X2 (X-Men 2)

It's not long until the leather-clad, extraordinarily powered, uber-cool gang return - and that means another blistering face-off between our favourite mutant superheroes.

M o v i e   D e t a i l s
Format Theatre	Director Bryan Singer	Distributor 20th Cen Fox	Genre Action	Release May 2 (global)

Audiences recently disappointed in the somewhat mediocre Daredevil, waiting for at least another year to see The Amazing Spider-Man can finally rejoice! With only 3 months to go (not that we're counting!), it's not long before we'll get to check in with the leather-clad, extraordinarily powered, uber-cool gang again to witness another blistering face-off between our favourite mutant superheroes.

Rumoured to be costing 20th Century Fox over $125 million, we're told that X-Men fans can expect to see some phenomenally huge and complex sets including a life-sized 'waterproof' cave that was taken on location and pumped with water! This is just a teaser to suggest the colossal scales of production, stunt performances and special effects likely to be at play and the trailer is proof of evidence of this from what we've seen already.

In X2, the X-Men and the mutants are at grave threat from a deadly new enemy: General Stryker (Brian Cox) who is leading an anti-mutant crusade across America, forcing an uneasy alliance between the heroes and Magneto (Ian McKellan). Back saving the mutant and human worlds are Prof. Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) as well as Dr. Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), Cyclops (James Marsden), Storm (Halle Barry) and a more mature Rogue (Anna Paquin).

Having steered the first plot through Wolverine's (Hugh Jackman) quest to find his lost identity, it looks likely that some of his mysterious past may flesh out into the core storyline especially with the introduction of the enigmatic Yuriko Oyama/Lady Deathstrike (Kelly Hu).

Playing the aid to General Stryker, Yuriko shares a similarity to Wolverine in that she has adamantium implanted into her hands to arm her with claws (metallic fingernails). It's still undisclosed how intimate her connection is to Wolverine as his discovers his genesis - we sure maybe in for a predictable but a surely explosive subplot (and an awesome one-to-one brawl) to see how Wolverine deals with the revelation of how he came to be.

The mutants seen briefly around the Xavier's school in the first film make a welcomed return in a bigger role to the main plot. Rogue's love interest, Bobby (aka Iceman - Shawn Ashmore) is back as are Kitty (Katie Stuart) and Jubilee (Kea Wong). Other named characters include Marvel favourites such as Beast, Gambit, Colossus, Siryn and Pyro, to add brawn and flair to the mutant showdown scenes!

And to round off... my favourite X-Men character, Nightcrawler (a blue elf-like guy who can teleport) finally makes a notable lead appearance in the sequel. Nightcrawler is portrayed by Alan Cumming, who although we loved in his television days, we'll a little unsure whether he's the correct choice. No doubt Nightcrawler is a very tongue-in-cheek and more agile than the physically brutal mutant so it we'll leave judgment aside until we see the film.

New mutants and enemies out of the way, Kikizo is probably most excited by the return of the true X-Men leader himself, Bryan Singer, back in the hot director's chair.

Being big fans here of his work in the seminal Usual Suspects, we're anticipating to see another more-than-average action film that won't be a dire showcase of cardboard cut-outs left on the comic pages but will instead epitomise a great job of interweaving great screenplay, characterisation and superb dynamic between the leads that'll be a joy to watch and worthy of your ticket purchase. We'll be back with more news on X2 as we get it.

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