X-Men 2

X-Men 2 – When the President is the focus of an assassination attempt from a mutant, Professor Xavier and the X-Men work together in order to find the would-be assassin, but matters are complicated when government official, and mutant-hater, William Stryker, launches an attack on the X-Mansion. The X-Men must team up with the powerful Magneto in order to rescue several children who Stryker has abducted and stop his evil plan of destroying all mutants around the world. Wolverine struggles with the mission as it seems that  Stryker may have known him long ago and, while wanting to help his friends, he is desperate to find the truth of his past from the man who appears to know too much.

X-Men 2 (2003) – Director: Bryan Singer

Rating: 12

Running Length: 133 mins

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen

Genre: Comic Book, Action

REVIEW: ‘X-MEN 2’

Bryan Singer’s sequel to the 2000 hit, ‘X-Men’, is so far removed from the original movie that it is difficult to believe that it was made by the same director. Put simply, ‘X-Men 2’ is brilliant; it is full of excitement, great characters and a well-paced story that twists and turns. This time around, the villain, Stryker (played by Brian Cox) has a great depth of character; he is a man who has been become furiously focused on his cause, despite what it has cost him personally. Stryker’s  use of his status as a government operative to fulfill a warped sense of duty (to rid the world of all mutant-kind) has an intense bigotry about it which makes for a multi-faceted antagonist. The fact that he has been instrumental to the problems that Wolverine has with his amnesia adds an extra layer to this complicated man who genuinely believes that he is doing the right thing.

While ‘X-Men’ did not have any particularly great stand-out scenes, making the movie slow and plodding, almost every scene of ‘X-Men 2’ moves the story along. Sadly, once again the character of Jean Grey is a little weak and it doesn’t seem particularly believable that the tough, strong character of Wolverine would be romantically interested in her. The character of Nightcrawler (played by Alan Cumming) is an excellent addition to the dynamic of the established team and it is a shame that his character did not appear in the follow-up movie, ‘X-Men 3’. His strength of conviction adds a strong external influence which helps to highlight the plight of mutants outside of the closed ‘X-Men’ group that we got to know in the first installment.

‘X-Men 2’ is a fantastically entertaining film that will keep you hooked on the story until the end. The characters are well written and have realistic motivations that mean that even the most evil of them are exciting to watch to see which direction they’ll take next.

CONTENT: IS ‘X-MEN 2’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

Quite early in the movie, the X-Mansion is invaded by several men wearing camouflage gear and night-vision helmets. The men approach several children and shoot tranquiliser darts into their necks. Wolverine comes to help them and uses his claws to fight off the men. In quick, non-gory shots he is shown to slash at their necks and faces. He stabs someone in the foot and while this shot is done in close-up, there is no blood or gore. He also drives both his claws into the chest of a guard and there is a few seconds of the man tensed in pain and then slumping. Again, there is no blood during this and it is clear that Wolverine is protecting the children.

One scene shows a woman seducing a man in a bar. She is wearing a dress which shows a lot of cleavage and after a brief, flirtatious exchange, the scene cuts to them kissing passionately in the men’s restrooms. They stumble into a cubicle and the man sits on the toilet while the woman kneels in front of him. The woman rips off the man’s trousers and encourages him to continue drinking his beer (which she has drugged). He quickly passes out and the woman turns him over, pulls down his trousers and uses a hypodermic needle to plunge an injection direct into his buttocks.

One character explains how his son, a mutant and former student of Professor X, took revenge on him and his wife for sending him away. The son projected visions into his parents’ heads and the character talks about his wife, saying ‘in the end, she took a power drill to her left temple in an attempt to bore the images out’. This character has since caused his son to become  permanently confined to a wheelchair. He has scars on his head and has some form of brain damage which causes him to have a blank expression on his face. This character is seen several times in close-up and could be a little scary for younger children.

The scenes when Magneto is in prison may be a little distressing for children. During the first, he is beaten by a guard and has his head forced down onto a table. He is then injected in the back of his neck (the scars show that this has been done to him before) and he groans in pain. Another scene shows Magneto overpowering his prison guard. The guard is lifted into the air and has his blood forcibly pulled out of him. This causes the guard to gasp in pain while a red mist of blood forms in front of him. The guard then slumps onto the floor, dead

Towards the end, two characters fight and one of them has long, knife-like claws. They stab the other fighter quickly numerous times in the chest and back. The fight is eventually ended when the liquid of a machine is forced into the other’s body via a pump. They look up and the camera focuses on their face for several seconds as thick, silver liquid oozes out of their eyes, nose and mouth.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘X-MEN 2’ FOR KIDS?

‘X-Men 2’ is a movie which is full of comic book action and characters who have plenty of interesting sides to their personality. It’s a movie that will appeal to kids and adults who are bound to love the energy and pace that it brings. We feel that ‘X-Men 2’ should be appropriate for kids aged 8 and over.

• Violence: 3/5 (mostly comic book action with little in terms of blood and gore. One character is shot in the head and there is a two second close-up shot of the small, red wound. Wolverine stabs several people with his claws and they groan or cry out in pain but as they are all ‘bad’ characters, children should not be too distressed by this)
• Emotional Distress: 2/5 (an established character is killed when they sacrifice themselves in order to keep their friends and loved ones safe. There are a couple of emotionally charged scenes relating to this but they are not overdone and should not be too upsetting)
• Fear Factor: 2/5
• Sexual Content: 3/5 (when Wolverine first returns to the X-Mansion, he meets Rogue’s boyfriend, Bobby. Referencing Rogue’s inability to touch others without causing them harm, he says, ‘Boyfriend, huh? So, how do you guys…?’ to which Bobby replies ‘We’re working on that’. As their relationship seems rather innocent, this is unlikely to be a directly sexual reference. One character passionately kisses another and they are about to become intimate. However, the male character discovers something when he begins to lift the woman’s top which causes him to stop. Also, as with the first movie, when in her natural state the character of Mystique wears nothing but body paint and head to toe skin-tight prosthetics. However it is not really evident that she is ‘naked’ like this as there is no detail and we feel children would not notice)
• Bad Language: 3/5 (infrequent moderate cursing and blasphemy)
• Dialogue: 2/5
• Other notes: Deals with themes of fighting against bigotry, joining forces with an enemy to defeat a common foe, fulfilling responsibility, discovering self-identity, and self-sacrifice.

Words by Laura Record

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