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X2: Mark's Thoughts
This second film based on the X-Men comic book is a better story
and a more atmospheric production. I am told it is a better adaptation
of the comic book. One does not come to this sort of film for a deep
statement of the human condition, but for a summer action film, it
is not too bad.
Sequels rarely capture the quality of the original story in a series, though there are notable exceptions. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE was a better film than DR. NO with a more serious plot. Similarly X2 really is better than the original X-MEN film from Fox released in 2000. It still is not great, but it is better. The major characters have already been introduced and the science fiction war between mutants and humans is nearing and getting hotter. Brian Cox, one of the great sinister actors of the screen, plays General William Stryker, who believes that mutant humans put the rest of us at risk. It is a reasonable assumption considering how easily one mutant gets past the Secret Service and nearly kills the President of the United States. Stryker has had dealings with super-powered humans before and has his own plans for them, deciding that it takes a mutant to catch a mutant. He makes no distinction between Xavier's good mutants who want to be a positive force and Magneto's bad mutants who have been seduced by the Dark Side, so we essentially have a three-way fight.
Once again the leader of the good mutants and principal (and principle) teacher at the Xavier school for promising mutants is Dr. Xavier played by Patrick Stewart. His chief mutant nemesis is Erik Lehnsherr (Ian McKellen), also known as Magneto. McKellen is a great actor, and looks fine as a slightly evil mastermind. Unfortunately he loses his aura and looks slightly embarrassed when he puts on the helmet and cape of Magneto. The outfit makes him look like an oversized chess piece. Early in the film Magneto is not much of a threat since the government imprisoned him in the last film. But the Government is starting its move against mutants. On hand also are much of the same familiar team of mutants from the first film. We have Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Halle Berry as Storm, Famke Janssen as Dr. Jean Grey, Anna Paquin as Rogue, and James Marsden as Cyclops. Please don't ask me to list their special powers. Suffice it to say they get nifty powers that are just what they need in the right pinch, not unlike James Bond's gadgets. New this film is the modest Nightcrawler played by Alan Cummings who looks like a dark-blue-colored version of a comic opera devil and who can teleport and leave behind smoke. (Does this mean he gets lighter every time he teleports? Where does the smoke come from?) The McGuffin this time is a sort of magical board that can be used to locate and kill all mutants. (How does it work?) I have to say that in rating this film I have a little trouble with the baroque varieties of mutant that nature seems to have created. Most real mutants are not viable and do not pass on their mutant genes. I am willing to accept the level of mutation we see in SCANNERS where, if I remember correctly, it is one drug that causes the mutation. These grotesque mutations we see in the X-MEN films are as absurd as the wirework acrobatics. For me they hurt the credibility of the film. Still, I rate this mutant opus a 7 on the 0 to 10 scale and a low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale. Two additional points: Contrary to what the film says, Neanderthals did not interbreed and become our ancestors. And I hope that the Skunkworks that designed the SR-71 Blackbird gets some sort of royalty for the use of their design in films like this and THE PHANTOM MENACE. Mark R. Leeper Copyright 2003 Mark R. Leeper
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OTHER CONTENT - June 2003
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