Delivers everything you wan't in a movie and more.

Rating: 9/10 (5 June 2008)

With X-Men, Brian Singer introduces us to the mutants with great conviction and admiration in the spirit of the politically and socially complex comic book series; bringing them all to stunning life. In X2, Singer not only expanded upon established material, but improves upon it with some very great ideas. Having seen the first film, I can say with honest sincerity that X2: X-men United outshines the original for many reasons: Case in point: Character development is highly prominent in this second installment with returning and new characters being fleshed out at the same time. There's seems a more open-mindedness to the atmosphere overall of the mutant hysteria with both human and mutant at each other's throats; very relevant to our current post-911 world. And with one of the main characters going out of his way to explain the dilemma of his true nature, that alone rings all the more true.
The story is more tighter and focused this time around with a morally ambiguous government agent (played by Brian Cox) who seeks genocidal extinction of all mutant kind, even going so far as to justify the means in order to accomplish such goals. Some may say he's conventional but I tend to digress; especially the twists and turns surrounding his character and the ultimate revelation to one of the main characters which I will not spoil for anyone.
And the special effects. Oh my HOW SPECTACULAR they are in the skillful manipulation of pyrotechnics and mega kick-ass action brought ever so eloquently by one of the finest craftsmanship in the business!! Singer doesn't go overboard like most action movies of Hollywood's ilk despite being a Hollywood production, but plays it straight with balance and sheer innovative technical skill required of such direction. When you have a script combined with the right amounts of action, there's a great film for your eyes and brain. And sometimes you get the impression that the powers the mutants display are not just for the action, but also for subtlety.
And who can forget Nightcrawler; a charming, charismatic, bad-ass mutant and one of the BEST things EVER to happen to the franchise the first time you see him. He nearly stole the show from Wolverine!!! This gives the film a sense of a "competitiveness" seldom seen in a superhero flick. But there's also a human side to him that conflicts with his faith and identity; again reinforcing one of the human aspects and themes of the comics and first film.
But the main selling point of the movie is heart. The comic book series left no stone unturned when touching on taboo subjects like intolerance, fear, prejudice, loneliness, acceptance, and even to a certain extent, genocide. Although the film is science fiction in nature, there is also a sense of verisimilitude that anchors the film to a fundamental level.
My only faults are that Cyclops and Storm seem undeveloped but those are only minor quirks in a "X-citing" action/sci-fi flick.
X2: X-men United delivers in bucket loads of superhero goodness with flair and style and mental stimulation. But what followed later on in '06 is another story.