"Sometimes the mind needs to discover things for itself."

Rating: 8/10 (28 July 2012)

Lots of good stuff here for Marvel Comic fans. The number of characters went beyond the first film, recognizing that viewers would be expecting to see even more mutants this time around. I thought the opening sequence was pretty exciting with Nightcrawler's (Alan Cumming) attack on the President. Not being a Marvel reader, I didn't know who he was, and it was interesting to learn his identity about the same time as Wolverine and some of the other X-Men.
The theme of humans versus mutants was taken to the next level here with the introduction of Colonel William Stryker (Brian Cox). His mission to rid the world of all mutants emboldens the Xavier and Magneto forces to line up against him and makes for an uneasy alliance of traditional foes. At times the story is a little hard to follow, because with a shape-shifting character like Mystique (Rebecca Romijn), the significance of a scene can be changed on a dime, as in the time Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) comes on to Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), and the character transforms repeatedly to confuse him. Imagine having to deal with something like that in real life?
I think comic fans also appreciate how the film incorporates the back story of Wolverine obtaining his adamantium skeleton and his unique healing powers. The back drop of Xavier's School for the Gifted also serves the purpose of bringing comic book readers back to the origins of the X-Men as a way to reveal their more human side. I would have liked a little more humor here though; there were missed opportunities where a little more sarcasm or wit could have improved the dialog.
One question - after a rampage like the one at Xavier's school, who cleans up all those dead bodies?