X-Men 2

Honestly, one of the best comic-book adaptations I’ve ever seen (together with The Dark Night and Watchmen). Unlike the first part, X2 goes further in almost everything, has a better story and some brilliant and unforgettable scenes (Magneto’s escape from prison), and it’s excellent overall. 9/10 (25/09/2009)

X-Men 2 is, together with The Crow and Batman Returns, the best comic book adaptation ever. An extremely skilful mix of psychology and action, an interesting and smart story, dialogue that doesn't drag, great visual effects and last but not least excellent actors. I ate it hook, line and sinker, and I hope Singer still enjoys doing this and that we can expect a long, pleasant franchise. Carry on. (20/09/2003)

Better than the first part after all, but still not quite up to par. The running time has increased, along with the wannabe profound speeches that ultimately fade away a bit emptily in the quick conclusion. Wolverine's internal conflict, on the other hand, is captivating, and the other characters are quite interesting as well. Fortunately, Bryan Singer delivers another smart comic book adaptation and manages to combine flashy popcorn action and a relatively engaging plot more than decently. The visual effects are among the best that can currently be seen, and if it weren't for the already mentioned slightly excessive runtime, I would be very satisfied. As it is, it's just a solid above-average film with a few minor flaws, but it's still worth watching. Compared to Daredevil or Spiderman, it clearly comes out on top. (29/05/2006)

Given the genre, the slower pace of X-Men 2 is a handicap. More characters, more dialogue, more solving of problems than action. I wouldn’t have minded any of that if it weren’t 133 minutes long and if the dialogue didn’t somewhat fizzle out into nothing. X-Men 2 isn’t as deep as it pretends to be. But it’s just as intelligent and the characters are just as cool as they were in the first X-Men. (23/04/2003)

In the context of comic book adaptations, this is definitely one of the more successful endeavors, but it is also a common commercial product that did not convince me with what it had to offer. The first two films Singer directed have greater ambitions and strive for a certain depth of thought at least in their genre than, for example, Hood's purely popcorn teenage flick X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Although I gave it 4 stars, I admit that I have never been a fan of similar mainstream comics about superheroes and mutants. This kind of fairy tale for grown-ups simply tires me. In terms of acting, it is solid, and the direction cannot be denied high professionalism, but the script seemed somewhat chatty and diluted to me. Overall impression: 60%. (02/07/2010)