Better then the first one

Rating: 9/10 (21 May 2014)

The financial success of the first film spurred Fox to commission the sequel. Thought they probably knew before the release of the first part that the x-men comic couldn't be adapted to film in only one movie as it would be incomplete, 2003 saw the release of the second part. Thank the stars the original cast didn't change, Bryan Singer retained the director's chair, and they increased the budget exponentially making the action scenes finally on par with the story and the layered meaning. Of course there is always the curse of the sequel when the second part isn't up to par of its predecessor and ends up being a disappointment, but every once in a while a part two is better, more, bigger than its lead in, and that's the case with x-men 2. The larger budget didn't mess with the quality and they didn't forget to write a story and fill it with meaning either. On almost every level it offers more than the first part, Singer did something with the story that was akin to what James Cameron did with Aliens. Though x-men 2 doesn't change genres, it isn't redone with a new spin, instead all that happens is that we get more characters, the action scenes become more developed and they come up with a storyline that hits hard. Several months have passed since The X-Men defeated Magneto and imprisoned him in a seemingly impregnable plastic chamber. There are government anti-mutant measures being implemented. A scientist named William Stryker discovers Professor X's secret school and Cerebro and attacks them a few are lucky to escape, they then meet in Boston, where they form an uneasy alliance with Magneto to stop Stryker and rescue Professor X. Singer consciously kept building up the mutant world. He used the raised budget to make the film better not to make it different. All he did was patch up the holes that he left gaping open in the first film, with what was left over he gave us new characters, making the whole more than the sum of the first part. Without changing the basic concept it was better than the first. Magneto and Professor X are still fighting hard for their own ideology and humans are still afraid of the mutants. It is possibly a little darker and more serious than the first, but that just made it even better. Maybe the only bad thing was that not all the characters got enough screen time to develop, though it was almost ½ hour longer than the first one. Cyclops and Nightcrawler seem to be background noise and even sometime Xavier but that maybe due to the storyline. Other characters get more than their fair share like Wolverine and Jean Grey, but it is hard to deal with so many characters. The script was great, funny at times, and there is even a little blood The film is long but it seems shorter. Bryan singer did a good job just like with the first part. Even if it's only be a fraction its still better. 9/10 https://www.youtube.com/user/silverscreenreviews1