X-Men 2 [aka X2] (2003)

Traditionally sequels to successful movies have been something to be regarded with suspicion. All too often they were rushed out by a movie studio, regardless of whether the original cast and director had been persuaded to return, or whether a script that could continue the story in an interesting (and/or plausible) way had been found. Forunately, X-Men 2 avoids the typical sequel pitfalls, and even manages the impressive (and rare) feat of being a better film than the first film in the series.

The first film was an entertaining but slightly disappointing affair. It was good at introducing a large number of interesting characters, but it didn't really do anything particularly exciting with them for most of the film. The sequel builds on the first film, assuming that the audience is already familiar with the characters and launching straight into the action. All the main characters from the first re-appear in the sequel, the X-Men themselves (a bunch of genetic mutants with assorted superpowers, dedicated to fighting evil) and their nemesis Magneto (Ian MacKellan), a powerful mutant who sees that human society is suspicious of the mutants in their midst, and believes that the mutants must band together to fight the ordinary humans. This time, however, Magneto is not the primary threat – since he spends most of the film in prison – it is military commander William Stryker (Brian Cox) who is the main threat, driven by a hatred of the mutant community, he embarks on a genocidal plan to remove all the mutants from society.

The film opens with an undeniably impressive action sequence as teleporting blue-skinned mutant Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) teleports around the White House in an attempt to attack the US president. Stryker seizes upon the attack to get presidential authorisation for an attack on Professor Xavier's (Patrick Stewart) school for mutants – supposedly to remove a threat, but his real motive is to steal a vital piece of technology whilst simultaneously kidnapping the only person who can use it. The attack on the school is the second good action sequence in the film, allowing a number of characters to display their powers as they attempt to escape from Stryker's soldiers. The mutants that escape the attack are forced to regroup and join with Magneto and his shape-shifting ally Mystique (Rebecca Romjin-Stamos) to stop Stryker's plan. The plot is an improvement on the simple protect-heroine-kill-bad-guy plots of many superhero movies, and there is the obligatory moral message with discrimination against mutants symbolising discrimination against . It's generally fairly plausible as well, if you can accept the occasionally unlikely mutant powers. There a lot of characters – most of whom have their own story arc - and some of the characters from the first film don't really have much to do. Most of the focus is on Xavier, Magneto, Nightcrawler, the regenerating Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and the powerful telekinetic Dr Jean Grey (Famke Jansen).

The acting is generally very good, director Bryan Singer has managed to assemble a cast that outclasses just about any other recent big Hollywood blockbuster. MacKellan, Stewart and Cox as particularly good, but most of the actors are convincing in their roles, although Halle Berry, Anna Paquin and James Marsden in particular aren't given enough to do to really develop their characters. This film is more action-oriented than the character-oriented original so there is less opportunity for character development, but there are some good character moments. One of the few places this doesn't match the original film is in the dialogue, there were some good lines in the first film but this time round conversations tend to be a bit bland. In particular most of the attempts at comedy don't really end up being that funny, fortunately there aren't too many of them.

The action scenes are suitably entertaining, the special effects may not be as impressive as The Matrix Reloaded but the CGI is high quality. Whereas the action sequences in the first film were slightly unexciting at times, this film has plenty of memorable moments – the opening sequence and the school raid in particular, the fight between Wolverine and his female counterpart Deathstryke (Kelly Hu) is another notable action scene.

This is a highly entertaining film, although it does not excel in any one particular area the combination of the good action, acting, characters and plot combine to make the most entertaining blockbuster of 2003 (so far). If X-Men 3 is as good a film then this could end up as one of Hollywood's best film franchises.

Rating : 8.5 / 10

All content ©2003 William Marnoch.

Comments? Agree/Disagree with the Reviews? Suggestions? Random Ramblings? Whatever you might want to say, feel free to e-mail me at william@wmarnoch.freeserve.co.uk .