Superhero Media: X-Men 2

Is X-Men 2 still the stone cold, instant classic people remember it being? Sadly, no, the film has dated significantly, coming across as pretty cliche and formulaic, though still thoroughly enjoyable to watch. Following on directly from X-Men, Logan discovers the Weapon X facility, finding it long abandoned and still no closer to the answers he seeks. Meanwhile, Mystique, still disguised as Senator Kelley, is trying to find where Magneto is being held prisoner. Oh yeah, the film also opens with Nightcrawler attacking the President in the White House in what has to be one of best effects sequences of it's era. I remember, back in the day, when home theatre systems were all the rage, stores used to use that sequence on loop to show off "Surround Sound", and it was pretty cool to "hear" Nightcrawler bampf around the room. I mean, the character is pretty much wasted in the rest of the film, but that bit is cool. 

Most of the characters, especially Wolverine, get some development, Rogue, Iceman and Pyro having their own little arc with Bobby's parents and a pretty good allegory scene of youth LGBTQI+ issues of the time. The story of X-Men 2 is pretty thin, but sharp directing and a breakneck pace means the film never drags, bouncing from action sequence to action sequence. And that's not a complaint, the action in X-Men 2 is awesome, from the attack on Xavier's School, with plenty of cameos, to the assault on Weapon X, where Magneto finally gets to show off just how powerful he is. Given how badly the Pheonix arc would turn out in the next film, it's easy to forget that X-Men 2 handles the burgeoning power of Jean Grey subtly and with a minimum of fuss, making a promise of an interesting pay-off that would never come. 

X-Men 2 still has its fans, and it's pretty easy to see why, it's a really compelling film and one of the best of the pre-MCU era. Brian Cox is a brilliant villain, even without super-powers he manages to manipulate the heroes into doing in his bidding and is a credible threat; yes, Magneto kills him with barely a thought, but like Zemo in Civil War, a good antagonist doesn't need to have a Thanos-level power to be threatening. The Fox X-Men series is patchy, at best, but X-Men 2 remains one of the high points of the series, even if it may not be quite as good as people want to remember it being. The overly slick design is a little embarrassing to look back on, all that black leather and florescent lighting makes it look like a '90s Goth music video more than a superhero film, and let's not mention the horrible person Bryan Singer turned out to be. If you still love X-Men 2, great, it's worth loving, but it's not the masterpiece we all once thought it was.