{"id":6152,"date":"2009-02-07T00:01:07","date_gmt":"2009-02-06T14:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/?p=6152"},"modified":"2022-05-01T22:52:20","modified_gmt":"2022-05-01T13:22:20","slug":"movie-review-x2-x-men-united","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/2009\/02\/07\/movie-review-x2-x-men-united\/","title":{"rendered":"Movie Review – X2: X-Men United"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Cast :<\/strong> Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Anna Paquin, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Brian Cox,\u00a0 Alan Cumming, Kelly Hu, Bruce Davison, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Standorf, Daniel Cudmore, Cotter Smith, Katie Stuart, Steve Bacic, Kea Wong.\u00a0
\n<\/strong>Synopsis:<\/strong> The X-Men return in this sequel, to thwart the efforts of Magneto to rule the world, and to combat the very government they are trying to protect, as General Stryker becomes involved.<\/h5>\n

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\u00a0<\/strong>With the enormous success of the first <\/span>X-Men<\/em> film, it was only natural that Fox would want the follow-up to be pushed straight into production. And it was. Director Bryan Singer returned, as did the entire original (surviving) cast, plus a few new faces. <\/span>X2 <\/em>delves into more detail with the anti-mutant factions building up, and reveals a lot more about Logan\u2019s past (although, honestly, not enough to keep fans happy!) while at the same time, maintaining the generous character development as begun in film 1. Wolverine, Storm, Magneto, Rogue, Cyclops: plus newcomers Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) and Lady Deathstrike (Kelly Hu), <\/span>X2: X-Men United<\/em> is a high-budget expansion on the previous film\u2019s limited scope. Logan goes off to \u201cfind himself\u201d, two newbie X-Men Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) and Pyro (Aaron Stanford) develop their interpersonal relationships with different mutant leaders, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) is still torn between her husband Cyclops (James Marsden) and Logan, Storm (Halle Berry) is relegated to piloting the X-Men jet, and a frighteningly powerful military general (Brian Cox) seems intent on hunting down, and capturing Logan, and anybody who gets in his way.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ramping up the action in X2<\/em>, Bryan Singer managed to do something that Hollywood history says shouldn\u2019t happen: create a sequel that\u2019s better than the original. <\/span><\/span>X2<\/em> begins with one of the greatest openings to a film I\u2019ve ever seen: an assault on the White House and Oval Office by Nightcrawler, a mutant whose ability allows him to teleport to any space he can visualize. Taking apart the US President\u2019s security detail in quicktime, Nightcrawler is eventually wounded and escapes, his mission to assassinate the President a failure. However, it does cause the US to begin to plan an operation to bring the Nazi-like persecution of mutants to the forefront of their policy making, something Xavier Charles (Patrick Stewart) and his fellow X-Men try to prevent. <\/span>Brian Cox\u2019s General Stryker, tasked with finding Nightcrawler, has his own agenda, which does nothing to further Mutant\/Human relations; he\u2019s after Logan, and his ability to regenerate from injury being a high priority for scientists. Stryker\u2019s strike force invades the School for The Gifted, where the X-Men are based, and causes untold havoc. He pursues Logan, Iceman, Pyro and Rogue to Boston, where there is an encounter with the local police after Iceman\u2019s brother snitches, his irrational fear of mutants overriding any family loyalty.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Magneto, meanwhile, is slowly putting his plans and people in place to sweep to power once humanity succumbs to the mutant crisis.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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X2<\/em> was made under the adage that \u201cbigger is better\u201d, and while that might not normally hold up in Hollywood, and in movies’ in general, in this particular instance, it\u2019s utterly correct. Working with a larger budget, a more widescreen storyline and epic themes, the intimacy of the previous film has been replaced with the dire, cataclysmic events that will send the world spiralling into conflict. Singer has strung together some of the best superhero-moments in this series of films, none moreso than the opening Nightcrawler sequence. But that\u2019s not all, folks, no way. There\u2019s a superb battle between Wolverine and the similarly skeletally enhanced Lady Deathstrike, as Logan finds his way to the place his life was changed forever. Mystique, played with a nubile sensuality by Rebecca Romijn, is still as gorgeous as ever, even if she\u2019s on the side of Magneto. McKellen, tearing his scenes to pieces with style and charisma, gives off the confidence and power he has in his ability, regardless of the fact that he\u2019s pushing old age and senility, and is utterly believable in his convictions as the misguided (and vengeful) Magneto.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The themes of the previous film are lost in the jumble of characters and action, which is perhaps a little disappointing, however, Singer works the film to it\u2019s strengths: character interaction is superb, with witty repartee and dialogue enhancing the screenplay\u2019s somewhat lacklustre depth. Wolverine\u2019s leadership qualities, no matter how much he doesn\u2019t want them, are first class, and Singer makes the most of Hugh Jackman\u2019s ability and performance by giving him a much more powerful journey this time round. Jackman captures the essence of Wolverine perfectly, and his \u201crage\u201d is truly frightening.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Perhaps the least accessible character to get the hang of in the X-Men<\/em> films has been Halle Berry\u2019s Storm, although this isn\u2019t due to anything Berry does per se<\/em>, but rather the fact that she\u2019s a pretty nondescript character to begin with. Her ability to create changes in the weather wouldn\u2019t put her in my top ten superheroes, but Berry does well with a limp storyline for her character.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Brian Cox rages and rants as he normally does as a Bad Guy, snarling through the film with the typical British stoicism, and Alan Cumming is completely subdued as the innocently manipulated Nightcrawler, a man with his own demons, yet subjected to more by an evil General Stryker.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Where X2<\/em> succeeds as a film is as an action-based narrative, with characters previously established, there\u2019s less reliance on a new audience not understanding what\u2019s going on (which is a common factor in most sequels!) and it works a treat. The film moves from action sequence to action sequence, building on the established rapport with the cast and feel of the previous film, and expanding things in new, exciting directions. While still somewhat political in tone, and perhaps having a little too much \u201cmessage\u201d than a film like this should have, X2 <\/em>is still one of the most exciting and adventurous sequels of the modern era, and a more than worthy follow-up to the original.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Cast : Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Anna…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48482,"featured_media":65976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,348],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-review","category-x-men-franchise"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/thumb-1920-610162.jpg",1920,1080,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/thumb-1920-610162-500x280.jpg",500,280,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/thumb-1920-610162-660x365.jpg",660,365,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/thumb-1920-610162-768x432.jpg",640,360,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/thumb-1920-610162-840x840.jpg",640,640,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/thumb-1920-610162-1536x864.jpg",1536,864,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/thumb-1920-610162.jpg",1920,1080,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/thumb-1920-610162-1024x576.jpg",1024,576,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/thumb-1920-610162-540x340.jpg",540,340,true],"profile_24":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/thumb-1920-610162-24x24.jpg",24,24,true],"profile_48":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/thumb-1920-610162-48x48.jpg",48,48,true],"profile_96":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/thumb-1920-610162-96x96.jpg",96,96,true],"profile_150":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/thumb-1920-610162-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"profile_300":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/thumb-1920-610162-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"sow-carousel-default":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/thumb-1920-610162.jpg",272,153,false]},"author_info":{"display_name":"Rodney Twelftree","author_link":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/author\/rodney\/"},"category_info":"Movie Review<\/a> X-Men<\/a>","tag_info":"X-Men","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}