Outstanding Movie - Best Sequel Since Godfather II

Rating: Null/10 (3 September 2003)

It's not just that this movie, directed by Bryan Singer, is more chockablock with eye-popping effects and thrilling action sequences than the first one, though that's true. Nor that Singer depicts more mutant super-powers, though that's true also. Rather, it's that there's a whole story here, unlike in the original film. That 2000 release felt cramped and crabbed by comparison - so much exposition and backstory were required to introduce these characters and their universe that the plot couldn't start moving until the final half-hour. "X2" starts fast, and springboards from the long-running Marvel Comics series in breath-taking ways. It's a multi-faceted tale with an emotional richness seldom associated with the phrase "summer movie." For good reason, we equate summer movies with empty, flash-bang exercises in computer-generated imagery and mindless action. But the writers here seem less interested in the action than the subtext: the effort by a high-handed majority to control and eradicate a minority it finds undesirable. The script examines the other side of that equation as well: the desire to strike back, to return hatred for hatred. In that sense, Stryker is the flip-side of Magneto, who believes that the mutants, rather than submit to discrimination or attempt peaceful coexistence, should use their powers to rise up and rule over humans. Not that this is a movie with a lot of touchy-feely talks about brotherhood. It's just that "X2" has more on its mind than super-powered butt-kicking. Still, there's no denying that those super-powers drive this film. This is what state-of-the-art special effects look like: the live-action version of the way comic books appear in your mind. That would be irrelevant, however, without a good story. But "X2"'s script delivers, skillfully weaving together character, plot and action - and the action is more coherent and just plain spectacular.