X-Men 2 had a good plot, strong villains, good F/X and action sequences (both unfortunately overshadowed by Matrix Reloaded anticipation), and good performances by all the lead characters. What it desperately needed was a decisive, ruthless script editor.

I only saw the first X-Men movie once, back when it was first released in cinemas, but as far as I remember it was largely the story of Wolverine and Rogue. The roles of the other characters were reduced mostly down to their points of interaction with those two. The main plot was then built around that focus.

The sequel doesn't have any focus. The movie has a strong main plot, but it is drowned in a plethora of sub-plots. Too many characters battle for our attention, and eventually it leaves far too little time to focus on any one of them in sufficient detail to engage us. At one point, we have to follow four different groups of good guys and two different groups of bad guys at the same time.

What this means is that there is an awful lot in the movie that seems superfluous or that is introduced and then not developed in any significant way. Even the important things contend with each other to the extent that they are all cut far too short: like Wolverine's climactic battle which seemed rushed to its conclusion, or Rogue's last-minute rescue which obviously ended up mostly on the cutting-room floor.

The script-writers should have chosen two (or at most three) sub-plots, and then jettisoned the rest. Maybe this would have upset those looking for the movie to focus on their favourite character from the comic-book, but what satisfaction is there in those morsel-size doses of half-digested sub-plot?

Still, the movie is entertaining, and has a pair of really cool set-pieces in the first act. It just loses its way from the second act onwards.

Three out of five. See it on cheap-night.