A moderate improvement, but the best should still be to come

Rating: 8/10 (11 May 2003)

It was the very nature of the original "X-Men" that kept it from being the no-holds-barred action movie we all wanted. This was for a number of reasons:
1) None of the principal characters could be killed, as they were needed for the sequel(s). So nothing was really resolved at the end of the first movie.
2) Any significant twist of plot or revelations had to be saved for later installments to give them more weight.
3) Exposition, exposition, exposition.
Now comes the sequel, more of the type of movie we wanted from the first one. The pieces are all in place to give us a deeper, faster, higher-octane entertainment. Freed from the bounds of having to explain all the backstory, we move rapidly forward in each character's development (though some characters' day is still clearly to come).
However, this movie again ends with the feeling that the REAL war between humans and mutants is still in the future. The logistical problem with this is, How long is this cast going to stick with the series?