Are you kidding me?

Rating: 3/10 (10 November 2003)

I have a couple questions about X2:
1. If you throw enough money at the screen, is that a movie? and, 2. If you put enough characters on the screen, do you have a franchise?
Plenty of people liked X2, so I guess #1 is true, and I'm certain the studio is banking on the second holding true as well. Though I liked X2 better than the first X-Men, I was more overwhelmed by the lack of character development and story progression than the effects. It's unfortunate, because the X-Men backstory offers a unique take on the superhero milieu, but how can you develop characters that will keep the viewers coming back when you're contractually obligated to give over a dozen people screen time? I have a feeling the answer will be to throw more money at the screen, and I think that will get old after a while (see: The Matrix).