Set some three years after the original, X-Men 2 opens with a bang. A teleporting mutant, Nightcrawler (Cumming) has been despatched to murder the US President in the name of mutant freedom. Although he's unsuccessful, the President decides action has to be taken against the mutants, entrusting the Machiavellian William Stryker (Brian Cox) with the job. His first port of call is the special training school of Professor Xavier (Stewart). But the good professor has problems of his own as he's intent on finding Nightcrawler and sends the X-Men to help find out just who is pulling the strings behind the attack. And despite his telepathic powers, even Xavier can't see the danger that confronts the X-Men.
Bigger and certainly brasher than the first movie, X-Men 2 benefits greatly that the overwhelming majority of the fine original cast have returned to reprise their roles, while more action has been injected into the mix. And though the industrious Singer doesn't disregard the characters completely, it's clear that the emphasis of X-Men 2 has shifted somewhat. Yet it's to the director's credit that, for the most part, he handles the material with no little skill. And even though there are misfires - Cumming's porky accent and his character's religious fever being chief amongst them - and it drags a little in places, X Men 2 is a blast.
