Powerful

hyped garbage

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

X2 takes everything that we loved about the first film and builds upon it in this fantastic sequel. With a greater sense of a team and great continuing performances from Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Famke Jansen, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Rebecca Romajin, and Ian McKellan. As well as newcomer Alan Cumming who gives an extatic performance as Nightcrawler. X2 is a great superhero venture that doesn't fall into its predecessors "date" issue, but doesn't have the weight, fun, or intrigue as some of the later installments.

I love the X-Men movies and especially the ones with Wolverine are very high ranked in my superhero movie top list. He gets a bit more backstory and all the mutants fight against a new villain, which is symbolic for the fear of mutants on the part of humans. What's especially great is the teamwork between good and bad mutants against this enemy and Mystique provides a few of her best plot twists. Dramatic ending, lots of action and great characters.

Having already seen the first X-men movie and loved it, I couldn't wait to watch the follow-up, X-Men 2 and it didn't let me down. From it's themes and action scenes to the acting and direction, X-men 2 is a superior sequel to the first one in almost every possible way.The movie begins with a indoctrinated mutant named Nightcrawler breaking into the White House and tries to kill the president but is unable to and flees. In the meantime, Wolverine journeys to an old army base in Canada to find evidence about his past but discovers nothing. Professor X locates Nightcrawler and sends Jean Gray and Strom to find him, while William Stryker gets permission from the president to examine the X Mansion for it's mutant ties. Stryker's forces than attack the mansion and abduct several students while Wolverine and a few other mutants are able to escape while Professor X and Cyclops are also captured. Now, the remaining X-men and Magneto must unite to save the professor and stop Stryker from executing his plans of destroying all of mutant kind.With sequels, remakes and reboots being the main summer blockbusters these days, it's becoming harder and harder to find an action movie that has the capability to grasp your mind and engage your concentration so rigidly and doesn't let go until the film ends, X-Men 2 is one such movie. Usually, there are only a handful of movies where the follow-up is able to take all the previous elements from the first movie, effectively toss out anything that doesn't work and goes on to not only smash people's doubts or any kind of excitement for the movie but also utterly revalues and enhances the genre's credibility like The Dark Knight or Terminator 2. Given how the X-men feel more political and emotional than most other superheroes, the main aspects of the story lie with the characters and their battles for acceptance, their thoughts on how the world sees them, their relationships with each other, and how they all play a part in the story at hand while at the films core lies something a lot of modern action movies lack: heart.But it's also thanks to director Brian Singer's obviously endless capabilities to accurately portray the authentic essence of the comics in a way that only a few directors have been able to do. Singly, wither they be hero, villain or as a team, Brian has managed to touch upon the emotional center of the comics and bring all these heroes and villains together in a movie that has no need for epic battles or witty dialog, but instead focuses on the lost arts of character development and interaction. Now, that's not saying that Singer follows the comics note for note as he does change things, but doesn't destroy it like what Josh Trank did to Fant4stic and while Brian's version of the X-men allows the viewer to appreciate that any changes made to the team are for the better like how skillfully Singer handles the character of Jean Gray and her hidden abilities as he reinterprets this variation by still bestowing her this power but using it to develop Jean as a character and allows the viewer to see the abilities she has and at the same time, Singer treats her along with the viewing audience and the fans with the utmost admiration while another fine case in Singer's abilities of character analysis is taking a villain like William Stryker who was a religious fanatic in the comics and turning him into a more dangerous bigot who still retrains some of his original holier-than-thou attitude but making Stryker a military man makes him even more ruthless and evil allowing Singer to give us a more complex and developed villain with a clear-cut plan and by adding in important sub-plots and characters that are used effectively make the movie what it is.The movie's screenplay is able to juggle it's vast amount of characters without feeling too rushed as it gives each hero and villain a decent amount of development as well as has a change to have their moment without the movie feeling too cumbersome while there are plenty of Easter eggs for fans of the comics that don't endanger the course of the story. The movie also has a lot more smooth action scenes than the first one including Nightcrawler's spectacular attack on the White House and Wolverine slicing and dicing Stryker's men during the attack on the X mansion while John Ottman gives us some incredible and catchy themes that complement the movie while the editing and cinematography are to a high level.Of course, the movie would be nothing without it's cast and it delivers that on a silver platter. Ian McKellan continues to show his acting credibility as Magneto and he doesn't hold back when it comes to the malice and warmongering, yet brings a level of class to the character as does Patrick Stewart as Professor X by conveying a relaxed grace as well as all the characteristics of a father figure and leader while Halle Berry brings the usual believability and truthfulness to the role of Strom. Anna Paquin is back as Rouge and gives a fantastic performance as does James Marsden as Cyclops, even if he's given little to do, Rebecca Romjin once again brings a dangerous edge to Mystique. Shawn Ashmore is believable as Iceman, showing great emotional range while being very likable. Aaron Stanford is great as Pyro, Famkie Jensen is again fantastic as Jean Grey and is given quite a lot of development which makes her all the more relatable. Allan Cummings is fantastic as Nightcrawler while Brian Cox plays a wonderfully menacing William Stryker. Hugh Jackman once again kills it as Wolverine and has completely made the role his own from the action scenes to the emotional moments.Go watch this movie, it's truly awesome.

​Plot Overview: Short after the events on Liberty Island, a human task force with the purpose of killing all mutants rises and kidnaps Professor X(Patrick Stewart). Both the X-Men and Brotherhood of Mutants alike must join forces to save mutant kind.Directed by Bryan SingerStarring Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen and Hugh Jackman# NO SPOILERS!Overall: This movie is a great superhero movie and triumphs over its predecessor. Everything from acting, action and story goes bigger but it also makes it better.Would Recommend.# POSSIBLE SPOILERS!Patrick Stewart was excellent as Professor X as was Ian McKellen as Magneto. I love the relationship between Charles and Eric and think that it is very well done. Hugh Jackman was born to play The Wolverine and that shines through here. Halle Berry was a good storm as was Rebecca Romjin as Mystique and Alan Cummings as Nightcrawler. Famke Jansen was good as Jean Grey. Brian Cox was amazing as William Stryker as rivals Magneto for my favourite X-Men villain. Stryker's lack of powers made him an interesting and compelling villain and stood out for me in the film. Every character is used to appropriate potential and was used effectively.The story was great and the doomsday weapon used was very interesting and unique. The twist on the weapon at the end was also great and made the movie more tense. Superb ending with a shocking sacrifice. As much as I loved the way they played around with Wolverine's past, I hate the overwhelming focus on Wolverine in these movies and wish more could be given to other characters.There were some nice shots but the editing and some poor lighting let the movie down in the cinematography department.There were some pretty cool and interesting effects.This movie provided great action and gave justice to all the characters. The oddball attempts at humour fell flat for me but I imagine they may hit for some people.Personally, I really enjoyed this movie and think it was much better than its predecessor(which was also really good and I recommend). 9/10