X2 follows through. (spoilers)

Rating: 10/10 (2 May 2003)

X2 is a success largely in part because it decides not to follow the path of traditional comic book movie sequels and just reinvent itself every three or four years like the Batman franchise. XMen is not Batman or Superman. XMen from my past observations of the cartoon always seem to be a sci-fi soap opera. The director, who is very wise, decided to take that premise and provide us with a much larger picture turning the comic book franchise into a sci-fi epic similar to the original Star Wars Trilogy. In the first film we are introduced to the main characters and there is a hint of a larger story. The second film we move into the larger story and we find our heroes up to there necks in trouble. Not to mention a beloved character is presumably lost only to be presumably reborn later on, much like Han Solo in Empire Strikes Back and Spock in the Wrath of Kahn.
Does this make the film run the risk of being formulaic? Well yes but comic books are formulaic to begin with. What makes this interesting is that this film throws off the shackles of the comics' limitations and sets out to create an epic series of films and yet it maintains the inspiration and the spirit of this unique creation from Marvel.
The one casualty of this view of film making is that sometimes beloved characters of the comics are not that dominant in the movie or just completely excluded. Cyclops is in this film is in the beginning and at the end but he was widely excluded from the middle portion of the film. The director used common sense and reasoned that if there was no need for a character in the scene then he or she needed not to be on screen. Unlike the Batman Franchise or the Superman Franchise the story takes precedence over a character's screen time. The only thing that seemed to be taken from the Batman films was to make all the costumes black.