X-Men 2

Review by Garnet Brooks

This second film in the X-Men series has the old cast of characters back plus a new one named Nightcrawler. He is a teleporter. Nightcrawler was rescued by a woman who worked in a circus. He became the main attraction there. Nightcrawler is deeply religious and extremely guilty. He tattoos his body every time he feels guilt. There is a section on the extras disc that explains Nightcrawler's past history and what he has been doing just prior to the beginning of the film.

Magneto is still in his Plexiglas prison. Xavier visits from time to time. Now the fight is not so much between Magneto's forces and Xavier's but mutants against a shadowy government figure names Striker. In the opening and very dramatic scene Nightcrawler invades the president's office. Because of this, Striker gets the go-ahead from the President to raid Xavier's headquarters. Despite considerable firepower they are able to take only six mutant children prisoner. The others disperse. Storm and Jean are in Boston at the time capturing Nightcrawler.

Striker is not what he seems. He has the President's trust but for years he has run secret experiments on mutants. His own son is one, a former pupil of Xavier's. Striker experiments on his own son like a lab rat and produces the serum which controls Nightcrawler's behavior. It is really Striker who forces Nightcrawler to attack. Nightcrawler proves to be quite gentle. The drug that is used to control Nightcrawler is used to control the behavior of other mutants also including a woman who like Wolverine has a metal graft on her skeleton. In a dramatic battle Wolverine kills her. In the course of time he has learned more of his past history and finds that it is Striker who performed the terrible medical experiments. Wolverine is strangely drawn to Striker and must break free from the man's hold on him.

Mystique arranges to free Magneto from prison. This results in one of the nicely done special effects sequences. Magneto finds out about Striker's plan to kill all the mutants and redirects it trying to kill all the humans. Doing this involves an elaborate deception. Striker's son must convince Xavier that he is an innocent little girl. Xavier has been captured and given a set of cerebral dampeners which make his mind control abilities dormant. While the struggle for Xavier's mind goes on the other mutants are regrouping and making plans to stop the chaos. The final scenes of the film invisible an unexpected sacrifice on the part of a mutant.

Each of the mutants in the first film gets more individual time. We see the development of the relationship between Rogue and Bobby. Pyro changes sides and goes with Magneto in the end. Wolverine and Scott struggle for Jean's attentions.

This is a blockbuster with a large budget. It has more elaborate sets and stunts than the first film. Things blow up and turn to ice. The final scene is set in a place called Alkali Lake. When we see it first it is a frozen wasteland and Wolverine is searching it for clues to his past. He finds nothing above ground but later it proves to be Striker's base of operations. His stronghold is deep underground adjacent to a dam. When the dam breaks the underground chambers are flooded. The flood is perhaps the biggest of several big special effects.

The two disc DVD set has a number of extras. A Stan Lee interview is included. There is a documentary, two audio commentary selections, and a selection of deleted scenes. Special effects featurettes and still galleries are available on the second disc. This is the sort of film that a lot of people are going to like. It is a blockbuster science fiction film based on beloved comic book characters. It is a fast paced action film but within it are complex issues about alienation and about good and evil. Like the X-Men film there is a struggle to register, imprison or just plain kill the people who are different. One of the background things not explicated in this film is the history Magneto had as a child in Nazi Germany watching his parents taken away to the crematorium. There are two camps both of which fear the other. The difference is outlined visually in a scene where Xavier sees the two groups. The humans are outlined in white and the mutants in red. In the background also is Senator Kelly now actually dead and replaced by a mutant. Ultimately it is the President who has to decide if he will further polarize the two camps or find a way to head off a disastrous confrontation.