X2

They don't truck with no superheroes in this sequel to X-MEN (2000), based on the Marvel Comics series created in 1963 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The word is never uttered, the superpowered protagonists don't save little old ladies from getting mugged, and when someone refers to the X-Men's "costumes," a correction is quickly forthcoming: They're "uniforms." Following the breakthrough naturalism of the supernatural Marvel movie BLADE (1998) and his own X-MEN, director Bryan Singer continues to portray comic-book characters as flesh-and-blood people, not the kid-stuff of yore or stylized icons of late. And for the first hour, it's exhilarating — a political drama of ...