Lively, entertaining reviews of, and essays on, old and newer films and everything relating to them, written by professional author William Schoell.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

X2


X2 (aka X-Men 2; X2: X-Men United/2003). Director: Bryan Singer.

This sequel to X-Men is another winner. Seems a bad guy named Willam Stryker (Brian Cox) had a mutant son named Jason, and his experiences with him so embittered him that he now wants to wipe out all mutants. To do this he intends to use Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and the professor's Cerebro machine (which detects mutants and connects Xavier to everyone's minds). Professor X is given God-like power in this, but his opposite number, Magneto (Ian McKellan) is along for the ride and then some. X2 has some terrific sequences: Magneto using the iron in a guard's bloodstream to make his escape from prison; Pyro's (Aaron Stanford) fiery assault; the X-Men's plane being pursued by missiles. Jean Gray (Famke Janssen), Roque (Anna Paquin), and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) all get plenty of screen time, as does Alan Cummings, who is as good as the others as Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner. The entire cast, including Shawn Ashmore as Iceman, play with conviction, and the direction, photography [Newton Thomas Sigel] and musical score [John Ottman] are of a high order.

Verdict: Exciting, amusing, and moving. ***1/2.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

A fantastic movie and one of the best super hero movie that I like very much. I must say that the casting gave the film a new look and aura. A must watch !
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