X-Men 2 2003 Superhero Film Starring Halle Berry
X-Men and Magneto are Forced to Join Forces to Fight a Common Foe
Sep 14, 2009
Set a few months after the end of the previous film X-Men 2 (X2) follows Wolverine returning to the X-Mansion after searching for answers about his past at an abandoned military facility at Alkali Lake. Magneto lingers in a plastic prison and the President of the United States is almost killed in an assassination attempt by a teleporting mutant.
X-Men 2's Plot and Characters
X-Men 2 opens with a magnificently choreographed sequence of a large blue demon-like mutant appearing and disappearing as he takes down the President’s secret service agents one after another. He is poised to kill the President when he is shot and disappears. The X-Men suspect that Magneto (Ian McKellen) might have organised the attack from inside his jail cell, constructed of plastic to prevent him using his powers over metal. Xavier sends Storm and Jean (Halle Berry and Famke Janssen reprising their respective roles from the first film) after the mutant responsible for the assassination attempt. Xavier questions Magneto but he denies being responsible for the attack. He tells his friend that during his incarceration a government agent named William Stryker (Brian Cox) has used a form of mind control to force Magneto to tell him ‘everything’ including the location of Xavier’s Mansion.
Xavier is captured and a strike team move in on the mansion. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Rogue (Anna Paquin), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) and Pyro (Aaron Stanford) are able to aid most of the other mutants to escape, however, some are captured. Wolverine and the others are cut off from the escape tunnel and elude the strike team heading to Iceman’s home.
Mystique (Rebecca Romijn), Magneto’s most dedicated follower, injects a metal into a guard’s bloodstream that Magneto is able to rip from him (seeing it happen is one of the finest moments of the film) and escape.
As the film progresses the X-Men are forced to join with Magneto and Mystique’s Brotherhood of Mutants in order to defeat Stryker who wishes to eradicate all mutants.
Superior Sequel
X-Men 2 has the advantage of many second films because it does not have to concern itself with establishing the world and the characters. The main cast and director Bryan Singer have all worked together on the previous film and are at home in the world of the X-Men. The plot is also a step up on X-Men and puts usual enemies together to fight a common foe that wishes to eradicate them all.
New additions include Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming), as the catholic teleporting mutant, and Lady Deathstrike (Kelly Hu) a mutant with the same formidable powers of regeneration as Wolverine. Both characters are fine additions to an already excellent cast. The cast clearly enjoy their respective roles and apparently the entire female cast were present behind the scenes when Jackman filmed the sequence in which Wolverine is running down a passageway naked.
Bryan Singer is a skilled director and knows how to get the film he wants from his highly skilled actors and actresses. Wolverine once again takes primarily the centre stage with his back story and relationship to Stryker being key. Jean Grey is also further developed and those familiar with the comic will recognise the beginnings of the Dark Phoenix (non-fans will miss the reference but it is further developed in the third film). However what is a little puzzling is that although the finale of the film takes place in a snowy wilderness Iceman doesn't uses his powers, surely, he would have been in his element.
X-Men 2 surpasses its predecessor and is able to effectively tamper with the established structure from the original film.
5/5
X-Men 2 shows how good a Marvel Comic adaptation can be with a great director and fantastic cast.
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