‘X2’ Raises The Stakes & Meets Expectations

After Star Trek: Nemesis underwhelmed audiences at the box office last winter (it was the lowest grossing of all ten Trek movies), actor Patrick Stewart was asked if he was distressed that the series was apparently coming to an end. “Not really,” he replied. “I’ve got another franchise.” Boy, does he ever!

The veteran thespian, most famous for his portrayal of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, also played idealistic mentor Charles Xavier, founder and father figure of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters in 2000’s hit film, X-Men. Now he returns in X2: X-Men United, a charged sequel that raises the stakes established in the first movie and almost assuredly guarantees that Stewart and his cohorts will be employed in this venture for years to come.

Now playing as the number one hit across the country (it nabbed over $85 million its first weekend, fourth best three-day opening of all time), X2 continues the big screen version of Marvel Comics’ enduring saga about mutants, human beings with extraordinary powers that set them apart from the rest of humanity. Some see mutants as a malevolent force, a threat that endangers the very existence of the human race. To others, they are simply different, human beings with unique gifts that should be nurtured and cherished. While yet another, more militant faction, exemplified by Xavier’s former ally and friend, Erik Lehnsherr (Ian McKellen), view mutants as the next step in human evolution and superior to all others (“Gods among insects,” he preaches to one young listener). This, of course, is all background information of which viewers are assumed to be aware... after all, if you weren’t an avid reader of the comic books, you should have at least seen the first film, which gave us all this expository material.

Director Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects) returns to this fantasy world with the same naturalistic style he established in the first film (ie, though we’re dealing with comic book lore, superheroes and the like, you’ll find no campiness here, nor any tongue-in-cheek, self-referential winking at the camera), but this time he delves right into the action, opening with an exhilarating sequence within the White House walls. After an attempt upon the President’s life sways public opinion towards anti-mutant hysterics, the shaken Commander-in-Chief gives way to a mutant-hating military man, General William Stryker (Brian Cox), who seeks to forcibly invade Xavier’s private school and compel its inhabitants to cooperate... or else.

There’s no question that X2 is blessed with a bigger budget and therefore boasts more characters, more special effects and, overall, more visual pop and panache than its predecessor. We get a new, blue, teleporting mutant named Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming), more shape-shifting shenanigans by Rebecca Romijn-Stamos’ blue-skinned beauty, Mystique, and an added dose of good old berserker rage from feral fan-favorite Wolverine (Hugh Jackman).

None of it would amount to much if not for the efforts of a fine cast, however, whose game efforts serve as the foundation for Singer’s real-world approach: McKellen is wonderfully wry as the cynical Magneto, who is forced to help his former foes against their common, genocidally-minded enemy; Cumming is a welcome addition as the angelic-minded but devilish-looking former circus performer; Jackman again unleashes fury and charisma as the loner of the group; and Cox is top notch as a single-minded man who might be considered the “homeland security” expert of this allegorical world.

In fact, the beauty of Singer’s film is it deepens the allegorical levels of this tale (aspects which most fans know have been existence in the comics for some time), while also raising the entertainment value of the film as a whole.

It may falter a bit towards the end (the climax simply tries to juggle too many endings and plot threads), but X2, rated PG-13 for violence (not particularly bloody or graphic, but pervasive), as well as some sexuality and profanity, will leave you looking forward to the inevitable next chapter.