Review of X2 (2003) by Adam F — 09 Jun 2014

"X2: X-Men United", or "X-Men 2" as I like to call it is a sequel that is not only good, it's even better than the original. As part of the X-Men film series it's one of the most entertaining chapters because it builds on the character development we've gotten before, introduces some memorable new mutants and has the heroes and villains uniting to face a common enemy. The film begins with an amazing addition to the franchise: a teleporting, blue-skinned mutant known as Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) teleports into the Whitehouse and attempts to assassinate the president. This attack convinces the government to allow William Stryker (Brian Cox) to take down Charles Xavier's school for mutants. Unknown to anyone though, this attack is meant to do more than just capture any mutants that evade the special ops forces that enter the building. When Stryker enters the mansion, he heads straight for the Professor's Mutant Tracking Computer, Cerebro. With Stryker being somehow tied into Wolverine's past, Xavier missing and the students on the run, the X-Men will have to team up with Magneto to face this new threat.

This film is a perfect example of how to ensure that your first film will flourish into a terrific franchise. All of the actors are back and their roles are expanded upon. As you might expect, one of the really interesting elements of the film is the character of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), who gets to explore some of his mysterious past. If you've seen the prequel, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" it's not really anything you haven't seen before, but this film does it right whereas that one did it wrong. We're given hints of what kind of ghoulish procedures were used to give Wolverine his adamantium skeleton and what kind of secret government project would find it useful to give metal, retractable claws that can cut through anything to a man. That's right, in this pre-"Wolverine Origins" film, Wolverine's claws are actually mechanical, they are not part of his mutation. It's a fact that will get retroactively changed as the series goes on (most notably in Wolverine's first solo film but also in some of the others) but works in unison with several other elements of this film to create some really interesting overarching themes (more on that in a bit). Some of the other characters that get a good chunk of the spotlight are Rogue (Anna Paquin) and her boyfriend Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), Storm (Halle Berry) and Mystique (Rebecca Romijin-Stamos, still in blue body paint). One of the important characters in this franchise is Rogue because other than her, most of the mutants featured in the film have some pretty cool powers that anyone would envy. In her case, her powers of life-force absorption are actually more of a curse than anything. Not only because of the events during the climax of the previous film, but also because she has a boyfriend but can't figure out a way to get close to him.

The inclusion of Rogue, Iceman and another teenage mutant named Pyro (Aaron Stanford) in the grand adventure really works to show once again some of the most interesting aspects of the X-Men franchise: the normal human population being unable to accept the mutants among them. Pyro's reaction to some of the rejection is particularly interesting because it's both satisfying and tragic at the same time. Next we have Storm, which didn't get much development in the first movie. Here, she's given a bit of a romantic sub-plot and we learn that she actually doesn't really have that many good feelings towards the humans. With her and some of the other characters like Pyro, you of get the feeling that even though they might be on the X-Men's side of the mutant conflict, all it would take is a little push to have them lash out against humanity. The last mutant character I want to talk about is Mystique. Despite the fact that she got ample screen time in "X-Men: First Class", she was more of a mysterious character in "X-Men". Here we get to see her really show off her infiltration and spy skills, which make for some really thrilling sequences. We also get to see some of her twisted sense of humour. When she and Magneto join up with the X-Men against Stryker, she is toying with Rogue, Wolverine and the other X-Men just as much as she was when they were fighting each other in that first movie. Once again, it's the subtle little things in her character that make her so memorable, like the choices of forms that she makes when toying with Wolverine or the way she mocks Stryker for example. As with the first film, our memorable characters are given a big obstacle and a memorable villain to go up against. Stryker comes off as a powerful, intelligent baddie whose plan is ingenious and truly frightening. The character actually has a pretty tragic back story and you can understand why it is that he became the man he is now, it's just that he is taking the whole thing too far.

One thing that struck me while watching the film was how well it brought in the themes of temptation, corruption and betrayal. You've seen countless movies where the bad guy says "Join me and we'll rule together!" and in most cases (so basically anything but "Star Wars") it comes off as hammy and ridiculous. Not here. There are moments where you genuinely wonder what Wolverine will do when confronted with someone that might actually hold the answers to his past. As established in "X-Men" he could be any number of years old and who knows how or why he got experimented upon so he and the audience are really curious. You figure he's probably not going to join forces with Stryker, but it must certainly be tempting for our hero to at least strike some kind of a deal or something... Without giving away some of the great surprises and developments in the film let me just note down some plot points in a way that's vague enough for the people that haven't seen it to still get some surprises but clear enough to make my point. Think about the themes of corruption, temptation and betrayal when you watch the film and pay special attention to the following elements: Look at the way that Storm and Pyro deal with rejection from the humans and how, in turn the humans deal with the mutants, even if they appear to be friendly towards each other. Look at the subplot where we see Jean Grey's powers change and how it will inevitably lead into the further chapters in the film. Look at the way that Cerebro is corrupted and used in a twisted way by Stryker. One of the best examples, in my opinion is with Wolverine. Think about what his powers were initially, something peaceful, the ability to heal injuries. Now look at him. Armed with indestructible claws and given a metal skeleton that makes him virtually unstoppable, a pure killing machine designed for who knows what kind of purpose. After that, take a look at his big rival in the film and how that character is ultimately, a tragic one. Those are just a few examples among the many.

One of the most entertaining parts of this movie is being able to look at it and see this recurring idea of corruption and temptation being played out and weighing heavily on the shoulders of our heroes. It's not enough that they've got a really big threat to face, one that's even bigger in scale than the ones in the first film; they also have this whole other dilemma gnawing away at them too. Some of the heroes make it out ok, some of them succumb to temptation. With bigger special effects sequences, more memorable characters, an alliance that you cheer for and are wary of at the same time and just enough revelations and character development to balance it all together, "X2" is not only a satisfying superhero movie, it's a terrific science fiction film with high stakes that gets you excited to see more. (On Blu-ray, June 5, 2014).