"foX-Men" Re-watch: X2: X-Men United

 "X2: X-Men United" (2003)

After the overwhelming success of "X-Men," Fox enlisted Bryan Singer and the rest of the creative team to begin work on a sequel. The majority of the original cast returned, jettisoning some dead weight. Bye, Toad. Bye, Sabretooth. "X2" leaned into the comics that inspired it and 18 years later, it is still one of the best comic book films of all time.

Principal photography on "X2" began in June 2002 and concluded in November 2002. The film stars Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier, Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto, Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine, Halle Berry as Ororo Munroe/Storm, Famke Janssen as Dr. Jean Grey, James Marsden as Scott Summers/Cyclops, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as Raven Darkholme/Mystique, Brian Cox as Col. William Stryker, Alan Cumming as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler, Bruce Davison as Senator Robert Kelly, Anna Paquin as Rogue, Shawn Ashmore as Bobby Drake/Iceman, Aaron Stanford as John Allerdyce/Pyro and Kelly Hu as Yuriko/Deathstrike. The film was written by Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris and David Hayter. It was directed by Bryan Singer. "X2: X-Men United" was released on May 2, 2003.

Guten tag.

I love the MCU. If you are a reader of this blog, then you know that is a fact. I mean, I re-watched every movie and wrote long posts about them. That being said, it feels like people like to discount superhero movies that were made prior to "Iron Man" in 2008. Don't get me wrong. There were some real stinkers. "Daredevil." Both "Fantastic Four" movies. "Elektra." "Catwoman." "Ghost Rider." The list goes on and on. There are a ton of garbage comic book films out there, but that doesn't mean every single one was bad. "Batman Begins" re-invigorated the Bat film franchise. "Spider-Man 2" is a great comic book film and the second best live action "Spider-Man"movie ever made. I said what I said. "X2" is a great comic book movie that came out in the early aughts and it should easily make the top ten of any list of the best comic book movies ever. 

"X2" reimagines the plot of a very famous graphic novel, "God Loves, Man Kills." In "God Loves, Man Kills," William Stryker is an anti-mutant preacher who murdered his wife and son after his son was born a deformed mutant. Stryker kidnaps Xavier and attempts to get him to use his mutant powers to give all mutants a brain hemorrhage. The X-Men team up with Magneto to try to save Xavier and stop Stryker. "X2" switches a few things up. It turns Stryker from a pastor to a colonel. He doesn't murder his wife and son. He does kidnap Xavier and attempt to use him to kill all mutants with a homegrown Cerebro and the help of his mutant son Xavier couldn't "cure." The X-Men do end up teaming up with Magneto. These changes make sense. A deranged, genocidal preacher probably wouldn't have gone over well with a lot of people. They want people to kind of see where Stryker is coming from so having him murder his own wife and child due to some quirk of genetics probably would have been a little overboard. They make sense and  they don't detract but enhance the movie.

Do you like my nails?

The cast of "X2" continues to be pretty uniformly excellent. Everyone from the original continues to be amazing. I want to single out Famke Janssen, Halle Berry and Rebecca Romijn from the original cast. Janssen's Jean Grey is going through changes. Her telepathy and telekinesis are growing exponentially and Jean is having a difficult time controlling them. This is probably Janssen's best outing as Jean and she really kills it. Her scenes with Hugh Jackman continue to show off their sizzling chemistry and we get a hot make out sesh. She gets to show off her powers in fun ways. Not only does she suspend Nightcrawler in midair, but she holds back Cyclops' optic blasts and telekinetically dismantles one of the missiles going after the Blackbird. 

This is probably Berry's best run as Storm too. Her wig isn't... horrible. She basically ditches the random African-fish accent she employed in the original. Her scenes with Alan Cummings' Nightcrawler work really well plus she gets to use her powers in some pretty badass ways. I loved the multiple tornadoes that she conjures during the missile pursuit and the extreme cold in the fake Cerebro chamber.

Romijn's Mystique become even more badass in "X2." She does so much without speaking relying simply on her body language. When she does get to act as herself sans body paint, you can tell that she is really relishing it and she has such amazing chemistry with Ian McKellen. One of my favorite moments is their bitchy little Kiki in the Blackbird, culminating with Magneto telling Rogue, "We love what you've done with your hair." The shade of it all.

Of the new additions, it's really Alan Cummings' Nightcrawler that makes the biggest impression. He's playing a famous X-Man who has a really dope power. I never tire of hearing those "BAMF!" sound effects and his introductory attempted assassination of the President is such a pulse pounding, adrenaline fueled way to begin the movie. They get Kurt just right. His circus background and swashbuckling charm coupled with his endearing piety. It's perfect. And the make up. Wow. Every time I watch, I notice something new. The addition of the tattoos is a great little quirk.

I love how this movie leans a lot harder into the "X-Men as any oppressed group, particularly gays" metaphor in this one. Bobby's reveal to his family that he is a mutant reads very much like someone coming out as gay. His mother's "Have you ever tried not being a mutant?" is a pitch perfect response. It's scenes like this why the X-Men resonate so much with queer people and did before the movie was even a thing, so I have to grudgingly give it to Bryan Singer here.

AAAAAHHHHH!!!!

The action in "X2" is badass. You liked the Wolvie/Mystique and Wolvie/Sabretooth fights in the original. Well, those were just the amuse bouche to the fights that we get in "X2." The first big one is when Stryker and his men attack the X-Mansion and feel the berserker fury of The Wolverine. In the X-Men comics, Logan is pretty well known for these blinding berserker rage that he goes in. I'm sure commenters will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the very first one was during the Dark Phoenix Saga when Logan faced off against the Hellfire Club on his own. This encounter has very those vibes and the movie really lets Wolverine let loose for the very first time. Jackman kills it. You can feeling him losing control as he slices through Stryker's men and having Rogue see him like that for the very first time is a real game changer.

The other big fight of the movie is Wolverine vs Deathstrike. The first time you hear Deathstrike loudly popping those knuckles, you know it is going to be on. And it really is. The fight is about as brutal as a PG-13 fight can be. The multiple face slashes and impalements. When Deathstrike is attached to Logan's back and just repeatedly stabbing him in the back with blood dripping into the tank below and seemingly right on the camera lens. It's gruesome and amazing.

And then a hero comes along...

It never fails that a lot of superhero movies lose steam in the third act. The climactic battle drags on a little too long. One too many twists jam packed in too short an amount of time. "X2" really bucks that trend. From the moment the X-Men, Magneto and Mystique touch down near Alkali Lake, it is on. The foot is on the gas and it doesn't let up. 

Mystique has an amazing fight scene against Stryker's men culminating in the classic scene of her sliding across the ground flipping them all the bird. Jean takes on Cyclops. There is the aforementioned duel between Wolverine and Deathstrike. First, the team has to stop Stryker from using Xavier to kill all of mutant kind and then the X-Men has to stop Magneto from using Xavier to kill all the humans. Oh yeah, and Wolverine is experiencing flashbacks to his time in the Weapon X program that also happened at Alkali Lake.

It feels like too much. It feels like it shouldn't work. But it does. The X-Men get away and you think the day is saved, but nope. The dam is breaking and the Blackbird won't fly. So, it's up to Jean Grey to hobble out, hold the water back and help the Blackbird take off. She's pushing her TK to the max. Her body glowing with that familiar fiery corona. It's so freaking perfect. Cyclops and Wolverine breaking down in each others arms, finding common ground for the first time. The camera panning over Alkali Lake and that familiar Phoenix aura on the water. I was so hopeful. So excited for what was to come. Sigh.

"X2" really is the perfect superhero movie and a great example of how you do a superhero sequel the correct way. Then, they had to go and fuck it all up.

You knew it was coming. The first failed attempt to bring some sort of Dark Phoenix saga to the big screen unfolds in "X-Men: The Last Stand."

I want to hear your thoughts? Are there more "X2" stans out there? I can't be the only one. Tell me why you love it in the comments.