Superior to the original.

Rating: 8/10 (26 May 2006)

The X-Men are back in this sequel with great new characters and a great new story. Following an attack on the president, the X-Men discover that an army general named William Stryker is planning to destroy every mutant in the world by controlling Charles Xavier and forcing him to do so. The X-Men are forced to team up with Magneto and Mystique to fight Stryker. Meanwhile, Wolverine continues to search for clues of his past, and he discovers that Stryker is connected somehow. X2: X-Men United is a great film for action fans and X-Men fans alike. Whereas the first film was mainly to introduce the characters, Bryan Singer was really able to cut loose in this movie and make it more fun.
A couple of new characters are added to the mix this time around, including two of my favourites, Pyro and Nightcrawler. Pyro is an amazing character that comes across as an angsty teen who doesn't know where he stands. His main action scene is the most amazing scene in the movie...To me anyways, but I love fire, so...As for Nightcrawler, Alan Cumming does an amazing job in the role, and the opening sequence with Nightcrawler attacking the White House is just awesome. The characters from the last film are given bigger tasks this time around, and it's great to see what they can do now. Wolverine even has one of his trademark "berserker rages", and tears through the X-Mansion killing his enemies left and right. Once again, Ian McKellan is perfect as Magneto.
The plot of this movie is so much better than the first one. It manages to go deeper than before and explore some real issues that relate to the way mutants are treated. For instance, a scene where Bobby Drake/Iceman telling his parents he's a mutant is reminiscent of a homosexual coming out to his parents. His mother even uses phrases such as "We still love you Bobby", and "Have you tried...Not being a mutant?" The plot even looks at political views as the president struggles over what to do about the "mutant problem".
X2 is an all around better film and makes for a really fun time. The best part about it is that you don't necessarily have to have seen the original to enjoy this. It's a stand alone movie as well as a sequel. Bryan Singer did a great job with the X-Franchise, and he gave Brett Ratner a difficult task when he left to do Superman, and Ratner took control of X3.
8/10