An X-Ceptional Sequel

Rating: 10/10 (5 January 2007)

I would definitely say this movie was way better than the first film, which definitely tells you what? See this movie. Every single thing was well put together and interestingly plotted and organized into one stylish action-packed thriller. This film had better acting than the first one, even though the first had pretty good acting, there was more action and the characters were stronger than ever. The new "villian" is played very well and I think he replaced Magneto for half the film well.
We are now joined with a new group of characters. We have Pyro, played by the gorgeous and extremely talented Aaron Stanford, he did an x-cellent job, Alan Cumming as Kurt Wagner, I would say his performance was way superior, Brian Cox as William Stryker, the new "villian", and Kelly Hu as the small part of Lady Deathstrike. The small performances by say Colossus were good even though he only had a line or two. Anna Paquin returns as Rogue and tops her performance in the first. He character is now stronger and more developed. We also have Iceman in there who I think was played in a great performance by Shawn Ashmore.
One more thing I loved; the writing. Most action movies are brought down by awful writing(i.e. Star Wars Episode 2) but this film was very well written. This movie showed a certain wit to it and had some great humor added into the lines. The movie was never rushed nor was it ever slow. I really liked Famke Janssen in this movie because her character, Jean Grey was also developed and her powers grew stronger. Storm, played by the beautiful Halle Berry, had more screen time and a bigger role in this installment and had a great relationship with Nightcrawler. Patrick Stewart was great in this one again and he also seemed a little more into his character in this movie.
One more thing; the action and the special effects. Brilliant. This movie had more action than the first and great special effects. They all looked very real to me! All the characters that had action put a lot into their performances and looked like they actually had the powers their characters did. My two favorite battles were Lady Deathstrike v.s. Wolverine and the scene in Boston where Rogue(Marie), Bobby(Iceman), Logan(Wolverine), and John(Pyro), where Pyro started burning all the police cars. Those were my favorite scenes.
Overall, this movie is the best so far and it does not disappoint.