X2 (film)

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X2
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBryan Singer
Screenplay by
Story by
Based on
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyNewton Thomas Sigel
Edited by
Music byJohn Ottman
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • April 24, 2003 (2003-04-24) (London, UK)
  • May 2, 2003 (2003-05-02) (United States)
Running time
134 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$110–125 million[2][3][4]
Box office$407.7 million[2]

X2 (also marketed as X2: X-Men United,[2][5] and internationally as X-Men 2)[6][7] is a 2003 American superhero film directed by Bryan Singer and written by Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris and David Hayter, from a story by Singer, Hayter and Zak Penn. The film is based on the X-Men superhero team appearing in Marvel Comics. It is the sequel to X-Men (2000), as well as the second installment in the X-Men film series, and features an ensemble cast including Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Brian Cox, Alan Cumming, Bruce Davison, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Kelly Hu, and Anna Paquin. The plot, inspired by the graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills, concerns the genocidal Colonel William Stryker leading an assault on Professor Xavier's school to build his own version of Xavier's mutant-tracking computer, Cerebro, in order to destroy every mutant on Earth and to save the human race from them, forcing the X-Men to team up with the Brotherhood of Mutants to stop Stryker and save the mutant race.

Development on the sequel began shortly after the first film was released on July 14, 2000 by

Production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas adapted similar designs by John Myhre
from the previous film.

X2 was released in the United States on May 2, 2003 by

20th Century Fox, and received positive reviews for its storyline, action sequences, and performances. The film grossed $407 million worldwide, and received eight Saturn Awards nominations. A sequel, X-Men: The Last Stand
, was released on May 26, 2006.

Plot

At the

Iceman, and Pyro escape, and Stryker's assistant Yuriko Oyama
captures Cyclops and Xavier. During the attack, Logan confronts Stryker, who addresses him as Wolverine and seems to know about his past.

The shape-shifting Mystique gains information about Magneto's prison and helps him escape while also discovering schematics for a second Cerebro. Logan, Rogue, Iceman, and Pyro visit Iceman's parents and brother in Boston and meet up with Storm, Jean, and Nightcrawler. The X-Jet is attacked by fighter jets while flying back to the mansion and is shot down, but Magneto saves them from crashing. Magneto explains to the group that Stryker has built the second Cerebro to use it and Xavier to telepathically kill every mutant on the planet. Stryker's son, Jason, is a mutant with mind-controlling powers, whom Stryker will use to force Xavier to do this. Stryker had also previously used Jason's powers to orchestrate Nightcrawler's attack as a pretense to gain approval to invade Xavier's mansion. Magneto also tells Wolverine that Stryker was the man who grafted his adamantium skeleton onto his bones and is responsible for his amnesia. Jean reads Nightcrawler's mind and determines that Stryker's base is underground in a dam at Alkali Lake.

Disguised as Logan, Mystique infiltrates Stryker's base. She lets the rest of the mutants in and Magneto and Mystique go to disable Cerebro before the brainwashed Xavier can activate it. Storm and Nightcrawler rescue the captured students, and Jean fights a mind-controlled Cyclops; their battle frees Cyclops but damages the dam, which begins to rupture. Logan finds Stryker in an adamantium smelting lab and remembers it as where he received his adamantium skeleton. Logan fights and kills Yuriko, then chases Stryker to a helicopter pad and chains him to the helicopter's wheel. Magneto stops Cerebro and, using Mystique impersonating Stryker to command Jason, has Xavier redirect its powers on humans. The two subsequently use Stryker's helicopter to escape, accompanied by Pyro, who has been swayed to Magneto's views. Nightcrawler teleports Storm inside Cerebro, where she creates a snowstorm to break Jason's concentration and free Xavier from his control.

The X-Men flee the dam as water engulfs it, killing Stryker, but the X-Jet loses all power and struggles to take flight as the flood water rushes towards them. Jean sneaks off the jet and telepathically wishes the team goodbye. She holds back the water and raises the jet above it as flames erupt from her body, until she lets go and allows the flood to crash down upon her, presumably killing her. The X-Men give Stryker's files to the president, and Xavier warns him that humans and mutants must work together to build peace. Back at the school, Xavier, Cyclops, and Logan remember Jean, and Xavier begins to hold a class. Meanwhile, a Phoenix-like shape rises from the flooded Alkali Lake.

Cast

Additionally,

Douglas Ramsey.[17] Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris, the film's writers, cameo in scenes of Wolverine's Weapon X flashbacks as surgeons.[19]

Development

Writing

The financial and critical success of

20th Century Fox to immediately commission a sequel. Starting in November 2000,[20] Bryan Singer researched various storylines (one of them being the Legacy Virus) of the X-Men comic book series.[21] Singer wanted to study, "the human perspective, the kind of blind rage that feeds into warmongering and terrorism,"[22] citing a need for a "human villain".[20] Bryan and producer Tom DeSanto envisioned X2 as the film series' equivalent to The Empire Strikes Back, in that the characters are "all split apart, and then dissected, and revelations occur that are significant... the romance comes to fruition and a lot of things happen".[23] Producer Avi Arad announced a planned November 2002 theatrical release date,[24] while David Hayter and Zak Penn were hired to write separate scripts.[25] Hayter and Penn combined what they felt to be the best elements of both scripts into one screenplay.[26] Singer and Hayter worked on another script, finishing in October 2001.[27] Penn was partially hired when he convinced Singer to not adapt "The Dark Phoenix Saga" storyline for the film, feeling that the franchise's universe should be established much more before "going cosmic". Instead, in what he feels was his major contribution to the project, Penn based the film's outline on Chris Claremont's graphic novel X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills before leaving to work on another movie.[28]

Drawing of a large, enclosed, futuristic arena with a man standing at the centre; large ramps lead to galleries above.
Concept art of the Danger Room before the setpiece was stored due to budgetary concerns

Sabretooth before the character was deleted.[32] In Hayter's script, the role eventually filled by Lady Deathstrike was Anne Reynolds, a character who appears in God Loves, Man Kills as Stryker's personal assistant/assassin. Singer changed her to Deathstrike, citing a need for "another kick-ass mutant".[20] There was to be more development on Cyclops and Professor X being brainwashed by Stryker. The scenes were shot, but Fox cut them out because of time length and story complications. Hayter was disappointed, feeling that James Marsden deserved more screentime.[17]

Rewrites were commissioned once more, specifically to give Halle Berry more screen time. This was because of her recent popularity in Monster's Ball, earning her the Academy Award for Best Actress.[33] A budget cut meant that the Sentinels[21] and the Danger Room were dropped. Guy Hendrix Dyas and a production crew had already constructed the Danger Room set. In the words of Dyas, "The control room [of the Danger Room] was a large propeller that actually rotated around the room so that you can sit up [in that control room] and travel around the subject who is in the middle of the control room. The idea for the traveling is that if it's a mutant has some kind of mind control powers they can't connect."[16]

Production

Producer

Gambit for a cameo appearance, but Gambit's scene was deleted from the film's final cut.[37] According to Alan Cumming, Singer began berating the cast which lead to Halle Berry saying to Singer "you can kiss my black ass".[38] Cumming would also later say that working on the film was a "bad experience".[39]

Design and effects

Nightcrawler's tail was mainly computer-generated imagery, although Alan Cumming sometimes used one made of rubber.[11]

Singer and Sigel credited

Aaton 35mm. Singer also used zoom lenses more often than he did in his previous films, while Sigel used a Frazier lens specifically for dramatic moments.[42]

The Blackbird was redesigned and increased in virtual size from 60 feet to 85 feet.[16] John Myhre served as the production designer on the first film, but Singer hired Guy Hendrix Dyas for X2, which was his first film as a production designer.[43] For scenes involving Stryker's Alkali Base, Vancouver Film Studios, the largest sound stage in North America, was reserved.[15]

Visual effects supervisor Mike Fink was not satisfied with his work on the previous film, despite the fact it nearly received an Academy Award nomination.[44] Up to 520 shots were created for X-Men, while X2 commissioned roughly 800.[45] A new computer program was created by Rhythm and Hues for the dogfight tornado scene. Cinesite was in charge of scenes concerning Cerebro, enlisting a 20-man crew. The Alkali Lake Dam miniature was 25 feet (7.6 m) high and 28 feet (8.5 m) wide.[46] Cinesite created 300 visual effects shots, focusing on character animation, while Rhythm and Hues created over 100.[47] Janssen would later admit that she was not a fan working with green screen on set of the film.[48]

Post-production

The first cut of X2 was

Motion Picture Association of America, due to violent shots with Logan when Stryker's army storms the X-Mansion. A few seconds were cut to secure a PG-13 rating.[49]

Release

The film premiered in London on April 24, 2003, and then had the widest release ever, opening on May 2, 2003, in 93 markets, on 7,316 screens overseas and in 3,741 theaters in the United States and Canada.[50][51]

Reception

Box office

X2 opened May 2, 2003, accumulating $85.6 million on its opening weekend in 3,749 theaters in the United States and Canada. Overseas, it grossed $69.27 million in its first five days, including previews.

20th Century Fox film.[54] For two weeks, it stayed in the number 1 spot before being displaced by The Matrix Reloaded.[55] X2, The Matrix Reloaded, Finding Nemo, Bruce Almighty and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl all became the first five films to cross the $200-million mark at the box office in one summer season.[56] The film grossed $214.9 million in the United States and Canada, the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2003,[57] earning $192.8 million overseas, for a worldwide total of $407.7 million, the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2003. It earned $107 million in its first five days when released on DVD.[35]

Critical response

X2 received positive reviews, with praise aimed at the acting, action, and story. The review-aggregation website

weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on reviews from 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[59] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A on scale of A to F.[60]

Empire called X2 the best comic book movie of all time in 2006,[64] while Wizard named the film's ending as the 22nd greatest cliffhanger of all time.[65] In May 2007, Rotten Tomatoes listed X2 as the fifth greatest comic book film of all time.[66]

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle was critical of the storyline, special effects and action scenes.[67] Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal specifically referred to the film as "fast-paced, slow-witted".[68] Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post wrote "Of the many comic book superhero movies, this is by far the lamest, the loudest, the longest".[69] Richard Corliss of Time argued that Singer depended too much on seriousness and that he did not have enough sensibilities to communicate to an audience.[70]

Accolades

The film won the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film. In addition, Bryan Singer (Direction), Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty (Writing), and John Ottman (Music) all received nominations. It also received nominations for its costumes, makeup, special effects and DVD release, amounting to a total of eight nominations.[71] The Political Film Society honored X2 in the categories of Human Rights and Peace,[72] while the film was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form).[73]

Music

The

'N Sync also featured in the film.[75]

On July 19, 2012, La-La Land Records and

20th Century Fox fanfare incorporating Ottman's film theme.[41]

Home media

X2 was released on DVD in widescreen and fullscreen formats as well as VHS on November 25, 2003.[76] The two-disc DVD includes over three hours of special features.[77] X2 was also released on Blu-ray and additionally as a Blu-ray, DVD and digital-copy combination in 2011 with special features.[77] The film is included in the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray set X-Men: 3-Film Collection, which was released on September 25, 2018.[78]

Sequel

After the success of the second film in the franchise; a sequel titled X-Men: The Last Stand was released in 2006.

Video games

A video game titled X2: Wolverine's Revenge was released in April 2003, for PlayStation 2, GameCube, Microsoft Windows, Xbox and Game Boy Advance. The game was a promotional tie-in for the film. Patrick Stewart reprises his role as Professor X, while Hugh Jackman's likeness was featured on the cover as Wolverine.

Another game, titled X-Men: The Official Game, was released in May 2006, for PlayStation 2, GameCube, Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. The game bridges the time period between X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand and uses several voice actors from the film franchise.

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External links