"Sharing the world has never been humanity's defining attribute" One of the best superhero films ever made

Rating: 9/10 (20 January 2014)

After Magneto has been imprisoned in an impregnable plastic chamber, the whitehouse is invaded by a mutant named "The Nightcrawler" His assassination attempt on the president goes awry. Meanwhile, Logan is trying to regain his memory to find out where he comes from. His former nemesis, William Stryker breaks into Prof. Xavier's school, while Magneto escapes with help from Mystique. It isn't very often that a sequel transcends it's predecessor, but X2 manages to not only surpass it, but in a huge way. Despite that the movie is over 130 minutes, it never feels overlong. As a matter of fact, it leaves you wanting more. It is completely exhilarating. The first X-Men was very exciting itself, but this one takes it up several notches. What I was most impressed about is how the story manages to be as strong as the astounding action (That plane sequence in the finale is incredible with Storm & Jean working their magic with their respective powers). I love action movies, but the action usually ends up making the film. The writers deserve all the credit in the world, along with Bryan Singer's amazing direction. It is a really multi-layered storyline. Despite that it was for selfish purposes, I got a kick out of seeing Magneto on the good guy side, and some characters that didn't get a chance to shine as much as I'd have liked in the first get to do so here, like Storm, Bobby, and a couple of others.
Hugh Jackman is as wonderful as ever as Wolverine. His anti-hero routine never gets old. The love triangle between Logan, Jean & Scott continued even further. Patrick Stewart doesn't have much to do but succumb to Stryker's son, Jason. Ian McKellen is a treat to watch as Magneto. Not only he is menacing with his performance, but creepy at times as well. Halle Berry had a little more to play with in this film. I would have liked to seen even more, but i'm happy with what I got. Famke Janssen is beautiful in more ways than one. Her character would be elevated even further in X3: The Last Stand with her alter ego, Phoenix. Kelly Hu is certainly cool looking, even if her character doesn't have a lot of depth. That being said, she didn't need any depth. Her battle with Wolverine was impressive. Brian Cox is excellent as the cunning Stryker. I'm not sure why they didn't bring him back for Wolverine, but they should have. William Stryker's character has just as, if not bigger part in Wolverine. Alan Cumming adds intrigue with his Nighcrawler character. Anna Paquin, Rebecca Romijn, James Mardsen (Fantastic emotional scene at the end) Aaron Stanford, Shawn Asmore all do what they have to do extremely well.
Final Thoughts: This is one of the best superhero films you will ever see. It is up there with The Avengers, Spiderman II, Superman & Superman II. I consider X-Men to be a fantastic movie in its own right, but this one completely outdoes it. The action is completely exhilarating, the storyline is very engrossing, and it has plenty of great humor as well. I would have to call this film the complete package. It would take a big step back with the overblown X-Men III, sadly.
9.4/10