X2

Bryan Singer's mutant ensemble is back, with more super-beings, a longer running time and bigger effects. As well as a blue Alan Cumming and Brian Cox doing what he does best - playing nasty
Once more, Patrick Stewart's sonorous thespian tones introduce the premise of the X-Men in an introductory voice-over, and once again the words of his Professor Charles Xavier are pertinent to our real world. "Sharing the world has never been humanity's defining attribute," he says, in reference to the homo sapiens/homo superior conflict that defines the comics and this burgeoning movie franchise. Fear not, however: this is not a laden political tract. The action soon kicks in. Director Singer and his writing and producing collaborators have chosen Kurt Wagner (Cumming), a blue German with the ability to teleport and great agility ("In the Munich Circus I was know as The Incredible Nightcrawler!"), from the huge comics' back catalogue to be a new, key character in X2. His main set-piece is an exhilarating prologue that sees him infiltrating the White House and making a beeline for the Bush Jr-alike president (Smith), bamfing and high-kicking his way through the massed security ranks. It's this act - reported on TV as "Mutants Attack White House" - that is a catalyst for the crisis at the heart of X2. In response, "military scientist" Colonel William Stryker (Cox) asks the president for "authorisation for a special operation". "This already is war!" declares the zealot who has "spent his whole life trying to solve the mutant problem", before stalking off to set his special forces onto the Xavier Institute, the school for mutants kids and base of operation for the X-Men. Having drugged and interrogated the imprisoned mutant terrorist Erik Lensherr, aka Magneto (McKellen), Stryker is armed with plentiful intelligence data about the school, and more importantly about Cerebro, Xavier's device that can be used for tracking mutants and humans. Wolverine (Jackson, looking very neatly coiffured), the amnesiac mystery mutant with claws of adamantium and a dangerous streak, puts up fearsome, murderous resistance - but is halted when he encounters Stryker. "How long has it been? Fifteen years? You haven't changed a bit," says the colonel - who, it's revealed, played a key role in Wolverine's past. In his efforts to beat mutants in a war, Stryker - who has very twisted personal motives - is also prepared to abuse and experiment on them, exploiting their power as weapons. He really is a nasty chap. Following the attack on the school, the X-Men regroup - at least some of them do. The cunning Stryker has seized Xavier. Meanwhile, Magneto has escaped, aided by his shape-shifting cohort Mystique (Romijn-Stamos, who, in a bulked-up part, even gets a scene in her own natural skin). Putting aside their differences, the X-Men team up with Magneto and Mystique to contend with Stryker - who has an evil plan of potentially catastrophic, global proportions. Although the film has a somewhat cumbersome streak - the result of Singer and co creating multiple plot strands that follow the numerous protagonists - the overall structure is very neat, with Stryker's hit on the school in the first act being reflected in the third act, when the X-Men strike back, taking the fight to the bad guy's base in snowy Canada. Stryker's acts provide the plot with its engine; notable is the unfolding of the mystery of Wolverine. Singer and co also deftly reveal more of just why Xavier is so powerful, demonstrate more of the abilities of Storm (Berry), and lay the ground-work for possibly handling another epic storyline from the comics involving Jean Grey, whose powers here swell uncontrollably. The role of Bobby 'Iceman' Drake is also increased (though sadly he hasn't discovered his 'ice form' yet), as is that of John 'Pyro' Alladice (Stamford), a more ambivalent character who is seduced by Magneto's rhetoric ("You're a god amongst insects - never let anyone tell you different"). Others don't fare so well: Rogue (Paquin) and especially Cyclops (Marsden) are lost in the mix somewhat. It really is a very tricky balancing act with such a large ensemble. Singer pulls it off, just, even incorporating a small role for metal-bodied Piotr 'Colossus' Rasputin (Cudmore) and a comics-fan pleasing cameo for one Dr Hank McCoy. But the success of the film is a close run thing. The biggest role is that of Stryker, marginalising Magneto and Xavier somewhat - the latter, notably, spends much of the film debilitated. The focus on Stryker allows for more of Wolverine's back-story to be revealed, but, given the time it takes to give 10 central characters lines and something to do, even Jackman's role seems a tad lean.
Verdict Arguably, the convolutions of the film's narrative capture a key characteristic of the comic, and X2 is also sufficiently action-packed and humourous to appeal to wider audiences: familiarity with the first film is enough X-knowledge to enjoy this king-size sequel.