Review of X Men

Introduction

X-men was one of the most eagerly anticipated cinema releases last year and when it arrived, although it was enjoyable enough, in my opinion it didn’t live up to the hype. Many films are more enjoyable the second time around when expectations are not as high – I watched the X-Men DVD to see if this was the case.

For those unfamiliar with the plot, in the near future, the human race has started to evolve and mutants with extraordinary powers go undetected in society. Against a backdrop of political unease at the power of the mutants, Professor Xavier runs a school for mutant children, teaching them to harness their powers for the good of mankind. As well as the school, Xavier also controls the X-Men, a band of superheroes whose goal is to save the world from Magneto, who believes that mutants can never co-exist with humans.

Video

Given that X-Men was a big-budget cinema release at the tail end of last year, it comes as no surprise that the 2.35:1 anamorphic video is very high quality. The image is crisp, has plenty of detail and displays absolutely no problems.

Visually, the film is impressive, with numerous well-choreographed fight scenes, plenty of effects and some spectacular sets.

Audio

Like the video, the audio is superb. Dolby Digital 5.1 is used to provide plenty of atmosphere with a great deal of rear effects and separation. Of particular note is the opening sequence, toad’s tongue and the X-Men’s plane.

Throughout the movie, the dialogue is clear and easy to understand.

Features

Extra features are accessed through a menu system that has impressive transitions and extremely dull static screens – in addition, on my Pioneer DV525 some menus are extremely slow (others in uk.media.dvd have reported this problem on other players).

Extras include interviews, deleted scenes, featurettes, trailers and screentests.

The extras themselves are presented in a slightly different (and better) way than many other films. For example, the deleted scenes can be viewed individually, or can be integrated into the movie using seamless branching – so you effectively get two versions of the film. Similarly one of the featurettes is presented as a court case in which the Senator from the film outlines his worries about mutants to a judge and jury. Combined with clips and interviews, this featurette is pretty interesting. Trailers for the film and soundtrack CD are also included, as are animatic sequences for a couple of the fight scenes. There are also a number of “easter eggs” for you to discover.

The movie is packaged in a clear Amaray style case, which is housed in a cardboard slipcase – which looks impressive with its metallic colouring. There is no booklet included – the chapter breaks are printed on the reverse of the cover and are visible through the Amaray case.

Conclusion

Overall, whilst the X-Men promises much, there’s not enough depth to the story or characters to carry the film between the impressive set-piece scenes.

The cast is quite good – Patrick Stewart is a quality actor, perhaps stereotyped because of his role in Star Trek. Famke Janssen and Halle Berry both look very good in their tight X-Men suits and the other members of the cast all play their parts well.

The film certainly looks the part, with superb CGI, locations and sets – combined with some excellent action and spectacular fights. Sound is also superb, with good use made of the channels available.

There’s also a good range of extras which are helped by the fresh approach.

The X-Men is usual comic-book action fare, and is a very good DVD package, although ultimately, there are better superhero movies available.

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