**spoilers**

Rating: Null/10 (3 May 2003)

I'm only going to restate of few of the things that others have said and elaborate a little. I thought the story line of X2 was good, but it did prove weak at some points. There was a lot more plot, little less fighting, which I'm guessing some people were upset about. Night Crawler and Pyro were good additions to the already crowded cast of mutants and added different dynamics all around. Night crawler added a religious aspect that I thought added to the story. He's almost an innocent in this whole war. We see the conflict with Storm right from the beginning. He also add the new dimension of a teleporter. Pyro is the conflicted teen that can't control the need to exert himself over humans, much like Magneto.

In the end of X2, we lose most of the whole Wolverine story. He comes to grips with who he is and changes completely for the better. That was the only issue I really had with this one, but it's partly because I love Hugh Jackman. I find it hard to believe that he figured out that maybe he was a bad person and helped Stryker, and that he just let it go. Maybe in X3...
Mystique is by far one of my favorite characters. Rebecca Romijin-Stamos gets a little more development and a lot more screen time. She has the hots for Wolverine, she isn't afraid to be herself, and she genuinely cares for Eric Lensher.
I do give a round of applause to Hugh Jackman, James Marsden, Patrick Stewart, and Ian McKellen for their superb acting skills.

Now, I really want to comment on Jean Grey. She is gone right now, but do not count her out. For loyal comic book readers and/or fans of the old cartoon, we all recognized what Jean Grey had become - the Phoenix. Could you see it in her flaming eyes in the scene where she tries to save the jet? Or did you not catch it until she became a ball of flame? The Pheonix will rise again, or did you not notice the golden bird spread her wings across the water at the end...X3 will be really good...
For those of you who called it a weak ending, I disagree. X2 leads into it's sequel better than the first one did. The possibilities for the next movie are endless. We keep seeing more of Jubilee, and even Gambit made and appearance, but some might have missed it. I, for one can't wait for X3.
I give X2 9/10