X2 (2003)

The best action scene in X2 is the very first one, a blue circus acrobat teleporting through the White House like he’s speedrunning the public tour. Then the movie has to top that for 134 minutes, and mostly it does. Alan Cumming’s Nightcrawler is gentle, odd and a little spooky all at once. Hugh Jackman finally gets to go full Wolverine when soldiers raid the mansion, and that sequence is still the template. Brian Cox plays Stryker as a calm, polite man with a terrible plan, which is scarier than any cackling villain. The problem: James Marsden gets benched. Cyclops vanishes early and spends most of the movie offscreen, so the team’s leader is basically a cameo with sunglasses. The middle sags a bit once everybody lands at Alkali Lake. It made $407.7 million worldwide and holds an 8.1 movie.guru score, and the world got this one right. An 8.3 because it’s a superhero sequel that remembers the heroes are the ones being hunted. $967 says you rewatch that opening tonight and pause on the teleport smoke.

What works: Nightcrawler’s opening, Wolverine finally cutting loose during the mansion raid, and Brian Cox making a soft-spoken villain feel truly dangerous.

What doesn’t: Cyclops gets sidelined for almost the entire movie, and the middle stretch at Alkali Lake drags before the big finish kicks in.

Who it’s for: Anyone who wants proof that superhero sequels were getting it right long before the shared universe era.