X-traordinary Film

Rating: Null/10 (5 May 2003)

This film is the reason I go to the cinema.
I've been reading the exploits of the renegade team of mutant heroes for 16 years, and it has at times felt like a lonely devotion. Sure, I'd see fellow fans at the comic book store, but I never fit the fanboy mold. On the outside, meanwhile, the public was comfortable with Superman, Batman, and Spider-man but never knew about the X-Men. So, I felt content with this little universe created by Stan Lee and brought to fruition by Chris Claremont for two decades. I found high adventure, romance, cultural morality, tragedy, and joy, and I was content in a selfish way knowing that I was a part of a select few.
Three years ago, all of that changed. Bryan Singer's first X-Men proved that big budget comic book-based film could take itself seriously and gain wide support. Hugh Jackman launched his international career, and comics fans and the general public were happy. I was thrilled to see the slightest peek into the X world, knowing that the films would never be able to plumb the depths of 40 years of comic history.
Last night, I was proven wrong. Seeing X2 was a fulfillment experience, reward for my years of fandom. Every emotion I ever felt reading the series was brought back during this perfectly executed film.
The film picks up directly after the events of the first film. There is political unrest as the world decides what to do with the growing emergence of mutants among humans. Anecdotic characters represent three sides to the debate. Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and his school haven for mutants including the X-Men strive for peaceful coexistence and acceptance of humans and mutants ala Martin Luther King Jr. Magneto (Ian McKellan) is his Malcolm X, believing that coexistence is not possible. A new human character, William Stryker, is Magneto's counter as a political military man bent on ridding the planet of mutants.
Thus, Bryan Singer moves with his Usual Suspect ease from character to character, giving everyone their due, their moments to shine. Here is where the movie shines. The script does not awkwardly bend to provide a Storm scene here and an unprecedented Wolverine fight there. The actions of the characters, the use of their powers, and the combats all flow naturally from the narrative. The villains in this film are drawn so completely that from certain points of view they cease to be evil. Each side has valid reasons to believe in their convictions.
Take the human point of view, for instance. The most moving scenes for me were those that let the mutant powers be completely unleashed. Magneto delights in the power and control he exhibits. Storm uses her powers in near Biblical proportions. Jean Grey traverses the film barely in control of her tremendous psychic and telekinetic powers. One impulse while witnessing their effects is to say, "That is so cool!" while the other, human side stands in awe and fear. It becomes easy to imagine large factions of normal people demanding mutant registration or worse.
Finally, events in the film's last act left me mind blown. I will give nothing away other than to say if I believed the first film was the slightest peek into the X world, then the bold path the film makers chose to take in X2 blew open the door and gave free reign to some of the most powerful stories the X-Men have to offer. The first film was the primer, X2 took the ball and ran, and I believe the best is yet to come.