In 2003 movie goers were asked to watch X2 which is the sequel to the very popular first X-Men movie made in 2000. The X-Men series of movies is based on the very popular comic books and it started to become apparent in X2 that the plan for these X-Men movies was to make a trilogy of movies before the series was to be called over. X2 stars Patrick Stewart as the wheel chair bound Dr. Charles Xavier who runs a school for mutants in Upstate New York. Mutants are humans with special powers that can manipulate their surroundings in one way or another. Many humans do not trust mutants so Professor Xavier has started his school to help teach young mutants how to control their powers and to use them for the good of mankind. Professor Xavier believes that the only way there will ever be peace between humans and mutants is if mutants show that they are working for the good of the human race and not to destroy it.

Professor Xavier’s old friend Magneto, who gets his name from his ability to manipulate metal, has been imprisoned by Xavier’s crew of heroes know as the X-Men and sits in a plastic prison cell awaiting his fate. While Magneto is in jail some sort of super mutant launches an attack on the President of the United States and soon there is a call for war on the mutants. General William Stryker, who is known to have experimented on mutants and has often been credited for turning Wolverine into a mutant, steps forward to wage war on the mutants and eliminate them from the planet. Through all of this Xavier has been visiting Magneto and appealing to him as an old friend to help stop this new super mutant and end the war between the humans and mutants. Magneto’s main assistant, Mystique, helps Magneto escape from prison and the war then becomes very intense.

When you watch X2 it becomes obvious that the special effects are very necessary not just to the story but also to proper character development. Of course, when you watch X2 you are also reminded that the producer’s realize that the effects may be a little too much when they include a scene in a museum where a human girl sticks out her tongue at a mutant boy and the boy responds by showing her is long and green forked tongue that looks like a snake’s tongue. It is this ability to let the audience know that they realize the effects are overwhelming that allows the movie to move along and when you watch X2 you begin to realize that maybe the effects are not overboard after all.

X2 is a lot of fun to watch and it is a very well done movie. It was a tremendous success at the box office as were all of the X-Men movies and it seemed to be the bridge between the first movie in the trilogy and what was supposed to be the third and last movie in the trilogy. In X2 we get introduced to a lot of new characters like Iceman and Pyro who wind up on opposite sides by the end of the movie. It is a great adaptation of the comic book series and it offers not only an entertaining story but also a visual feast for the eyes that is not to be forgotten. When you watch X2 you can easily forget that the movie is buried in special effects because those special effects are critical to the story.