Review of X2 (2003) by Stuart K — 30 Apr 2014

After X-Men (2000), made nearly $300 million, a sequel was inevitable, and Bryan Singer began development on a sequel almost immediately, although it would take nearly 3 years to develop, as Singer was interested in story and character development first.

Using the 1982 X-Men comic God Loves, Man Kills as the basis for plot, it's a sequel that manages to be just as good and compelling as the original. After an attack on the White House by the mutant Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming), Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) goes looking for him, while Magneto (Ian McKellen) escapes from prison with help from Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos).

It's revealed that rogue government operative William Stryker (Brian Cox) has a deadly agenda involving Xavier and Stryker kidnaps him. So Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), along with Storm (Halle Berry), Cyclops (James Marsden), Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) and Rogue (Anna Paquin) unite to take on Stryker, who is using his son Jason (Michael Reid McKay) to control Xavier's mind and actions.

It's a bigger film with some great set pieces, and it's a fast film which jumps from scene to scene, and it has a good deal of imagination on display. It should have set the tone perfectly for the third X-Men film, but no-one could foresee with what was going to happen next, and the nightmare and fallout that would follow.