- Film Review
- Reviewed By Andrew Collins
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4 out of 5
The first X-Men movie was burdened with having to set out the stall for an intended franchise; this sequel capitalises on the original's groundwork and pays the audience back in spades. This is what a mega-budget comic-book action movie should be - from its breathtaking opening assault on the White House, the pace never lets up. Former nemesis Magneto (played with relish by Ian McKellen) is now allied with the X-Men against Brian Cox's ruthless military scientist, Stryker. Our Marvel heroes, again led by Hugh Jackman's cigar-chomping Wolverine and augmented by Alan Cumming's camp shape-shifter and a handsome new intake of students, are pleasingly, fallibly human, and a sharp script leavens the dark melancholy at the tale's core with soap-opera romance and comic one-liners. Director Bryan Singer skilfully keeps multiple subplots spinning while moving inexorably towards a climax that puts the first film's Liberty Island sequence in the shade. It's overlong, but feel the quality.
Plot Summary
Fantasy adventure sequel starring Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman and Ian McKellen. After an attack on the White House, public opinion turns against society's mutants. Military scientist William Stryker is charged with bringing them to heel, leading an assault on Professor X's training academy. Can the X-Men, led by an alliance of the professor and his nemesis Magneto, stop Stryker before he wipes them all out?
Cast and crew
Cast
- Professor Charles Xavier
- Patrick Stewart
- Wolverine / Logan
- Hugh Jackman
- Magneto / Erik Magnus Lehnsherr
- Ian McKellen
- Storm / Ororo Munroe
- Halle Berry
- Dr Jean Grey
- Famke Janssen
- Cyclops / Scott Summers
- James Marsden
- Mystique / Raven Darkholme
- Rebecca Romijn-Stamos
- Rogue / Marie D'Ancanto
- Anna Paquin
- Nightcrawler / Kurt Wagner
- Alan Cumming
- General William Stryker
- Brian Cox
- Senator Robert Kelly
- Bruce Davison
- Lady Deathstrike / Yuriko Oyama
- Kelly Hu
- Iceman / Bobby Drake
- Shawn Ashmore
- Pyro / John Allerdyce
- Aaron Stanford
- Shadowcat / Kitty Pryde
- Katie Stuart
- Jubilee / Jubilation Lee
- Kea Wong
- Colossus / Piotr Rasputin
- Daniel Cudmore
- Siryn / Theresa Cassidy
- Shauna Kain
Crew
- Director
- Bryan Singer
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