"Welcome to the Brotherhood."

Rating: 7/10 (7 June 2006)

You expect intense action with the X-Men franchise and this one delivers as well. For my money though, the film is all over itself trying to be the greatest action adventure of all time, especially in the second half. I'd have preferred a bit more character development replacing some of the fight scenes, but hey, it's not my prerogative.
There are almost 1400 posts on this film already, so I won't go into the story line. I WILL say I was happy to catch Stan Lee in his almost obligatory cameo early on and didn't have to strain to catch his appearance. You have to pay attention though, he shows up quickly as a homeowner watering his lawn in the twenty years ago flashback scene with Professor X, pre-Magneto and the young Jean Grey.
I was also impressed with the way Kelsey Grammar mutated into his role as The Beast. Although it's hard to keep the Frasier personality out of it, I'll admit I only thought about it when he made his first appearance.
There were a few downers though. Jean Grey's re-appearance following her demise in the prior film wasn't addressed at all, nor did her destruction of Scott bear any significance other than to provide a jolt to the viewer. I know that death in comics and soap operas don't mean a thing, but some sort of explanation would have helped on each score.
Logan/Wolverine does the quick healing process one better this time out. When he takes that double shot to the stomach in the forest battle, he's able to heal the holes in his t-shirt too; how about that?
For those who believe things come in threes, rest assured this is not the end of the X-Men franchise in film. That was established after all the endless credits rolled. Speaking of which, film credits these days are out of control. I mean, do we really need to know who made Wolverine's claws (It was the 'Claw King'), and who catered for the cast?
Back to my prior thought. If you wondered about that scene at the hospital with Xavier and the comatose paraplegic, you find out why in the last five seconds or less. The voice of the man in the coma speaks to the duty nurse, and there's no escaping it was Patrick Stewart's.