A stack of action, with an end to leave 'em talking

Rating: Null/10 (2 May 2003)

The first X-Men had to do the setting up for people who hadn't read the comics, so while (the cinema cut) was good, I still got slightly bored. Freed from that necessity in the sequel, they just got on with the action. Really enjoyed it, and the repetition of showing more mutants eg Colossus, who'll hopefully get a proper look-in in the next film as Iceman has, was a good touch. I don't know how they pick them exactly, given the number of X-Men there must have been in the comics in 30 years!
It felt transitional, more than one character was developed further and the best touch was, super powers didn't solve everything, and one way the ending *could* have happened, and therefore the world would have been saved in Superman style, didn't. (No spoilers means you'll just have to watch it to see what I mean). Again, good. When X3 arrives, hopefully there'll be a few more mutant villains as the human mutant haters have been done twice now. There's plenty of Star-Trek style musing on teen sex, racism, sexuality, if you choose to read that into it, otherwise you can leave issues at home and enjoy the first summer blockbuster of 2003- and at least it's good.