X2: X Men United
Comic book movies that feature its superheroes as being part of a unified âteamâ concept (such as The Avengers) offer its filmmakers ample opportunities to cast big names and then set them loose together in the same room which is surely a prospect that many crave to see. But while the Avengers films load up with all of the big name stars who are looking to show up Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, when it comes to the X Men Franchise, there can be little doubt that there is only one real true star and that is Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, a fact borne out by Jackmanâs own longevity in the role whereas most of the other characters have fallen prey to being recast especially when there really wasnât very much meat on the bones of their characters to sink their teeth into to begin with (think Halle Berry holding in place as Storm). But Jackmanâs run is nothing short of astonishing, literally hanging in there through several reboots and reimaginings where his character was put into stories and situations that went beyond the literal X Men universe itself. When first cast in the role for Part 1 in 2000, Jackman was a virtual unknown at the time, a fortuitous situation for the producers as then they could keep the newcomer situated with the franchise for as long as they needed him (something they probably couldnât have done with ideal first choice Russell Crowe), even allowing Jackman to progressively grow into the role as time went on with some of the tentative qualities he was displaying in the beginning. By the time that they got to Part 2 of X Men in 2003, Jackman was still rocking that second billing behind that of Patrick Stewart as Professor X, but with the Charles Xavier character sidelined (or at least controlled by a malevolent force) for much of the running time here, Jackman as Logan / Wolverine got to step up into being pretty much the heroic lead and compared to the other actors and characters on hand, he acquits himself very well. Meanwhile, Ian McKellan as Magneto, the undisputed villain of Part 1, finds himself thrust into the old, reliable plot dynamic of being forced to have a shaky alliance with Xavierâs people (after finding an ingenius way to bust out of his specialized prison cell made entirely out of plastic) with only Rebecca Romijn as Mystique being the closest thing he has to having any of his old henchmen back from Part 1 (both Toad and Sabretooth were dropped due to the feeling of there already being too many characters in the mix) and at times Mystique almost comes to resemble Magnetoâs giggling wing man here. But an alliance is indeed formed because an even greater villain has now emerged, one who is not only fully human but is also so obsessed with committing genocide on mutants worldwide that he has developed mostly foolproof countermeasures for not only how to prevent them from using their powers but also how to control them mentally as well, a technique which he has developed using the brain secretions of his own son (a mutant) who has the power to cause intense hallucinations towards anyone whom he comes into close proximity with. This villain of course, is Dr. William Stryker (Brian Cox, forever known as being the original cinematic incarnation of Hannibal Lecter which is said to be the main reason why he was cast here), originally portrayed in the comic books as being a bible thumping preacher leading the charge to wipe out all mutants but here rewritten as a government scientist, albeit one who has almost all of the knowledge at his disposal to destroy all of the mutants forever, including building his own Cerebro chamber and grabbing Professor X in order to give him a dose of his sonâs brain powers and thus controlling him enough in order to kill every mutant on Earth. Stryker is also the guy who experimented on Logan and introduced the metal elements into his body (something which would be covered in Wolverineâs Origins movie) and who also has a personal history going some years back with Xavier as well (having long ago sent his son to Xavierâs school with Xavier having failed to help him in any way) and Cox in the role brings that same dastardly quality which he brought to Lecter, preferring brute Special Forces military troops to do most of his dirty work with the exception of his own personal mutant assistant in Lady Deathstrike (Kelly Hu), a mutant whom like Wolverine, has her own steel claws. The movie opens with an assassination attempt on The President (Cotter Smith), one which purposely leaves The Chief Executive alive but is really a false flag orchestrated by Stryker in order to get The President to toughen up on his anti mutant policies and is carried out by another mind controlled mutant known as Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming tap dancing a little too much over the top acting wise in a one shot appearance supposedly because he didnât care to wear the makeup), a teleporter of all things who nonetheless appears to also be some kind of a blue demonic looking creature complete with a swishing tail who tries to comically offset his appearance by carrying on as if he were a rabid and devout Christian. After being tracked down and brought aboard by Storm, things start getting out of hand. Wolverine continues his intense flirtation with Famke Janssenâs Jean Grey (and who can blame him?) which again draws the ire of James Marsdenâs laser eye shooting Cyclops who is supposedly the true love of Jean but in no way can it be said that Cyclops (a pretty boy with an emphasis on boy with his whiny and paranoid tendencies) is ever going to have the audience on his side in this little love triangle when compared to Logan (who is the walking definition of an essential manâs man even within the confines of the school itself), especially when he too finds himself (too) easily kidnapped by Stryker and also subjected to the mutant mind control which actually leads to him ambushing Jean and even hitting her with some of his lasers (whereas in comparison Logan would NEVER allow himself to be so easily captured). Meanwhile a similar love triangle is developing amongst the younger ranks as fire controller Pyro (Aaron Stanford) and walking ice machine dispenser Ice Man (Shawn Ashmore) are competing for the affections of Rogue (Anna Paquin, every bit as hot and sexy as Janssen or anyone else for that matter) whom despite her dry rot powers of touch and mutant power absorption is still somebody for whom both of them want nothing more than to kiss her beautiful lips and when it appears that Ice Man has won her desires, it leads Pyro to fall for Magnetoâs sales pitch and make the switch over to his side of the fence. However, this does lead to an AWFUL scene where Ice Man and some others go to visit his family so that he can formally announce to them that yes, he is indeed a mutant, a bit made even worse by the idea that McKellan (himself a gay man in real life) personally directed the scene to be that of a sledgehammer over the head metaphor of somebody sitting down with his family and then coming out of the closet to them, literally a word for word rendition of how such a real life scene would play out by just simply substituting the word âgayâ for âmutantâ. The total lack of subtlety in this approach could possibly be the reason why director Bryan Singer (who is also gay in real life) was taken off the series after this one and replaced for Part 3 by Brett Ratner lest he wound up getting too carried away with his âallegoriesâ. Nonetheless, the X Men jet (with Magneto and Mystique in tow) gets loaded up and flies out to the secret government military base of Coxâs Stryker to rescue both The Professor (very high priority) and Cyclops (not so much) along with the apparently helpless mutant children whom Stryker seemingly intends to kill as well. We do get a GREAT fight scene between Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike, in many ways a kindred spirit of his due to both of them having the stainless steel claws and a fascinating attempted seduction by Mystique on Logan where she morphs not only into Jean, but Rogue as well (suggesting a possible attraction he might have for the much younger girl given how he treats her like an adopted kid sister), much of which shows a pattern that not only is Logan the main character at all times, but also that much of what we see (including Xavierâs school and students) is from his point of view also, a conceit that would explain Jackmanâs long run in the role and audiences preferring to see him sticking around more than they would the othersâŚ
7/10