  Because I watched it on DVD last night and my boss is off work... X2 Ah, Marvel films. After years of letting any goof with a camera come along and rape their creations, they decided to let decent directors and actors have a go. Following the lead of DC and Warners’ Batman, directed by Tim Burton with Jack Nicholson hamming it up (before letting Schumacher ruin it with Batman and Robin. Saw that last week - you might get another M:I2 style review), and the unexpected success of Blade, they started productions with some of the best directors working in Hollywood.
Spider-Man got given to Sam Raimi, acclaimed horror director trying to find credibility in the mainstream. Ang Lee decided to follow up Oscar winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with Hulk. Before these two however, came the most intriguing – Bryan Singer, director of The Usual Suspects, was to be given X-Men. There is a lot that can go wrong with X-Men. It is a beloved franchise, and unless you get the tone just right, the film could fall apart and you’ll have a lot of comic fans ready to gut you – well, if the fat bastards could run after you, that is.
Then came the casting news – Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier. Perfect. Sir Ian McKellen as Magneto. Wow – unexpected, but wow. Halle Berry as Storm. Okay. Famke Jansenn as Jean Gray. Nice. Wolverine – some bloke from Oz who was in Oklahoma in the West End. Wha…? The first X-Men came and it was a success.
It wasn’t true to the comics in chronology and characters history, but captured the tone of the comic perfectly. Even if the plot was a simplistic “Bad guy has machine, must stop machine” story, the film appealed to fans and to those with a passing knowledge of the franchise from those cartoons in the middle of Live and Kicking. With the success came the inevitable sequel, but could the film match the raised expectations of the fans?
X2 starts a few months after the first film. Magneto is jailed, the school is returning to normal after the fight against him and Wolverine is looking for details of his origins. However, a series of events starts with an attempted Presidential assassination by a teleporting movement. An Army Commander with knowledge of mutants is given power to capture Xavier and close down the school. The mutants are soon separated, leaving a handful to rescue their colleagues and join forces with an enemy to defeat a common threat. Holy crap, what a film! This is the first time in years that I came out of a film filled with pure unadulterated joy.
With the characters and themes of mutant oppression set in the first movie, Singer can now construct a storyline that can go further into ideas as no other comic based movies has before (Note: watch the X films and Independence Day replacing “mutants” and “aliens” with “Muslim”. Modern day American foreign policy in one easy shot). This has all the action scenes that will sate anyone who desires it (the White House assault, the attack on the School and a fight between Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike are all brilliantly done) but is also a great character piece. The pace is the film is well handled, managing to pack in a lot while feeling a lot shorter than it truly is.
Every single member of the cast deserves praise. The old hands, Stewart, McKellen and Brian Cox, play this with all the sincerity of a Shakespeare play and it works. Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine is, again, a brilliant portrayal of what could, in the wrong hands (*cough*DougrayScott*cough*), have been a 2D character. However, Jackman gives Wolverine menace, but also a layer of compassion for the younger characters he has to fend for. The scene between him and Cox’s Stryker is wonderful, as Wolverine realises that the answers he’s been searching belong to his enemy.
The cast from the first film look more comfortable with their roles and play them perfectly – Halle Berry doing a credible job of righting the many wrongs of Storm in the first film. There are great performances from characters that’ve been upgraded - Pyro, coming from ‘extra’ to ‘evil little shit’, being a standout. The addition of Alan Cummings’ Nightcrawler is another plus, bringing life to a character that could have easily come off as ridiculous.
Are there flaws in this film? Of course there is. While Halle Berry is better in this in the first film, it often feels that her role has been given more today for the sole reason that she won an Oscar and deserves a bigger part. Cyclops, the supposed leader of the X-Men, is relegated to the point that he is missing for over an hour of the film.
Magneto is played wonderfully in “shades of grey” for most and the film, but then turns into a “black and white” bad guy at the end, having to commit an EEEEVIL act at the end when it would probably have worked better to have had him save the day. But, fuck it. When a film is as much fun as this and doesn’t treat people who’ve paid for a comic book based film like complete morons, finding these faults seems like nitpicking.
This is one of the best films I’ve ever seen. Oh, and of course, those with knowledge of X-Men bordering on ‘sad wanker’, the last shot means that X3 may be even better. 5/5 On another note with this film, here’s a question. Why isn’t a film like this considered for Oscars? Yes, it’s an action film based on a comic, but some of the performances in this rival many of those that are nominated and even win. Hugh Jackman’s performance is brilliant, and if Depp is worthy of nomination, why not Hugh? Ian McKellen, a previous winner, could easily be nominated for a Best Supporting Actor award, especially as Tommy Lee Jones won for The Fugitive.
Why the snobbery that an action film can’t be nominated, but long, tedious tosh like The English Patient and complete wank like Titanic get the honours, fooling people into believing that these films are worth watching? 
