Flawless

Rating: 10/10 (7 April 2005)

Sequels are notorious for being sour flops and dragging down the franchise of their successful predecessors. But it seems recently that things might be looking up for those directors who want to pull their films back out of their attics for a sequel. You just have to look in the media to see the names of sequels buzzing around with respectful reviews: Spiderman 2, Shrek 2, and Harry Potter.
And X2: X-Men United is a much better movie all round than its 2000 predecessor.
The new movie is once again based on the admirable Marvel Comics of heroic mutant superheroes who battle for their place in the discriminating world. The movie follows on from X-Men, which was used as a form of "prologue" for viewers to get to know the characters of the X-Men world. X-Men was an action-fuelled film of heavy character development padded by popular but widely exaggerated extravaganza of special effects, topped with some amusing one-liners  "Don't you people ever die?" and some deep thinkers, "Mankind has always feared what it doesn't understand."
However, I'm pleased to say director Bryan Singer ("The Usual Suspects") has certainly got more confidence in his actors and the storyline. And it shows wonderfully. Simply by the way in which the actors have got deeper into their roles and how the script unravels without any glitches  he has allowed the movie to progress with more intelligence since he is now fully aware that the fans out there love it!
X2 brings back actors from the previous film who all continue to shine in their designated roles. Hugh Jackman, who made his big debut in Hollywood in X-Men returns as the notorious Wolverine, also the wheelchair bound psychic Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), and the visually stunning Dr. Jean Grey (Famke Janssen). Also not forgetting to mention the one-eyed leader, Cyclops (James Marsden), ivory-haired beauty Storm (Halle Berry) and the untouchable Rogue (Anna Paquin).
The change in the new film is not overly dramatic; it feels more as if it has got a good kick up the backside to help get it into proper working gear. As in 'X-Men' the film revolves around the mutants continuing the traditional and tiringly clichéd battle between the good guys and the villains. At least here the double enemies of Magneto (Sir Ian McKellen) and the human population give it a personalised flavour of a three-sided war.
The film explodes onto screen in a sizzling cloud of blue smoke, revealing Bryan's first new entry to X2, Nightcrawler, played captivatingly by Alan Cumming. I have to say that this film opening has to be one of the best I have ever seen. It's as if we never left the world of 'X-Men' behind as we are pulled into some delicious special effects portraying an assassin battle in the Whitehouse. Intended as a hook, it sure launches us in right off our cinema seats and reels us into the world we have grown to love.
Replacing the late Senator Kelly is the hulking and menacing William Stryker (Brian Cox), a vengeful human scientist who is determined to eradicate the mutant population from the world, using the imprisoned Magneto and Charles's Cerebro to try and accomplish his potentially devastating plans. He is side kicked by a silent but deadly beauty Yuriko Oyama/Lady Deathstrike (Kelly Hu) who illustrates some suspiciously familiar traits as she takes part in a final battle with Wolverine.
Whilst William Stryker and his battles form the focus of the plot, it is cleverly intertwined by Wolverine's ever-continuous search for his past. And after a night of reluctant babysitting, he is forced face to face with his creator, which is displayed after a visual feast of roaring brutality with Wolverine slicing his way through forces of soldiers  and whilst we would normally object to such unmerciful killing  the Wolverine is protecting the kids who live at Xavier's mansion. So, naturally, we are on his side!
As expected, this film has a barrage of special effects and some are so good that they almost go unnoticed (Iceman icing up Wolverine's Dr. Pepper is one!) but they seem to settle in comfortably in the plot. Rather than being there to impress, they are there to tell the story, like they should be. The action scenes of this film are high standard, but amidst all the exploding and striking there is the subtle charm of Jean and Logan's (Wolverine) toying affections, which travel throughout the movie, leading to a wonderful mid-movie crescendo.
All in all, this film is a big step up from 'X-Men' in all respects. The special effects are superb, the character portrayal is spot on and this time round, the plot is oddly refreshing (even though, as mentioned before it is the same good guy/bad guy fodder.)
This film is another that proves that sometimes, sequels are well worth the money.
(The two disc DVD also has a lot of juicy extra's any X-fan would want, so if you're considering buying it, do so today!)