Product Description
-------------------
When new teleporting mutant Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming,
Goldeneye) appears inside The White House and attempts to
assassinate the President, the X-Menss world is thrown into
danger. Rebel baddie Stryker (Brian Cox, Manhunter) is behind it
and plots an elaborate plan to capture all mutants including the
pupils at Professor Xaviers (Patrick Stewart, Star Trek) School
for the Gifted. It is then up to the indestructible Wolverine
(Hugh Jackman, fish) to discover the truth about what is
going on, and in the process, the story behind his own identity.
Meanwhile, the villainous Magneto (Ian McKellen, Lord of the
Rings) breaks free from prison with the help of his
shape-shifting comrade, Mystique (Rebecca Romjin-Stamos, Femme
ale), creating more cataclysmic events for the X-Men. As
danger beckons, the mutants call upon their powers to an even
greater extent.
Dr Jean Grey (Famke Janssen, Goldeneye) reaches extraordinary new
levels using her powers of telepathy alongside
weather-manipulator Storm (Academy Award winner Halle Berry,
Monsters Ball), life-force zapper Rogue (Anna Pacquin, Buffalo
Soldiers), laser beam Cyclops (James Marsden, Disturbing
Behaviour) and the cool Ice-Man (Shawn Ashmore). United with
further newcomers including the iron claw-clad Lady Deathstrike
(Kelly Hu, The Scorpion King) and fingertip firestarter Pyro
(Aaron Stanford), X-Men 2 contains the most spectacular array of
super-hero powers you have ever seen!
.co.uk Review
-------------
X-Men 2 picks up almost directly where X-Men (
/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00008OP0I/%24%7B0%7D ) left off: misguided
super-villain Magneto (Ian McKellan) is still a prisoner of the
US government, heroic bad-boy Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is up in
Canada investigating his mysterious origin, and the events at
Liberty Island (which occurred at the conclusion of X-Men) have
prompted a rethink in official policy towards mutants--the
proposed Mutant Registration Act has been shelved by US Congress.
Into this scenario pops wealthy former Army commander William
Stryker, a man with the President's ear and a personal vendetta
against all mutant-kind in general, and the X-Men's leader
Professor X (Patrick Stewart) in particular. Once he sets his
plans into motion, the X-Men must team-up with their former
enemies Magneto and Mystique (Rebecca Romjin-Stamos), as well as
some new allies (including Alan Cumming's gregarious,
blue-skinned German mutant, Nightcrawler).
The phenomenal global success of X-Men meant that director Bryan
Singer had even more money to spend on its sequel, and it shows.
Not only is the script better (there's significantly less cheesy
dialogue than the original), but the action and effects are also
even more stupendous--from Nightcrawler's teleportation sequence
through the White House to a thrilling aerial dogfight featuring
mutants-vs-missiles to a assault on the X-Men's
school/headquarters to the final showdown at Stryker's sub-Arctic
headquarters. Yet at no point do the effects overtake the film or
the characters. Moreso than the original, this is an ensemble
piece, allowing each character in its even-bigger cast at least
one moment in the spotlight (in fact, the cast credits don't even
run until the end of the film). And that, perhaps, is part of its
problem (though it's a slight one)--with so much going on, and
nary a recap of what's come before, it's a film that could prove
baffling to anyone who missed the first installment. But that's
just a minor quibble--X-Men 2 is that rare thing, a sequel that's
actually superior to its predecessor. --Robert Burrow