Review of X2 (2003) by Christopher A — 13 Sep 2012

After the success of X-Men, it had awakened a revival of the superhero genre that would eventually lead to some of the genres best movies. It also has brought a sequel that is superior to it in almost every way.

The movie starts with an assassination attempt on the President's life by a mutant who had the ability to teleport which almost succeeded. Meahwhile, Logan (Hugh Jackman) tries to look for the base where he was given his adamantium body. Finding no answers to his past, he returns to the mansion. While Storm (Halle Berry) and Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) (who says that her powers are starting to become more intense) hunt down the mutant who tried to kill the President and Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) speaks with Magneto (Ian McKellen) about the assassination attempt, Logan watches over the children in the mansion.

It appears that Magneto had been visited by William Stryker (Brian Cox), a human military scientist. It is discovered that he told him everything about Cerebro. Brought into a trap, Xavier and Cyclops are captured by Stryker and his assisstant, Yuriko Oyama (Kelly Hu). With help from Mystique (Rebecca Rominj), Magneto escapes from his prison. The mansion is soon raided by Stryker and his soldiers. Some were captured, but Logan escapes along with Rogue (Anna Paquin), her boyfriend, Bobby Drake (Shawn Ashmore), and his friendm John Allerdyce (Aaron Stanford). Seeking refuge, they find Bobby's parents, but are eventually discovered by the police and flee.

Meanwhile, Storm and Jean find the mutant, Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming), and he explains that he was brainwashed. Befriending him, they eventually reunite with the Logan and the others. After being attacked by aircraft, they run into Magneto and Mystique, who plan to infiltrate Stryker's base. When they discover that Stryker is trying to destory mutantkind, they must rescue the Professor, stop the ultimate genocide of the mutants, and Logan must also face his past.

While the story was fine, it wasn't quite as good as the one in the first. The first film was more character driven. However, there is still good chemistry between the characters and there is a lot of action in the movie. It also has one of the best fight scenes in superhero movies: Wolverine vs. Lady Deathstrike.

The acting is good. Hugh Jackman has still got it as Wolverine. Stewart and McKellen deliver excellent performances as Xavier and Magneto. Brian Cox made a good villain and is able to connect with Hugh Jackman pretty well. As with the rest of the cast, it's fine except for Halle Berry and Cyclops not having much screentime.

With more action and good performances, X2 is a good action sequel to the 2000 film.