Library
Sorted By: Title
DVDs in Collection: 340
Page # 25
# | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y

X-Men 1.5 Extreme Edition
Science Fiction & Fantasy Halle Berry, Ray Park, Matthew Sharp, James Marsden, Famke Janssen, Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin, Ian McKellen, Bruce Davison, Tyler Mane Bryan Singer
Although the superhero comic book has been a duopoly since the early 1960s, only DC's flagship characters, Superman and Batman (who originated in the late 1930s), have established themselves as big-screen franchises. Until now--this is the first runaway hit film version of the alternative superhero "X-Men" universe created for Marvel Comics by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and others. It's a rare comic-book movie that doesn't fall over its cape introducing all the characters, and this is the exception. "X-Men" drops us into a world that is closer to our own than "Batman"'s Gotham City, but it's still home to super-powered goodies and baddies.
Opening in high seriousness with paranormal activity in a WW2 concentration camp and a senatorial inquiry into the growing "mutant problem", Bryan Singer's film sets up a complex background with economy and establishes vivid, strange characters well before we get to the fun. There's Halle Berry flying and summoning snowstorms, James Marsden zapping people with his "optic beams", Rebecca Romijn-Stamos shape-shifting her blue naked form and Ray Park lashing out with his Toad-tongue.
The big conflict is between Patrick Stewart's Professor X and Ian McKellen's Magneto, super-powerful mutants who disagree about their relationship with ordinary humans, but the characters we're meant to identify with are Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Anna Paquin's Rogue. There are in-jokes enough to keep comics fans engaged, but it feels more like a science-fiction movie than a superhero picture. --"Kim Newman"
On the DVD: "X-Men 1.5"'s two-disc set offers little more than the original "X-Men" release. The six extended scenes which can be incorporated into the feature on Disc 1 were already available on the initial DVD version (though they're cleaned up a bit here), and when played within the film's original cut they seem disjointed and tacked on, adding very little to the overall story.
Disc 2, meanwhile, will have little appeal to any but the most diehard of fans. The "X-Men 2" Sneak Peak, the "X-Men 2" trailer, the "Daredevil" trailer and the Activision "Wolverine's Revenge" trailer are little more than adverts. The four-part documentary, meanwhile, is impressively interactive (with multi-angle segments and two play modes), but unfortunately it's also a bit dull and self-congratulatory. --"Robert Burrow"

X-Men 2 Special Edition DVD
Science Fiction & Fantasy Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin, Kelly Hu, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Aaron Stanford, Shawn Ashmore, Daniel Cudmore, Michael Reid MacKay, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Brian Cox, Famke Janssen, Alan Cumming Bryan Singer
"X-Men 2" picks up almost directly where "X-Men" left off: misguided super-villain Magneto (Ian McKellen) is still a prisoner of the US government, heroic bad-boy Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is up in Canada investigating his mysterious origin, and the events at Liberty Island (which occurred at the conclusion of "X-Men") have prompted a rethink in official policy towards mutants--the proposed Mutant Registration Act has been shelved by US Congress. Into this scenario pops wealthy former army commander William Stryker, a man with the President's ear and a personal vendetta against all mutant-kind in general, and the X-Men's leader Professor X (Patrick Stewart) in particular. Once he sets his plans in motion, the X-Men must team-up with their former enemies Magneto and Mystique (Rebecca Romjin-Stamos), as well as some new allies (including Alan Cumming's gregarious, blue-skinned German mutant, Nightcrawler).
The phenomenal global success of "X-Men" meant that director Bryan Singer had even more money to spend on its sequel, and it shows. Not only is the script better (there's significantly less cheesy dialogue than the original), but the action and effects are also even more stupendous--from Nightcrawler's teleportation sequence through the White House to a thrilling aerial dogfight featuring mutants-vs-missiles to a military assault on the X-Men's school/headquarters to the final showdown at Stryker's sub-Arctic headquarters. Yet at no point do the effects overtake the film or the characters. Moreso than the original, this is an ensemble piece, allowing each character in its even-bigger cast at least one moment in the spotlight (in fact, the cast credits don't even run until the end of the film). And that, perhaps, is part of its problem (though it's a slight one): with so much going on, and nary a recap of what's come before, it's a film that could prove baffling to anyone who missed the first instalment. But that's just a minor quibble--"X-Men 2" is that rare thing, a sequel that's actually superior to its predecessor. "--Robert Burrow"



Created using DVDpedia