Still just a comic at heart, but an intelligent one.

Rating: 7/10 (12 November 2006)

The basic idea of the 'X-Men' series of films is a good one: humans seek to exterminate a race of highly evolved mutants, who themselves plot to take over the world. Meanwhile, a second group of mutants attempt to broker a compromise. Although there are obvious villains, the fact that compromise might not be possible, and the understandable motivation of the warring parties, add some interest to the scenario: Ian Mackellan's evil Magneto, for example, is a far more complex character than his Gandalf in 'Lord of the Rings'. The films are still based on a comic book, which means, in a film, lots of special effects and extended action sequences that can grow tedious; but if anything, this sequel is superior to the original, because there's less need for exposition and the role of Magneto is more ambiguous: as a self-contained story, it works better than the second parts of 'Lord of the Rings', 'The Matrix', or 'Star Wars', to give three examples from other trilogies Ultimatelty, it's all hokum; but mostly entertaining, and far from brain dead.