the franchise is growing

Rating: Null/10 (4 May 2003)

There used to be a time when the word "sequel" was anathema, but these days we've come to expect the sequel to be better. While a few sequels of late have been throwbacks to that previous era when they were poor, the recent trend has been that the sequels are better, and such is definitely the case here with X-men 2.
If you actually read Marvel comics and know "the X-Men" story/characters, you'd enjoy some of the nifty things that were tossed into this movie (may be considered SPOILERS by some, but check out LebowskiT1000 comments, especially his PS notes...)
This movie was pretty good. My personal incling is that Xavier is a tad naive and foolish, because his students seem far too docile when he could have quite the army at his disposal (for example, -- again, possible spoiler -- Iceman really only made one contribution to their struggle throughout the entire movie, hardly a "superhero" but perhaps they were somewhat influenced by the fragile "becoming" concept they developed with Spider-man).
Anyway, the story is good, the action is good, and it has been released at a good time (before Matrix Reloaded and Terminator 3, which are far darker, less feel-good movies but will land with a more resounding thud in the action/tension category).
One interesting note - Derrick Dunn (IcebergGucci21@aol.com) mentioned that this movie has become his favourite sequel, replacing Blade 2 as his favourite comic book sequel. I find this interesting...and here's why...
For those who loved The Matrix, watch Blade 1 which was released before it, and you'll see very clearly that some of our most beloved and copied "Matrix scenes" (the fashion, the bend-backwards-to-avoid-bullets, etc) were in fact ripped from Blade 1, yet it gets no credit for it...??
So, as my wife and I walked out of the theatre after watching X-Men 2, I commented that the plot followed the Blade 2 concept of the good guys and bad guys having to mistrustingly join together to fight a more lethal common enemy that threatens them both. Again, Blade 2 continues to be a key influence/trendsetter on major action flicks, and chances are that, again, X-Men 2 may be remembered for it while Blade 2 is forgotten...why? I dunno, but I see a pattern here.
(for those who haven't seen them, trust me, Blade 1 and 2 are about the best most-underrated comic book action films ever made - in fact, I didn't read a lot of either series, but the screenplay in Blade is absolutely sumptuous, you can see clearly it is a comic-turned-live, it's so well-done).
In closing, yes, X-Men 2 was fun, some heavy characters had short scenes (Colossus was awesome, and is BEGGING for more screen time!), but overall it was a real blast.
X-Men 3 should be a real blast, can't wait!