Review of X2 (2003) by Mrmoviebuff — 25 May 2016

'X2: X-Men United' is a deeper, darker, more violent and horrifying movie, and the best of the "X-Men" legacy. Bryan Singer directs a more solid, and intense chapter for our mutant heroes, and it's an enormous improvement of the first movie, which I thought was absolutely fantastic.

The movie opens with what could be the best opening for any movie, and that involves the White House and a mutant named Kurt Wagner aka "Nightcrawler" (Alan Cumming) attempting to assassinate the U.S. President in a fast-paced, intense, and sometimes scary scene which we see Nightcrawler teleport away from the guards. This is a difficult scene to do well, and Singer manages to keep everything in focus.

We see Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) appear at the lake where he became metal and where his memory of his origins may have been erased, but he cannot seem to find any answers. The group of mutants at Charles Xavier's (Patrick Stewart) school return, and it seems that Jean (Famke Janssen) is having trouble controlling her telepathic powers. This is a tease to her "Phoenix saga", and Cyclops (James Marsden) is concerned and tries not to make her worry.

Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) and Rogue (Anna Paquin) also return, and it seems that Rogue's powers of uncontrollably harming an individual seem to stall their relationship as they cannot express physical love for one another.

Magneto (Ian McKellen) is still in prison since the events of 'X-Men' (2000) and he is visited by a Colonel William Stryker (Brian Cox), who wants him to give information where Charles' Cerebro is, and plots to use it against all the mutants and wipe them out. Colonel Stryker also plans to kidnap Xavier in order for him to use Cerebro and convince him to do so, but he runs into Wolverine along his journey, and Wolverine thinks that Stryker is a link to his forgotten past.

The action scenes in this movie are better than ever, particularly the Nightcrawler scene at the White House, the raid scene in the X-Mansion with Wolverine maniacally killing Stryker's guards left, right and center. There is also a scene in which Wolverine fights another mutant with very similar powers to his.

Just like stated above, this is a darker sequel, and more character driven as we get some time developed to Iceman, in a very well done scene where he explains about his mutant abilities that he was born with. The movie is also half an hour longer than its predecessor, and it still moves at a fast pace, with more characters, more violence, more action and a darker tone...'X2: X-Men United' is one of the best comic book sequels out there.