X2: X-Men United

After a mysterious mutant called Nightcrawler (Cumming) tries to assassinate the US President, the Commander and Chief gives General William Stryker (Cox) unlimited resources and power to deal with the mutant situation. As Professor Charles Xavier (Stewart) and the rest of the X-Men try and locate the mutant assassin, the school is attacked by Stryker's forces with only Wolverine (Jackman) left to protect the young students.

The X-Men return with a bang and continue the renaissance of the comic book movie.

After kicking off the rebirth of interest in the comic book genre in 2000, after it was well and truly killed off by the disastrous Batman & Robin, our favourite Mutants return to save humanity from its own bigotry and intolerance of everything that is different. In fact the film's underlying message of acceptance of people's differences is what the movie and the comic book were all about and this is a point that is very relevant in the current World climate.

After the worldwide success of the original movie, director Bryan Singer has been given a bigger budget to play with and it shows. From the stunning opening introduction to Nightcrawler to the spectacular finale, the film doesn't disappoint on the visuals one iota. Singer has grown since the last movie. Gone are any lingering doubts that he couldn't really handle a project with a large budget but the X-Men series is made for him and I can't think of anyone better to be in charge of one of Marvel's most treasured commodities. He is at this best with a good story and a strong cast and X2 has both.

The story continues from where we left off, answering many of the questions posed at the end of the first film and then throwing in some new ones for good measure. You can tell that the people behind this see it as a franchise that can run for a very long time and one this evidence I hope it does.

The ensemble cast is exceptional. All of the X-Men and the surviving villains from the first movie return. Patrick Stewart moves well and truly out of Picard's shadow making Prof Xavier his own with more screen time than in the original. Hugh Jackman excels in the role that made him famous by bringing Wolverine's true berserker rage to the screen for the first time. His body count in the school assault is off the scale. Halle Berry and Famke Janssen have more screen time also as Storm and Jean Grey, with Famke really getting to grips with a role that will hopefully grow even more prominently in the movies to follow. Sir Ian McKellen steals the show as the wonderful but slightly underused Magneto. Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, who we actually get to see without the blue skin this time round, aids him again. James Marsden as Cyclops and Anna Paquin as Rouge are also good.

As this is a sequel, you have to expect some new characters and X2 has them in abundance. Shawn Ashmore, who made a brief appearance in the original, returns as Iceman and now boyfriend of Rouge. Completing the teenage trio is Aaron Stanford who brings a touch of dark menace to fire manipulator Pyro. The beautiful Kelly Hu as Lady Deathstrike and Brian Cox as the mutant hating General Stryker make engaging villains but it is Alan Cumming's Nightcrawler that almost steals the show. From his stunning introduction to his acceptance by the X-Men, Cumming's portrayal of the blue teleporter is striking and a real highlight among many in the film.

I do have a slight problem with both of these movies however. The film is filled with too many strong characters. While this might not be bad thing in some viewer's eyes, for me I would like to see more of certain characters like Storm, Iceman and Magneto. Yes I know there are time restraints but I still would have liked to have seen their stories panned out abit more instead of introducing sub-stories that really aren't played out enough (Lets hope there is an X2.5).

X2: X-Men United is great, escapist cinema. Bryan Singer and everyone involved in the project take you to a believeable fantasy world that, even though is deals with mutants, has many parallels to the real world when it comes to tolerance and prejudice towards people and cultures that are different. Even though it has too many characters with not enough screen time and slightly too many subplots, the film is an excellent comic book movie and picture in it's own right. Oh and if you are a big X-Men fan, watch out for some quick cameos from some mutant favourites. It is a rarity, a sequel that is as good as, if not better than, the original.

Disc 1

The film in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 surround sound

On-set featurettes
Two commentary tracks with Director Bryan Singer & the producers on one, Singer and various cast members on the other.
Eleven deleted scenes including Professor Xavier and Cyclops return, Fight in the mall, Extended Wolverine/Deathstrike, Nightcrawler's Mark, Rogue/Bobby talk about Pyro, Mystique File Stealing Sequence, Jean and Storm scene in the X-Jet, Rogue helps kids during mansion raid, Extended Colossus/X-Kids Scene, Wolverine enters the 'Danger Room' door, Alternate Opening Sequence & Camp Scene, Professor X's Victory.

Disc 2

Five featurettes ("Return of the Mutants", "Mutant Effects", "X2: The Cast", "Reflections", "Future of the X-Men")
Video of the press conference
An on-set making of special
HBO: First Look special
4 Trailers
7 TV Spots
Art Gallery
Animatics
Easter Eggs.

The Usher Home | Hush, Hush... | The Big Story | The Usher Speaks

Stuck @ Home | Coming Soon | Links | Contact the Usher

2003