X2: X-Men United

Name: X2: X-Men United
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Released: May 2, 2003
Duration: 133 min
Rating: 68
Cast: Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen

2003

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 936 Ratings

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8.7

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8.7	User Score Universal acclaim based on 936 Ratings

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X2: X-Men United

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Movie Details & Credits

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: May 2, 2003 | PG-13

Starring: Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart

Summary: Mutants continue to struggle against a society that fears and distrusts them. Their cause becomes even more desperate following an incredible attack by an as yet undetermined assailant possessing extraordinary abilities. With the fates of mankind - and mutantkind - in their hands, the X-Men Face their most dangerous mission ever. [20th Century Fox]

Director: Bryan Singer

Genre(s): Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 133 min

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Critic Reviews

Michael O'Sullivan

The fantastic and at times deliciously nihilistic world of X2 is fully, believably three-dimensional. Read full review

Premiere Glenn Kenny

One of the things that makes this movie such a great rush is that while you’re watching it, it seems a good deal more subversive than it really is. Read full review

David Edelstein

My chief complaint is that these mutants are a little--well, vanilla. I wish the X-Men had a touch of kinkiness to go with their weird abilities. Read full review

Steven Rea

As it is, most of X2's action is restricted to the Northeast Corridor, with a climactic face-off in the western Rockies, where, in typical blockbuster fashion, everything goes kablooey and ka-bam. Read full review

Stephanie Zacharek

In some ways, X2 is an obvious improvement on its predecessor: It looks more expensive, and its special effects seem to swoop out of nowhere...But "X-Men" was undoubtedly the most elegiac comic-book adaptation of the past few years. Read full review

Wesley Morris

It's scenic, confidently directed and performed, dutiful, faithful, revelatory, informative, and largely involving. Rarely, however, is it any fun. Read full review

Mick LaSalle

The movie is overplotted, a soulless maze of special effects and relentless action. Read full review

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User Reviews

Thegodfatherson

Jul 29, 2013

Tightly scripted, solidly acted, and impressively ambitious, X2: X-Men United is bigger and better than its predecessor and a benchmark for comic sequels in general.

26 of 26 users found this helpful260

pur__0_0__

Apr 9, 2021

X2 is the X-Men movie that I would have absolutely loved to watch if I was a fan of the X-Men franchise as a kids. Sadly I became a fan of the series only in the recent years. This movie has all the characters from the cartoon series, and its story is even better than the prequel.X2 is the X-Men movie that I would have absolutely loved to watch if I was a fan of the X-Men franchise as a kids. Sadly I became a fan of the series only in the recent years. This movie has all the characters from the cartoon series, and its story is even better than the prequel. Nightcrawler was my favourite character, and here he is. I was a little disappointed he wasn't there in the first movie, but he is here now. And that makes me like it already.

The movie opens with Nightcrawler fighting an entire team of security guards at the White House. It is one of the best choreographed fight scenes from any Marvel movie at that point, and one of my favourite after the warehouse fight scene from Batman v Superman. When he bursts into the room I was actually cheering for him. After that the scene shifts to the mutants who are showing visitors a museum on dinosaurs. Normally I don't like to watch those "teenagers get into a fight cliché scenes, but this one is an exception, especially the way everyone turns into a mannequin when they have to escape before anyone learns they are mutants.

Magneto's entrance was also awesome. The idea of Mystique just using a little bit of metal in a man's food could help Magneto walk all the way out of the prison was pretty creative. And then the mutants escaping from their plane and Magneto stopping them just before they hit the ground; it really made me like Magneto a lot. I actually liked Magneto in the first movie also because he had been on the receiving end of a lot of oppression and all of this was just his rage coming out, but here he absolutely nailed it.

Now of course I can't be going about telling all the things that happen in this movie, since there are a lot of storylines going on, and in spite of that it never feels complicated. The acting, costumes, CGI, music - everything has been done to perfection. The ending is also one of my favourites from all X-Men movies. I always consider this to be "the" X-Men movie, since it is so faithful to its source material and yet doesn't feel unrealistic. Everyone (except Wolverine of course) looks exactly like their comic counterpart. You can pause on any scene and expect it to be a panel from a comic. It's kinda sad that X-Men movies, for that matter any comic book movie franchise, no longer follows the source material. It's kinda fun to watch this movie because of that very reason. I can see myself watching this movie many times again in the future because it's so good, and that's actually saying something because I usually don't watch the same movie twice unless it's coming on TV and I have nothing better to do, or if it's as good as this and I have to show it to someone.… Expand