21
Finally got to see this one (I get by with a little help from my friends ) and I must say I was very pleased. The story seamlessly rolls from the first film into the second, although they could probably exist independently of each other too, which is a testament to some good forethought in the storytelling. Makes me curious how much better (not to say it was bad) the first one would've been had Singer had more time to assemble his footage instead of rushing a summer release; I've never been more impressed with his filmmaking than I was here. Not a bit of new character introduction feels disjointed or rushed, and I was extremely happy that they worked the remaining villains from the first one into this story without missing a beat--Mystique is quickly becoming my favorite character of the franchise. I hadn't even caught graphic's comment about Phoenix, but when Jean goes down I just KNEW they were going to hint at something, and boy did they. Cannot wait for the third one!