Not On Par With The First, But Very Enjoyable

Rating: 8/10 (26 February 2019)

Continuing my plan to watch every Hugh Jackman movie in order, I come to X-Men 2 (2003)
When anti-mutant colonel William Stryker kidnaps Professor X and attacks his school, the X-Men must ally with their archenemy Magneto to stop him.
This was the first movie Jackman was paid $1 million dollars for a movie, a 100% pay rise from his salary on the first movie.
I never noticed before, but Halle Berry has dropped the accent from the first movie, and now talks in her normal voice.
It's big on spectacle, the budget is certainly up there on the screen, it's action set piece after action set piece, and the sacrifice a certain character made at the end, did leave an impact, as I watched it unfold, but it lacks the heart of the first movie, even if it has a 'coming out to the parents' scene.
It's a lot more violent than the first one!! Considering Logan/Wolverine did not kill anyone in the first movie, he racks up quite the body count here.
I remember liking this more than the first movie, when I first watched it. Watching them so close together, I do not think it is on par with the first movie.
X-Men 2 grossed $214 million at the domestic box office, to be the 6th grossing movie of 2003.