X2 Does Fall A Bit Short, But It's Still Really Fun To Watch

Rating: 8/10 (26 January 2006)

Seems that X2 has been a movie that has gotten the love or hate treatment, just not the the extreme with movies like Alien 3. To get one thing straight, X2 is not as good as the first X-Men, but it's still a fun and stylish watch that actually comes out better than what typical movie sequels deliver.
X2 starts out acting like the audience knows who everyone is, so if you haven't watched the first X-Men then you'd better watch it before this one, but why wouldn't you? Anyway, the character development isn't that deep since thanks to the first X-Men we all know who most of the mutants in X2 are, with the exception of Jason, Deathstrike and the infamous Nightcrawler, whom is awkwardly portrayed but still has a cool part in the beginning. Some of the main characters from the first movie don't have as big of a role in X2, instead, X2 allows the audience to get acquainted with some of the more or less underdeveloped mutants from the first like Iceman and Pyro.
The plot in X2 isn't anything special, but it's worthy to say the least. All you really need to know is Logan finds out why he became Wolveriene, who gave him his powers and that the school gets overtaken. X2 does however set the stage for X3, so expect to see that coming at us soon.
The special effects in X2 are certainly impressive, which help nicely to compliment the stylish action sequences that made the action in X-Men so fun to watch. It's these action scenes that make X2 so fun to watch and worth viewing multiple times. That and some humorous dialogue in a few areas will give fans of the first X-Men plenty of reason to like this movie.
Does X2 prove to be as good as the first, no. Does it do anything to change the way we look at movies, no. But X2 does give us plenty of reason to have faith in X3 and proves to itself that stylish action is enough to make a movie watchable, but relying on it isn't good enough.