Great...The Marvel Universe has never been better captured...

Rating: 9/10 (17 June 2003)

X2 is, in many ways, the movie X-Men could have been but wasn't. The story is crisp and very well-paced (at about 2 and a quarter hours running time, the film just seems to fly by). The characters seem much better developed, and the acting is much better than typical genre fare.

That Hugh Jackman is becoming a huge star should come as no surprise with his work here. And McKellen (his interactions with Romijn-Stamos and Stanford are absolutely priceless) and Stewart are even better than before, with Brian Cox a more than welcome addition to the cast. Alan Cumming makes Nightcrawler more real than I would have hoped and even Halle Berry adds much more depth than she had been previously permitted(in a role likely beefed up after her Oscar). Although Raimi's "Spiderman" came closer to achieving the feeling of that particular character, X2 is perhaps the best embodiment of the Marvel Universe put on film.
The ending actually had me light up with glee at the mere suggestion of something lurking beneath the surface of Lake Alkali. Never has a film made the world of the fanboy more accessible and admirable than X2.