Daniel Cann

The trap that most sequels fall into is to rehash and repeat the popular parts of the first film. X2 deftly avoids this and offers the viewer a fresh fast – paced thrill ride that is equal and if not better than its original. The action starts with a failed assassination attempt by a new mutant Nightcrawler (who has the ability to teleport) on the President of the United States. Professor X and Cyclops visit the incarcerated Magneto in an attempt to discover what was behind the attack. Reading Magneto’s mind Professor X establishes that a secret government agent Stryker (played with menacing relish by Brian Cox) has been obtaining information from Magneto. Professor X and Cyclops are both captured and a military attack on X Mansion proceeds with many students there being captured and sedated while some manage to escape. So just minutes into the film our heroes are on the ropes as Magneto discovers the hawkish Stryker is in fact trying his best to provoke a war between humans and mutants and is determined to wipe the mutants off the face of the earth. From his base at Alkali Lake we learn Stryker is experimenting on mutants and injecting them in the back of the neck to control them. With extinction facing all of them the mutants team up so Magneto and his followers join in the fight against Stryker. It is a refreshing and all too real idea that a rogue power – mad government agent would try to manipulate and provoke events to his own ends. Instead of Xavier versus Magneto this instalment is a pure struggle for survival with mutants united in their battle against the Machiavellian Stryker.

Against this backdrop Logan is trying to discover more about his past and his origins, we learn he is still suffering from amnesia. Dr Jean Grey is developing a romantic attachment with Cyclops. Meanwhile we meet Bobby Drake another mutant who becomes Iceman, the scene at his family home where the revelation about who he really is and his family’s reaction to it manages to be both dramatic and amusing. There are plenty of shades on display here, the darkness of the original mixed with action, drama, suspense and comic touches.

Other new characters such as Pyro and Lady Deathstrike are introduced keeping things interesting and fresh. There is a real sense that the mutants are up against it in this film. The pace is faster and more intense and it is a much more gadget heavy entry in the franchise with fast cars, the X – Jet and Cerebro a device that is used to detect mutants all coming in to play. The sequel is surer of itself and it is more old-fashioned popcorn summer blockbuster entertainment this time around. The film does not suffer from this approach as all those who saw the first film would already be aware of the characters and the basic back – story. This is easy to follow drama with impressive action pieces and CGI. There are twists and as the film progresses we learn more about Stryker’s motivations behind his planned genocide of the mutants.

There are nice touches like the junior mutants on a school field trip of a museum and the sets are imaginative and impressive. The narrative jumps nicely between the separate adventures of each hero and the film culminates in an impressively staged showdown in the Canadian Rockies. For all the frenetic action the characters are still allowed room to develop and the overall effect is satisfaction at a well-realised and original sequel that nicely ticks all the boxes of a blockbuster whilst adding neat new twists.

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