X-Men 2, Alan Cumming, Nightcrawler

My Favorite Scene: X-Men 2 (2003) “Nightcrawler Crashes The White House”

Until The Dark Knight, X-Men 2 was the gold standard for comic book movies.  It remains my favorite of the series, and though there are tons of great moments, I love it when a film opens with something jaw-dropping.  X-Men 2 opened with a mind-controlled Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) storming The White House, teleporting, BAMFING, and fulfilling every X-fan’s dream to see the fuzzy elf realized in the comics.


X-Men 2, Alan Cumming, Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler is one of my favorite X-Men, so it was great to see him, but it wasn’t just his appearance.  No one had choreographed a fight for a teleporter before.  His fighting style utilizing his teleportation and his tail is so unique that you were sucked into the movie in the little over two minutes it took Kurt to breach The Oval Office.  Unfortunately, Alan Cumming had a miserable experience working on X2 and never returned, clashing with Brian Singer and chafing at the elaborate make-up necessary for the character.  A younger Kurt Wagner will make his debut in X-Men: Apocalypse played by Kodi Smit-McPhee.  He’s got some large, oddly shaped shoes to fill.  For more of Alan Cumming, check out The Good Wife on CBS (just finishing its seven-year run).  His character is reason enough to binge watch the drama.
Nightcrawler, X-Men 2, Alan Cumming

2 thoughts on “My Favorite Scene: X-Men 2 (2003) “Nightcrawler Crashes The White House””

  1. This really was an opening for the ages. In a perfect world, Cumming would have gotten his own spinoff film. Nightcrawler’s onscreen incarnation was second only to Wolverine and Professor X.

    I saw this movie with a non-fan when it first came out, and after it was over he told me that the film had an agenda… but that it was a good agenda. He said he liked the matter-of-fact way that Nightcrawler’s faith was addressed… that it wasn’t looked upon by the other characters as a negative or a positive, but was simply accepted. I remember being struck by the fact that the film’s good-spiritedness was the first thing about it that I discussed with someone, instead of the awesome opening.


    I hadn’t really thought about it, but I think you’re right, this remains the best X-Men movie, which probably does make it the best adaptation of a comic book until Chris Nolan. I mean, I love Batman Returns, and I love it a lot, but while it’s one of those quintessential Tim Burton movies, it totally fails as a Batman adaptation, and so it doesn’t count.

    I’m still not the biggest fan of this franchise. I feel like it could have been so much more. Bryan Singer is certainly capable of more; look at the Usual Suspects (one of my favorite films of all time). Of course, he’s also capable of less; look at Jack the Giant Slayer. His X-Men films are somewhere in between. I think that at the time the first one was made, the studio did not want to spend a huge amount of money in it, because back then this genre was largely untested. And so the series didn’t get the kickoff it deserved. I wish they would reboot. Hugh Jackman’s exit is the perfect opportunity. It will be painful to see the old guard go, but unless you’re the MCU, having a franchise go on this long is death.


    Liked by 1 person

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