Year of Release: 2003
Director: Bryan Singer
Starring: Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Brian Cox, Anna Paquin, Rebecca Romijn, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Alan Cumming, Kelly Hu, Bruce Davison, Katie Stuart
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 8
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Synopsis and Review:
After the surprise success of "X-Men", director Bryan Singer was given more time and budged to carve out a worthy sequel to that film, which came in the shape of "X-Men 2". The film follows the adventures of the superhero team, as they face a foe hailing directly from the Government: Colonel William Stryker. He invades the mutant school, capturing young mutants in the process, while simultaneously capturing different team members, in different circumstances, all with the goal of getting access of Cerebro. His ultimate goal, is to use the machine, combined with Professor Xavier's abilities, and destroy all mutants on Earth. It's up to the team, with the help of a few new additions, and unexpected allies, to tackle this herculean threat.
"X-Men 2" is a lesson of how a perfectly honed screenplay, successful vision and visual style, can blend to create an impeccable action film. The story marries a series of interesting topics, such as political threats, persecution of minorities, and includes very relevant metaphors for topics such as coming out experiences and family dynamics in those contexts. All of these within the domains of a big budget visual effects film, is indeed pretty remarkable and quite intelligently built. The film is also impeccably edited, in the sense that it goes from action set pieces, to plot development, to character insight, just enough to keep the momentum going. The visual effects are also fantastic, but don't undermine the story/narrative, instead making it blend seamlessly with the characters that they pertain to. And the actors finally manage to build a level of comfort with the characters and within the group, which makes them surpass the almost campy factor that hovered over the first iteration of the series. It's a lesson on how to perfectly orchestrate a dynamic and thoroughly orchestrated film, without relying too heavily on pyrotechnics, while also benefiting from great work from cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel and editor/composer John Ottman. A solid film from an irregular director, but one worth watching.
"X-Men 2" is a lesson of how a perfectly honed screenplay, successful vision and visual style, can blend to create an impeccable action film. The story marries a series of interesting topics, such as political threats, persecution of minorities, and includes very relevant metaphors for topics such as coming out experiences and family dynamics in those contexts. All of these within the domains of a big budget visual effects film, is indeed pretty remarkable and quite intelligently built. The film is also impeccably edited, in the sense that it goes from action set pieces, to plot development, to character insight, just enough to keep the momentum going. The visual effects are also fantastic, but don't undermine the story/narrative, instead making it blend seamlessly with the characters that they pertain to. And the actors finally manage to build a level of comfort with the characters and within the group, which makes them surpass the almost campy factor that hovered over the first iteration of the series. It's a lesson on how to perfectly orchestrate a dynamic and thoroughly orchestrated film, without relying too heavily on pyrotechnics, while also benefiting from great work from cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel and editor/composer John Ottman. A solid film from an irregular director, but one worth watching.
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