A model of what the X-Men movies should've been

Rating: 8/10 (5 June 2019)

Currently rewatching all X-Men films and this definitely takes a top spot on my list. It builds upon what X1 introduced us to and goes deeper with some characters, specially Wolverine. Nightcrawler's introduction was great and very helpful for later sequences. Also, Magneto had more meaningful action, same with Mystique. Stryker was a decent villain.
I'll leave a list of some things I liked about the movie and some thing it fixed from X1.
What X2 did well:

Charles being used and manipulated, exposing his weaknesses
Gave depth to characters stories, specially Wolverine
Nightcrawler's addition and action sequence at the start
Stryker controlling mutants plot
Storm's power being used more
Pyro

What X2 fixed from X1:

Less Rogue screen time and dialogue (tho still one too many screams)
Choreography* in fighting scenes (X1 ones were baaaaaad)
No Sabretooth (YAY)
Longer movie time
No more bad CGI
Jean Grey's flirting, kinda seemed staged in the X1, feels more fluent in X2

So overall, it did a great job on being the stronghold for the franchise establishment. It deserves an 8.5/10