Currently rewatching all X-Men films and this definitely takes a top spot on my list. It builds upon what X1 introduced us to and goes deeper with some characters, specially Wolverine. Nightcrawler's introduction was great and very helpful for later sequences. Also, Magneto had more meaningful action, same with Mystique. Stryker was a decent villain.
I'll leave a list of some things I liked about the movie and some thing it fixed from X1.
What X2 did well:
What X2 fixed from X1:
So overall, it did a great job on being the stronghold for the franchise establishment. It deserves an 8.5/10
I'll leave a list of some things I liked about the movie and some thing it fixed from X1.
What X2 did well:
- Charles being used and manipulated, exposing his weaknesses
- Gave depth to characters stories, specially Wolverine
- Nightcrawler's addition and action sequence at the start
- Stryker controlling mutants plot
- Storm's power being used more
- Pyro
What X2 fixed from X1:
- Less Rogue screen time and dialogue (tho still one too many screams)
- Choreography* in fighting scenes (X1 ones were baaaaaad)
- No Sabretooth (YAY)
- Longer movie time
- No more bad CGI
- Jean Grey's flirting, kinda seemed staged in the X1, feels more fluent in X2
So overall, it did a great job on being the stronghold for the franchise establishment. It deserves an 8.5/10