Better Than The First Film

Rating: 10/10 (19 August 2016)

"X-2: X-Men United" ranks as an exemplary Marvel superhero epic with the cast from director Bryan Singer's superb first film "X-Men" reprising their respective roles. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Storm (Halle Berry), the telekinetic Dr. Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), laser beams in his eyes Cyclops (James Marsden), as well as shape-shifting Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos); Iceman (Shawn Ashmore),; Pyro (Aaron Stanford), who can hurl flames but needs a pilot light, and Rogue (Anna Paquin), who can take on aspects of the personalities around her. This above-average sequel carries on what Twentieth Century Fox charted in the initial breakthrough yarn. Nightcrawler (Alan Cummings) joins the action along with Brian Cox as the evil villain General William Stryker. Whereas Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) tangled with the renegade mastermind Magneto (Ian McKellen) in the first film, these two adversaries teamed up together to thwart an obnoxious government scientist, Stryker (Brian Cox), from butchering the world's mutant population. Stryker gets the White House on his side after Nightcrawler teleports himself into the Oval Office and Strkyer convinces the Chief Executive that they should monitor Xavier's school for gifted mutants.