Comic-Con 2010 kicks off today in San Diego thus meaning part two of my comic book movie reviews is here. Bryan Singer has made his career directing comic book adapted movies, but that’s not where he got his start. You might remember a pretty good little movie titled The Usual Suspects, well that was Singer’s “coming out” party in Hollywood and he’s been hit or miss ever since.
Singer got his next big break when Fox hired him to direct X-Men, the comic book adapted movie about a band of mutants who team up together to save the world from a super villain named Magneto. It was very well received as the first comic book adapted movie in almost ten years to be even considered remotely good. Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns were the only two comic book movies that critics seemed to love prior to X-Men releasing. Singer got the green light for an X-Men sequel in 2002, X2, which promised to be even bigger and better than his first movie.
X2 starred Hugh Jackman reprising his role as Wolverine, which seemed he was born to play. Halle Berry was back as Storm, the weather controlling mutant. Famke Janssen as Jean Grey, the mind controlling mutant. James Marsden as Cyclops, which oddly enough was Marsden’s coming out roll as Hollywood’s next “McDreamy.” X2 also brought back Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier, the leader and teacher of the X-Men and Ian McKellen as Magneto, the metal controlling mutant bent on world destruction. X2 brings new mutants to the fold as well, such as Mystique (Rebecca Romijn), the shape-shifting mutant who is Magneto’s right hand woman. Night Crawler also joins the fold (played by the excellent Alan Cumming), as the inbetween space moving mutant who teams up with the X-Men to clear his name and get revenge. Brian Cox also joins the cast as William Stryker, the man behind the war between mutants and humans.
The entire plot centers around the humans turning on the mutants after a mutant assassin tries, unsuccessfully, to kill the U.S. president. It’s a scheme manufactured by Magneto to wage war against the humans to bring the mutant race to the forefront of dominant races on Earth. Meanwhile, the U.S. military, led by William Stryker, makes an assault on Professor Xavier’s Mutant Academy, forcing the X-Men to go on the run while trying to clear their names and make the humans trust them again.
Singer strikes gold once again in X2 by not focusing too much on any one character while centering the action around the plot and appeasing the X-Men “fanboys” by staying true to the comic book characters. The plot is action rich and written beautifully. While the first movie may have focused too much on Wolverine’s character, X2, doesn’t focus too much on any one character but makes them all equally important. Patrick Stewart takes a front seat roll this go around as Xavier playing the most intricate roll thus far in the X-Men movie franchise. X2 should have been a fantastic conclusion to the X-Men movie franchise, but of course Fox can’t leave well enough alone. X-Men: Last Stand was made and was never on par with either of the first two movies, and what makes it even worse is that they didn’t bring back Bryan Singer, they instead hired Brett Ratner (Rush Hour 1, 2, and 3; Money Talks, Red Dragon) to direct. It was a huge letdown and big black eye on the entire X-Men movie franchise.
If you’re looking for a bang-up comic book adapted movie, look no further than X2, it’s the rare “better than the original” sequel that stays true to form while never sacrificing actor screen time for plot. It really is one of the best comic book movies created.