An intense, darkly fierce and psychological superhero film that succeeds in everything it tries to do

Rating: 9/10 (29 August 2008)

A tastefully dark, serious superhero film = pure gold for me. Having said that, am I glad that I believed in the hype for X2.
X2's story is more complex, engaging and deeper than its predecessor's; even though it is fairly graspable, I had to play closer attention to understand it than the previous movie's story; otherwise, it can occasionally get confusing. The character development is also more even here than the first X-Men, although the focus still tilts towards Wolverine.
X2 also introduces three new big players to the series  William Stryker, Yuriko Oyama (also known as Lady Deathstrike in the comics) and Kurt Wagner / the Nightcrawler. Stryker is a human military scientist hell-bent on eliminating the mutant race because his mutant son caused his wife's suicide by 'playing' with her mind; the X-Men and Magneto's mutants are urged to unite against his heinous plans. Oyama is Stryker's assistant and henchwoman, and a mutant he has successfully 'experimented' on; she is basically a sleeker, sexier, female version of Wolverine. The Nightcrawler is a blue-skinned freak of a mutant who is capable of teleporting; he is recruited by the X-Men after he attacks the president, and he's a religious Christian from Germany (talk about mutant fundamentalists) who used to work in the Munich circus before. All the characters from the previous movie return, along with cameos from some new characters; the most appetizing cameo by far has to be Colossus' (unfortunately it's just a cameo).
The action scenes are also better than the first movie this time around. They're more intense, more abundant and more diverse  everything from visceral combat action to pure smash-fests is here. My personal favorite is a violent, nighttime raid by Stryker's soldiers on the X-Mansion, with Wolverine deliciously stabbing the soldiers on screen. X2 is probably the first movie to kick off the trend of dark, serious plots in superhero films (more importantly, it's the first superhero film to do so successfully), and the movie's action is fairly violent. The movie ends with a classic quote (said by a major X-Men member believed to have died) in an optimistic, aptly epic way; and since a movie's ending has a huge impact, X2's couldn't possibly have been better. To top it all off, John Ottman's epic soundtrack is the best I've ever heard in a superhero film since 1977's Superman.
The acting is decent and slightly better than last time from the entire cast, with no one standing out once again, but Brian Cox towers moderately above the rest with his shrewdly sinister William Stryker, who makes his first and last appearance in the series. The production design is top-notch throughout as usual. The costume design is also subtly enhanced, the X's on the X-Men's costumes are more pronounced and plentiful, and the costumes look slightly more superhero-like than the previous film, for the better.
Overall, X2 is a great follow-up to a decent movie, and improves upon every aspect of its predecessor  much like what "Spider-Man 2" did for the first Spider-Man movie. X2 is one of the few superhero movies that are serious and fun at the same time and is the best superhero film I have ever seen since "Spider-Man 2" (since this review is belated anyway, I may also add that I've also seen the overrated "Dark Knight"). RATING: 9/10.