Not an Improvement on the Original

Rating: 6/10 (5 May 2003)

Nightcrawler was admittedly awesome, and there were scattered moments of imagination and wit, but on the whole, the film was at least twenty minutes too long, and the villain plot (featuring Brian Cox as Commander Stryker) was dull and by-the-numbers. My favorite moments were at the school, where new (adolescent) mutants were introduced, and the storyline with Wolverine (still impressively played by Hugh Jackman) trying to figure out his origin via torturous memories. The climax (in an underground dam) stretched on forever, and the film has at least six different endings. X2 showed the mark of too many writers trying to juggle too many characters. I'm still looking forward to part three, though. 6/10.