X-2: X-Men United’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Proves There’s Hope for Humanity After All

Fans and critics don’t always agree on films, a fact which has become more evident in recent years as a number of massive spectacles have gone on to earn huge numbers at the box office despite abysmal critical reviews. A go-to source for audiences looking to catch a glimpse of a film’s critical reviews is Rotten Tomatoes, which collects reviews from all across the internet to quickly display what percentage of reviews are positive. The site also allows users who have registered to cast their own opinion of the film, which ultimately generates an “Audience Score.” While critics and audiences might not always see things eye to eye, in the case of X2: X-Men United, the scores are in perfect harmony.

Whatever a critic has to say about a film, they are the ones who ultimately determine if their review should be considered positive (“Fresh”) or negative (“Rotten”), while the audience scores consider a 3.5 out of 5 or higher to be a positive score. As you can see above, both 85% of critics and 85% of audiences have a positive opinion of the endeavor.

This isn’t to say that critics and audiences don’t ever have similar reactions to films, as 2017’s Logan earned 93% positive reviews from critics on the site while earning an audience score that was 90% positive. The first X-Men film also resonated strongly with critics and audiences, earning 81% positive scores from critics with 83% positive scores from audiences.

One explanation for the scores being the same is that the landscape of comic book movies has completely changed since X2‘s release in 2003. Rather than one superhero movie debuting every few years, we get multiple adventures every year, resulting in critics judging contemporary endeavors more harshly.

Another more recent phenomenon among audiences is a sense of brand loyalty, inspiring users to want to support their favorite properties while critics point out their flaws. Last year’s Venom only earned 29% positive reviews from critics, while 81% of audiences gave the film a positive score. This year’s Dark Phoenix served as the disappointing conclusion of the franchise, which earned only 23% positive scores from audiences while earning less than $250 million worldwide. Audience responses weren’t quite as strong, but it still scored 64% positive scores on Rotten Tomatoes.

With the Marvel Cinematic Universe set to incorporate the characters in the near future, hopefully future outings can strike a more consistent balance between audiences and critics.

What do you think of these scores? Let us know in the comments below!