Didn't do much for me at all.

Rating: 4/10 (25 January 2008)

X2 starts as an attempt is made on the US President's (Cotter Smith) life in the Oval office by a teleporting mutant called Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming), the President sees this as an act of aggression on the part of all mutants & orders Willaim Stryker (Bran Cox) a military General to tighten up on mutant security. However it is in fact Stryker who was responsible for the attack & with the President's authority as well as some forged documents he sets out on his own personal crusade to rid the entire world of mutants, Stryker learns from Magneto (Ian McKellen) that Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) runs a school for mutants & the existence of the Cerebro machine in which Xavier can telepathically communicate with any living creature on the planet. Stryker intends to force Xavier to make contact with every mutant on Earth & telepathically kill them all...
Directed by Bryan Singer who also has a small cameo in the film as one of the security men in Magneto's plastic prison this was the sequel to the original X-Men (2000) film the huge financial success of which pretty much got the whole Marvel superhero comic book adaptation thing going with such large box-office returns, the likes of Spider-Man (2002), Daredevil (2003), Hulk (2003), Elektra (2005), Fantastic Four (2005), Ghosr Rider (2007), the Blade trilogy & Iron Man (2008) duly followed to cash in on the cinema going publics craze for these superhero flicks. To be brutally honest I've never really been that impressed with the genre with the notable exceptions being the excellent Blade films & the fun Spider-Man flicks & the silly titled X2 (why not X-Men 2?) does nothing to change my overall opinion. I think one factor is these larger than life superhero character's with all manner of odd abilities were designed for a 2-D comic book rather than a 3-D film & with a few expectations they look better as a comic strip than a live action character, the basic mechanics & demands of a full length feature film are just very different than a simple comic strip. The script by Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris & David Hayter is really weak, the character's are poor & lets not forget that not everyone will have read the comics or seen the original film, the story is also very poor. It feels very slow & pedestrian, most of it takes place between mutants in imaginary settings & therefore I found it very hard to think of the film taking place in reality. I know it's pure sci-fi but for it to work it needs to be grounded in some sort of recognisable reality otherwise where's the threat coming from? Also the X-Men themselves are too powerful, between them they can do just about anything including Wolverine who can get shot on the head yet heal himself. You just always felt they would be able to overcome any situation they find themselves in & it just kills any excitement or tension. At well over two hours X2 feels like it goes on forever, there aren't that many memorable set-pieces & as a whole I think X2 is one of the poorer Marvel superhero comic book films.
Director Singer does alright but there's not much here that really stands out, there are a few forgettable fights, some exploding cop cars, a bust dam spewing water & a few flashy CGI computer effects. In fact I was quite surprised at how bland & routine feeling the action scenes were considering the budget. I also didn't like the way this was filmed, the scene at the end when Xavier & the rest of the X-Men turn up in the President's office with lightening flashing outside is truly embarrassing. I suspect that it was meant to be sinister & atmospheric but I just thought it looked awful & over dramatic. The special effects are generally very good but like most CGI computer effects you just 'know' what your watching is an effect.
With a supposed budget of about $110,000,000 one has to say X2 is well made with high production values & that big budget Hollywood look & feel to it. I personally thought the acting was awful, the scenes at the end as they mourn Jean Grey are embarrassing, the shots around the camp fire as Magneto fills the rest of the X-Men in on Stryker's plans & they all try to look worried & concerned is another cringe worthy moment as is Rouge's 'scared' reaction when she lands the jet plane at the end. Hugh Jackman can't act, Halle Berry can't act (how did she ever win an Oscar?) although she does look good in tight leather & even great actors like Ian McKellen & Patrick Stewart seem off colour.
X2 was a big disappointment to me, I was expecting lots of action & great effects but what I ended up with was a passable superhero comic book adaptation & nothing more. The story is very weak, the character's are weak & the action is forgettable. Followed by X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).