X-Men 2 Review

X-Men 2

Release Date: 30th April 2003 - Australia

Production Companies

20th Century Fox (presents)

Marvel Enterprises (in association with)

Donners' Company

Bad Hat Harry Productions

XF2 Canada Productions

XM2 Productions

Distribution

20th Century Fox Australia

Genre: Action

Rating: M

Runtime: 128 minutes


Budget: $110,000,000

Box Office Gross: $407,711,549 (Worldwide)

Plot Summary
There is growing hostility
and suspicion between
human beings and

mutants. An unwarranted
attack by mutants on the
President presents General
William Stryker with an
opportunity he has long

been waiting for - to
launch a full-scale assault
on the mutants. A war from
which only one race will

emerge victorious. It is up
to Xavier, Wolverine,
Storm and the other X-
Men as they team up with

their old adversary,

Magneto, to stop this

menace from destroying

everything.

Cast

Hugh Jackman - Logan/

Wolverine

Patrick Stewart - Charles

Xavier/Professor X

James Marsden - Scott

Summers/Cyclops

Famke Janssen - Dr. Jean Grey

Halle Berry - Ororo Munroe/

Storm

Ian McKellen - Erik

Lehnsherr/Magneto

Anna Paquin - Marie/Rogue

Rebecca Romjin-Stamos -

Mystique

Alan Cumming - Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler

Brian Cox - General William

Stryker

Bruce Davison - Senator Kelly

Shawn Ashmore - Bobby
Drake/Iceman
Aaron Stanford - John
Allerdyce/Pyro
Kelly Hu - Yuriko Oyama/
Deathstrike
Katie Stuart - Kitty Pryde (Cameo)
Kea Wong - Jubilation Lee/Jubilee (Cameo)

Cotter McSmith - President McKenna

Chiari Zanni - White House Tour Guide

Jackie A. Greenbank - President's Secretary

Michael Soltis - White House Checkpoint Agent

Michael David Simms - White House Agent (Lead Agent)

David Fabrizio - Oval Office Agent Fabrizio

Roger Cross - Oval Office Agent Cartwright

Richard Bradshaw - Special Ops Agent
Bryce Hodgson - Artie (Cameo)

Glen Curtis - Museum Teenager #1

Greg Rikaart - Museum Teenager #2
Shauna Kain - Theresa Rourke/Siryn

Ty Olsson - Mitchell Laurio

Alfonso Quijada - Federal Bldg. Cleaning Twin #1

Rene Quijada - Federal Bldg. Cleaning Twin #2

Brad Loree - Stryker at age 40

Sheri G. Feldman - Augmentation Room Doctor

Connor Widdows - Jones

Daniel Cudmore - Piotr Rasputin/Colossus

Peter Wingfield - Stryker Soldier Lyman

Charles Siegel - Dr. Shaw

Steve Bacic - Dr. Hank McCoy (Cameo)

Michael Reid McKay - Jason 143

James Kirk - Ronny Drake
Jill Teed - Madeline Drake
Alf Humphreys - William Drake

Michasha Armstrong - Plastic Prison Guard

Robert Hayley - Cop

Mark Lukyn - Cop #1 (Lead Cop)

Kendall Cross - Cop #2

Lori Stewart - F-16 Fighter Pilot

Keely Purvis - Little Girl 143

Dylan Kussman - Stryker Soldier Wilkins

Jason Whitmer - Stryker Soldier Smith

Aaron Pearl - Stryker Soldier

Aaron Douglas - Stryker Soldier

Colin Lawrence - Stryker Soldier

Richard C. Burton - Stryker Soldier

Michael Joycelyn - Stryker Soldier

Nolan Gerard Funk - X-Kid (Captured)

Devin Douglas Drewitz - X-Kid (Captured)

Jermaine Lopez - X-Kid (Captured)

Sideah Alladice - X-Kid (Captured)

Kurt Max Runte - Chief of Staff Abrahams

Benjamin Glenday - Cameraman

Ted Friend - News Reporter

Mi-Jung Lee - News Reporter

Marrett Green - News Reporter

Jill Krop - News Reporter

Brian Peck - News Reporter

Layke Anderson - Blond X-Kid Dressed in Blue

(Uncredited)

Newton Thomas Sigel - Cop (Cameo) (Uncredited)
Bryan Singer - Prison Security Guard (Cameo) (Uncredited)

Crew
Story/Executive Producer/

Director - Bryan Singer

Story/Screenplay - David Hayter
Story - Zak Penn
Screenplay - Michael Dougherty
and Dan Harris

Associate Producer - David Gorder
Executive Producers - Avi Arad, Stan Lee

and Tom DeSanto
Producers - Lauren Shuler Donner

and Ralph Winter

Co-Producer/Unit Production Manager -

Ross Fanger

Co-Producer - Kevin Feige

Casting Director - Roger Mussenden

Technical Advisors - Ron Blecker

and Robert Snow
Production Designer - Guy Hendrix Dyas

Supervising Art Director - Geoff Hubbard

Art Director - Helen Jarvis

Illustrators - Mark Goerner,

Jean-Francois Mignault, James Oxford,

Paul Ozzimo, Nathan Schroeder and

Dean Sherriff

Set Decorator - Elizabeth Wilcox

Property Master - James H. Chow
Costume Designer - Louise Mingenbach

X-Men Uniforms - Jose Fernandez
Special Makeup Designer - Gordon J. Smith

Makeup Designer - Norma Hill-Patton
Director of Photography - Newton Thomas Sigel

Director of Photography: Second Unit -

Gary Capo

Spacecam Camera Operators: Vancouver -

Hans Bjerno and Ron Goodman

First Assistant Director - Lee Clearly

Trainee Assistant Directors - Gary Hawes

and Ashley Bell

Third Assistant Director: Second Unit -

Misha Bukowski
Second Unit Director - Brian Smrz
Stunt Coordinators - Ernie Jackson,
Gary Jensen, Jacob Rupp and Melissa R. Stubbs

Stunt Coordinator: Second Unit/Stunts -

Mike Mitchell

Movement Coach - Terry Notary
Special Effects Coordinator - Mike Vezina
Special Effects Supervisor - Andrew Verhoeven

Special Effects: Shop Supervisor/Special Effects

Coordinator: Second Unit - Gord Davis

Special Effects: Shop Supervisor - Cameron Waldbauer

Senior Visual Effects Supervisor: Asylum,

Main Titles - Nathan McGuinness

Senior Visual Effects Supervisor: Kleiser-Walczak

Digital Effects - Jeffrey Kleiser (Uncredited)

Special Visual Effects: VCE.com - Peter Kuran

Visual Effects Supervisor - Michael J. Fink
Visual Effects Supervisor: Cinesite - Stephen Rosenbaum

Visual Effects Supervisor: Rhythm & Hues - 
Richard E. Hollander

Visual Effects Supervisor: Frantic Films - Chris Bond

Visual Effects Supervisor: Pacific Title - David Sosalla

Visual Effects Supervisor: CIS Hollywood - Bryan Hirota

Visual Effects Supervisor: Pixel Magic - Ray McIntyre Jr.

Visual Effects Supervisor: 4-Ward Productions,

"Forest Wave" Sequence - Robert Skotak

Visual Effects Producer - Joyce Cox

Executive Producer: 4-Ward Productions,

"Forest Wave" Sequence - Elaine Edford

Visual Effects Directors of Photography -

Eric Swenson and David Stump

Digital Effects Supervisor: Cinesite - Serge Sretschinsky

2D Digital Effects Supervisor: Cinesite - Jason Piccioni

Effects Lead: Rhythm & Hues - Mike O'Neal

Tornado Effects Lead: Rhythm & Hues - Douglas Bloom
CG Supervisor: Cinesite, Cerebro

Sequence - David Satchwell
CG Supervisor: Cinesite, Nightcrawler

Sequence - Greg Anderson

Animation Supervisor: Cinesite, Nightcrawler

Sequence - Chris Bailey

Director of Photography: Miniature Unit -

David Drzewiecki

Director of Photography: Pyro Crew - Barry Walton

3D Supervisor: VCE - Kevin Kutchaver

2D Supervisor: Cinesite, Cerebro

Sequence - Brian Leach

2D Supervisor: Cinesite, Nightcrawler

Sequence - David Lingenfelser

Compositing Supervisor: Rhythm & Hues - Edwin Rivera

Design Supervisor: Rhythm & Hues - Mike Meaker

Previz Artist: Rhythm & Hues - Bud Myrick

Film Editor/Music - John Ottman

Co-Film Editor - Elliot Graham

Supervising Sound Editor - John A. Larsen

Sound Designer/Co-Supervising Sound Editor - Craig Berkey

Effects Editors - Dave Kulczycki

and Erik Aadahl

Sound Mixers - Ron Young,

Paul Massey, Doug Hemphill and

Michael Hedrick

Additional Sound Mixer - James Bolt

ADR Supervisor - Donald Sylvester

Foley Artists - Alyson Dee Moore,

John Roesch and Marilyn Graf

Review
Now, this is a spectacular entry to the X-Men film series. X-MEN 2 (also known in the US as X2) continues the movie franchise established by Bryan Singer. The sequel has everything it needs, making it better than the original. Bryan was supposed to make two more features of X-Men. However, he left the franchise after this movie to produce Superman Returns. Leaving Brett Ratner to step in and helm the third instalment, which I heard was very disappointing.

The element of Bryan Singer's direction is his passion for conceiving a movie with a terrific story and a visual display of impressive fight scenes. He successfully manages his profound creativity to accomplish a sequel of its structure. No one could be prouder than Bryan Singer at having this smash-hit feature he magnificently directed. All the cast from the predecessor is back as the mutants fighting between good and evil. Hugh Jackman is back as our heroic slasher Wolverine. One actor I didn't mention among the mutant ensemble in the first movie is James Marsden. He returns as Cyclops but could have gotten more opportunities to expand his role. But that's nothing compared to what will happen to his character in the next instalment.

Scottish actor Alan Cumming camouflages in dark-blue makeup as the teleporting mutant Nightcrawler. Willingly, he even furnishes a fake German accent to have the character sound more authentically like his nationality.

I have no problem picking X-MEN 2 as the best of the series. It isn't unexceptional (no pun intended). It's awe-inspiring, and it's a near-perfect superhero movie. For the record, X-MEN 2 is my third favourite superhero film.

Star rating: (10/10) Best Movie Ever

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