X2 (often promoted as X2: X-Men United, or internationally as X-Men 2 and X-Men II) is a 2003 American action/science fiction film, based on the X-Men superhero team appearing in Marvel Comics, distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the second installament in the X-Men film series. The film was directed by Bryan Singer, written by Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris, and David Hayter, and features Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Alan Cumming, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, James Marsden and Kelly Hu.
The plot, inspired by the graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills, pits the X-Men and their enemies, the Brotherhood, against the genocidal Colonel William Stryker (Brian Cox). The first cut of X2 was rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), due to more violent scenes concerning Wolverine when Stryker’s army stormed the X-Mansion. A few seconds were cut to secure a PG-13 rating. X2 was released in the United States on May 2, 2003 and became both a critical and financial success, grossing approximately $407 million worldwide.
Plot teaser:
At the White House, the teleporting mutant Nightcrawler tries to assassinate the President of the United States but fails and escapes, leaving a note demanding “mutant freedom now.” At Alkali Lake, X-Men member Wolverine finds nothing left of the military base from the previous movie. He returns to Professor Xavier‘s school for mutants while fellow X-Men Storm and Jean Grey find Nightcrawler with the help of Xavier and the mutant-tracking computer Cerebro.
Xavier and X-Men member Cyclops visit the mutant Magneto in his plastic prison cell inquiring into the assassination attempt. The Professor discovers that a covert government operative, William Stryker, has been extracting information from Magneto. Stryker and his assistant Yuriko Oyama capture Cyclops and Xavier and raid Xavier’s school. Wolverine, defending it, kills many of Stryker’s men, whileColossus, Rogue, Iceman, Pyro, and most of the students escape via hidden tunnels. Wolverine confronts Stryker, who fails to shed any light on Wolverine’s past. Iceman helps Wolverine escape, but Stryker’s soldiers succeed in sedating six students and breaking into Cerebro…
Reviews:
“No other film-maker has better dramatised superpowers in action and yet remembered the human cost of all the trickery. X2 is full of double-edged power fantasies that manage a frisson of awe amid the excitement including a little girl waking from a nightmare who gives out a supersonic yell that immobilises a paramilitary team invading the school, or Magneto extracting iron supplements from his jailer’s blood and using three blobs of metal to effect escape from his prison.” Kim Newman, BFI Sight & Sound
“X2 sees most of the core team reunited for another turn at bat, to generally improved results except for the running time, which is a needless 30 minutes longer than the original’s. New picture is bigger and more ambitious in every respect, from its action and visceral qualities to its themes. What was implicit before concerning the prejudice against mutants has now been made the film’s overriding concern.” Todd McCarthy, Variety
“Second time X-director Bryan Singer has created an absolute masterpiece. A consummate blending of deep delving character exploration, team oriented action, amazing set pieces, and PERFECTLY done mind blowing, super-powered, special effects that rip the roof off of any previous effects efforts in the genre. What makes this effects magic so wonderful is that it isn’t noticeable as Hollywood trickery. Everything blends together seamlessly.” Joshua Taylor, Cinema Blend
