X2 (2003)

Directed by: Bryan Singer

Written by: Zak Penn, David Hayter & Bryan Singer (story), Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris & David Hayter (screenplay)

The X-Men are trying to find a mutant that tried to assassinate the president, while the school is attacked by military forces led by William Stryker, who seems to recognise Logan, who is still suffering from his amnesia. The X-Men need to team up with their nemesis Magneto to stop the mutant-hating Stryker from using Professor X's telepathic powers to kill all the mutants.

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I remember the times when I was so into X-Men and I basically followed everyone else's opinion on the movies. People said (because of the comic books) X2 is one of the best movies because it built the Phoenix Saga and all that, and X-Men: The Last Stand was horrible and so on. But I have to admit, I'd rather watch The Last Stand. Mostly because that movie simply looks better, and also because I want to watch a movie and not just judge it based on the comics I haven't even read.

The dialogue in X2 is annoyingly clumsy, and the writing isn't too special in other ways neither. I get that superhero movies aren't usually very original, but the plot structure of X2 is so basic it's annoying.

The most intriguing thing about this film is the metaphor of mutants and the moral dilemmas, but compared to the first X-men movie or The Last Stand there's really no way to choose a side in this film. Superhero movies are usually extremely black-and-white: you know who the good guys are, you know who the bad guys are. Magneto sometimes brings the moral grey areas into the mix, but because he isn't the main antagonist of X2, the movie doesn't offer that anymore. Everyone watching X2 knows Stryker is horrible, it's not even up to debate.

X2 is an alright superhero action movie, but doesn't offer anything interesting to the viewer, but were you expecting anything other than the usual stuff superhero movies throw our ways?

☆☆☆☆

4 / 10