Less Character, More Movie.

Rating: 6/10 (31 January 2004)

While there is more movie here than in the first one, there is much less of the characters involved. Instead of "X2: X-Men United", they should have titled this "The Story of Wolverine". Whereas the last movie was an ensemble piece, in this movie everyone takes a backseat to Logan. This is especially glaring in the cases of Rogue, Professor X, and Magneto. In the last movie they (along with Wolvie) were the main characters, the main focal points of the plot. In this movie everyone outside of Logan is reduced to set dressing. One gets the idea that if the actors weren't contractually obligated to return for the sequel that they wouldn't have (because the script gives them nothing to do).
In addition to that, certain plot lines are suddenly dropped while others are begun and go no further.
But don't get me wrong; this isn't a bad movie by any means. For instance, the fight scenes are better this time around, and the general story isn't bad at all, it's just that the overall feel of everything is different here.
The story is bigger than last time (the whole world is at stake), but the time devoted to characterization is smaller (Cyclops is MIA for 3/4 of the film).
It's a different balance this time around. In the first flick the story was small, the characterization was in the forefront, and the number of characters utilized was many. This time around the story is big, the characterization is in the background, and the number of characters utilized is few.
Perhaps they should spin Wolverine off into his own film series.