X2 a sequel worth watching

Rating: 8/10 (5 June 2006)

After the box-office success of X-Men in 2000, revitalizing the comic book film genre that had fallen on hard times after Batman & Robin successfully chased audiences away, it was inevitable that the X-Men would return in a sequel, and that is precisely what happened with 2003's X2. Director Bryan Singer was back on board, supported by many of the key creatives that ushered X-Men to the screen, and in the process crafted a sequel that was stronger than the original.
X2 opens some time after the conclusion of X-Men, with Magneto (Ian McKellan) held in a plastic prison after attempting to mutate the world leaders on Ellis Island, and things back to semi-normal at the Xavier School for Gifted Children. But things don't last that way for long: there is an attempt on the life of the President of the United States by a mutant, Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) which gives General William Stryker (Brian Cox), a military official running a special mutant research and development wing of the military, license to crack down on mutants, including raiding the Xavier School.
Meanwhile, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), has gone searching for some answers to questions about his past, but found very little. Returning to the fold of the X-Men, he goes on the run with Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), Rogue (Anna Paquin) and Pyro (Aaron Stanford) when Stryker attacks. Stryker kidnaps Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and plans to use his telepathic abilities to destroy all mutants across the globe. Into this fray, Magneto, aided by his shapeshifting associate Mystique (Rebecca Romjin-Stamos), escapes, meets up with the still free X-Men and the two groups plan to join forces to assault Stryker's base and stop him from carrying out his plan.
X2 takes most of what was good about X-Men and serves it up again in a much better package. X2 has a noticeably bigger budget, and while impressive special effects are rarely the sole reason to see a movie, when the film calls for it, they help immeasurably. Still, as with X-Men, Singer and company know when to hold back, and X2 is not ruled by it's visuals. Again, the material at the film's heart takes center stage, and this time the combination proves much more compelling.
Essentially, X2 naturally steps up the first film, pushing the plight of the X-Men to the next level and further developing the obvious rift that exists between normal humans and mutants. The film is helped by the introduction of Stryker, a good villain who, while certainly appropriately evil, isn't without his shades of grey. He is a man driven by some dark demons, and while the lengths he goes to are extreme, they are not without some basis in the character's development.
X2 once again falls a little short in one area: character management. The X-Men are a group of characters that have been around a long time and there are so many that it becomes difficult to introduce new ones and not begin overcrowding the film. Singer and screenwriters Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris and David Hayter manage to balance it most of the time, but still you can't help feeling that some of the X-Men are coming up short on screen time and development, robbing the film of some of it's emotional power. When the characters are borderline strangers to you, it is difficult to really feel something for their plight.
One strong point about X2 that improves over the original is the music score. John Ottman's entry is much more memorable and energetic than Michael Kamen's good, but at times restrained score for the first film. The actors are all in good form, with Hugh Jackman proving to be perfect casting again as curmudgeonly loner Wolverine, and Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart always bring touches of class to the material. Brian Cox is good as the maniacal Stryker and Alan Cumming proves memorable as Nightcrawler.
So, X2 proves to be that rarest of beasts: a sequel that is actually better than it's original. X-Men was a proving ground that led the creators to push the boundaries on the sequel and make appropriate improvements when necessary. It's too bad all filmmakers didn't follow their example.