The first summer blockbuster of the year, X-Men 2 receives its world release on May 1st in an effort to strike the first blow against the Matrix Reloaded and The Hulk as the defining "event picture" of 2003.

The franchise has moved on and expanded from the highly introductory first film, which seemed to take so long presenting all the characters, conflicts and special characteristics that there was little time left for anything other than exposition and backstory. Here in the second instalment new mutants are sprinkled into the mix, existing X-Men are seen to mature and grow (particularly the adolescent pupils of Dr X's Academy) loyalties are shifted and the mood darkens considerably.