deleted scenes, a slew of "making of" featurettes,
and a documentary on the production called "The Second Uncanny Issue Of X-Men".
Not only is it a perfect continuation of the first film, but X2: X-Men United
actually soars above its precursor and many other entries in the genre to become
one of the definitive comic book movies ever made. --SF
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