Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1316 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-10-02
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 6
• Running time: 327 minutes

Synopsis
Contains the titles X-MEN, X-MEN 2, and X-MEN – THE LAST STAND. In X-MEN, the titular characters are a team of mutant peacekeepers led by Professor Xavier assigned the task of protecting the human race against the sinister Magneto. In X-MEN 2, the group once again return to save the world from a group of mutant creatures. In the White House, teleporting blue mutant Nightcrawler menaces the president. Meanwhile in the Canadian Rockies, Wolverine searches for answers to his mysterious past at the top-secret facility where he received his metallic skeleton and claws. In X-MEN – THE LAST STAND, Worthington Laboratories--using a powerful mutant boy--develops a serum that eliminates the 'mutant X gene' permanently. This so-called 'cure' quickly divides the mutant community; Professor Xavier and his school are willing to give the government the benefit of the doubt but Magneto and his mutant Brotherhood see the serum as a vile threat to their way of life. They form an army of mutants and march on the fortified Worthington Laboratory located on Alcatraz Island. A much more dire threat appears in the form of the resurrected super-mutant Jean Grey, who has succumbed to her cataclysmic identity known as The Phoenix.

Customer Reviews

A truly missed opportunity and another needless alteration of a great story.
These movies are decent enough, but altogether infuriating for long term fans of the X-men. The director didn't seem to have any understanding of the characters and certainly not the fans. This is a lowbrow interpretation of what has for a long time been one of the most interesting and well-thought out comic book series.

Whoever was in charge of the casting should never be allowed to work in movies again; the feral-like short guy Wolverine was changed into a good looking actor who towered over the rest of the cast. Singer completely missed the importance of the physical attributes of the wolverine character- he is meant to be a grunt, a short guy who you underestimate. The makers of these movies simply decided to get a distinctly average actor to play the part mainly because of his appearance as a rugged clint easton type.

Next we have Jean Grey- whose entire character in the comics was based mainly on being the All-American girl who develops into the strong-willed soul of the team. So what do the makers do? They employ a 35 year old dutch actress to play the part. Honestly a 12 year old could have done a better job, but once again the makers of the movie went for a generic looking representation of the character that would appeal to general movie goers, rather than actually pay any attention to the comics. The actress playing Jean is actually older than the guy playing wolverine so the relationship between Wolverine and Jean Grey is never fully realised in the same way as it is in the comics. The makers have simply missed the nucleus of this relationship; Wolverine represents the side of Jean that even she isn't aware of. He is an annoyance to her, but she slowly realises that his emotive nature is as much a strength as a weakness. this was played out perfectly in the comics when they culminated in the Dark Phoenix saga. In the hands of the movie makers this storyline is disjointed, out of character, and plays out as little more than a cliched love story.

The other actors/actresses were similarly poor choices. James Marsden not only lacks the screen presence for a feature film, but his portrayal of the cyclops character misses the mark. Cyclops is the heartbeat of the team; he makes the decisions and is a natural leader. Marsden's character however is ponderous bore who couldn't lead to save his life. He isn't the all american guy, the one who is like a son to Xavier. In fact we never really see this part of his relationship, as he just seems to play the role of an inconvenient barrier to the (unnecessary and overplayed) love story between jean grey and wolverine. This is perfectly demonstrated by the third movie, when he finds his supposed lost love and is apparently killed by her offscreen. we simply get a gravestone at the end of the movie to signify how important he was to the plot that was 'developed' in these movies.

Storm was simply another example of lazy casting. The Storm character is one of the most important in the comics; she truly represented the underlying message of the x-men, which was the search for equality in the face of prejudice. At the time the character was introduced America was (and some say still is today) facing racial and cultural divides. Storm was not simply a strong female black character, like most of her teammates she wasn't even American. She went on to become leader of the X-men; a role she was reluctant at first to take, but in time she grew into. Her culture and her strength are therefore integral to the character. So why on Earth was an American actress given the role, and an American actress who didn't even try to make it sound like she had at least some kind of generic African accent (as the animated series had done so)? The casting of Berry also seems to be very lazy; did the makers simply ask who was the most famous Afro-American actress and is she pretty? The casting of Berry would suggest so; Storm is supposed to be a tall dark character. Is it any wonder that the character recieved minimal stage time and no character development? Once again the makers of these movies simply had no desire to pay any credence to the source material.

We can take further exception to the other actors involved. They employed a clearly English actor to play Xavier, when Xavier is meant to be American. This wasn't to change any part of the story, but simply because he is the most famous bald actor they could find. Well done. And for Magneto they chose an ageing Ian McKellen who simply didn't look like he would scare you. Also once again an English actor, to play a character from Poland/Germany who spent his subsequent years in Russia and Israel. Yet he souunds like he has spent all of his life in an English public school. It appears that the reputation and star-billing of the actors was more important than their ability to represent the character.

Moving away from the poor casting decisions, the unnecessary liberties taken with the basic plot were ill-thought out. The approach to telling this (and many other film's) story is to use a foil; a character whose introduction to the others mirrors that of the reader/viewer. This was originally played by the Kittie Pryde character, who went on to become one of the most popular X-men characters of all time (she turns up in the third movie, but her role at this point is only a minor one.) Kittie doesn't have the best of powers, she can walk through tangible things. But her role as the foil allows for her character to develop from almost naiive innocent, into a strong-willed independant young girl. She also takes on Wolverine as almost a father-like figure. Which is exactly what the first movie does; but for some reason Kitty isn't used, and instead the makers chose Rogue to play the part. Which was not only unecessary but also short sighted. Rogue is meant to be a former enemy of the X-men, a misguided soul who had stolen the powers of one of Wolverine's oldest friends. She is one of the most powerful characters in the comics, but her inaibility to tough others creates a a contrasting vlunerability to her character. She was given a place in the team through charity of their leader and against the better wishes of the X-men including Wolverine. When he begins to trust her this creates a strong bond between the characters and allows her to become an integral part of the team. Without this plot the character is pretty useless. She has no real power except to absorb memories, and can only play an introductory role for the other characters. Therefore by the second movie there is nowhere for the character to go, and unsurprisingly none of the scenes involving Rogue in the second and third movies are relevant or even remotely interesting.

Importantly Kitty Pryde, unlike the Rogue character, had an integral role in the development of the Magneto character. Like him she is Jewish, and when his actions in the comics endangers her life, he realises that he is going down the path of those who persecuted his own kind. But such a plot development could never work in the hands of a distinctly average director such as Singer. Character development and intricately intertwined plots are beyond the capabilities of the makers of these movies.

Moreover it is slightly frustrating for fans to have to put up with an introductory movie. Introducing characters can actually be done in a way which doesn't patronise the viewer; the Hellboy movie for example showed that you do not need an hour and a half to introduce five or six characters. By the time the second movie comes along thankfully the pace is somewhat quicker. But once again you are left with the feeling that the story simply doesn't go anywhere. There is the requisite face-off between Wolverine and a similarly powered enemy (which is little more than a rehash of the fight scene in the first movie against Mystique) but there are convenient plot twists that don't really make sense such as an entire valley being flooded and the absolutely unnecessary sacrifice of the Jean Grey character. It is fair enough that the makers might have felt that it would be too costly to recreate the comic storyline where Jean Grey lost her life in space, but they could have made this more compelling by having a necessary sacrifice for the character. By the time of the third movie, the arrival of the Dark Phoenix is not only unnecessarily rushed, but also absolutely misses all of the integral plot devices and overall message of the original Dark Phoenix story. Whereas Jean Grey is pushed away from her humanity by the hands of one the X-men's enemies, this Jean Grey has for no apparent reason becomce the embodiment of evil and has lost all of her humanity. The other part of the story involves Magneto attacking a research lab that is developing a 'cure' for the mutant gene. It isn't really very interesting, but is simply an excuse for a supposedly climatic brawl. The overtly political and liberal message of the comic books is simply nowhere to be found in these movies, except for unsubtle analogies to racial discrimination in parts of the first and second movies. They aren't handled very well at all, which is a shame when comparing these movies to the comic books.

Lastly a point also has to be made about the presentation of these stories. It probably might not have looked as gritty or real if the makers had tried to recreate the appearances of the comic books characters. Yet there isn't any effort at all to even capture the look of these characters. The X-men have always been one of the most vibrant and colourful teams in the world of comics, yet the movie takes this away and for some reason dresses them up in equally ludicrous latex suits. While Spiderman was able to capture the essence of the character and at the same time to add a sense of realism, the X-men movies don't even bother to try. For a fan of the comics, this is the killer blow. It is not only annoying and frustrating that the characters are poorly represented and the storylines fail to capture the essence or messages of the comics, but it is unforgiveable that it doesn't even capture any of their vibrancy or eye-catching qualities.

In short these movies are an absolute disappointment and a missed opportunity. Taken as a straightforward action trilogy with science-fiction elements they are decent. but when compared to the source material they are somewhat of a travesty and a clear example of lazy, lowbrow filmmaking that sticks two fingers up at the real fans to make unecessary and ill-concieved changes to the X-men. If you are in anyway interested in the X-men you would be better advised to wait for the animated series to be released. Although the animated series also has many unecessary plot alterations, the voices are well cast and the main storylines from the comics are actually incorporated very well into the series.

X-Men: Trilogy?
When I first saw X-Men I was pretty impressed and held off buying the DVD of it because I was aware a sequel would be made. The thing is thou I was always under the impression that X-Men wasn't a trilogy. It's true that the sequel were only made because the first film was a success right?

So if like me your fairly convinced that the box only says 'Trilogy' on as a sort of vague marketing campaign, you might be pleased to find out that the movies are closer connected than previously thought (at least by me).

'SLIGHT SPOILERS'

For people who've enjoyed the first XMEN movie, its good to hear the DVD version included is an uncut version... well sort of. Actually the truth is you can watch the film with deleted scenes cut back in. This means that unlike famous re-cuts such as Apocalypse Now REDUX or Blade Runner, the film isn't a new version. Its the same, except frequently a short scene will play through. Needless to say it isn't seamless, the added clips often mean you'll have to watch parts of the film twice not a lot of the film, but its noticeable), also the new scenes are darker than the rest of the film and some special effects don't look quite up to standard.
This is all fine, you can still view the film without these scenes, but by doing to you find out so interesting stuff, that had it been left in, would have made the three films more of a Trilogy (!) rather than just a set of films. For example, in one deleted scene Rouge (a mutant character who can't touch other people's skin without harming them) asks if the professor can cure her. This scene is cut, however, it's interesting to keep in mind that Rouge does eventually opt to be cured in the 3rd film. Its a real shame that this scene and other examples like it aren't left in the film.

As special features go, its really the deleted scenes on all three DVDs that makes them. Each film comes with a 2nd disk (making 6 in total) telling you more about the film's production. I was fairly disappointed with the first features disk with XMEN, as I knew the film inside out from renting and seeing it on TV I was a little annoyed that the special features are pretty 'bear bones' mostly filmed on bog standard hand held cameras with not great sound, inter-cut with interviews with the actors that pop up again on part of the special features of XMEN2 and 3.

The features get hugely better with the 2nd film, telling you more about the comic book that the films are based on as well as deleted scenes and much more in-depth documentaries on production. There is a certain honesty about the interviews, but its not with out its shameless promotion: 'this movie is great'. The features don't offer much on the films other than how they were made. YES, these films are all widely well received, but its also well known that actress Hallie Berry and director of the first 2 movies Bryan Singer are not good friends. Their rocky relationship about the structure of Berry's character 'Storm' is undocumented, and you can see where the argument stems from as XMEN's (XMEN One) deleted scene are majority scene with Storm in.
Another character left on the floor in a large way is Cyclopes, whose relationship with Wolverine is much stronger when uncut.

But this is the big cribbed with XMEN, especially the third film, there are piles of characters, and the truth is you really need to be involved with the story by the time you get the 3rd, and to a lesser extent to 2nd, film.

CONCLUSION
This set is perfect for fans who've been holding off buying the DVDs until now, the films are great and the special features are above par for the most part excluding the rather dull first disk. However, and this is important! The audio commentary of XMEN3 has writers and director both mentioning an upcoming director's cut 'in five years'.

To be honest with you the manor this is mentioned in isn't entirely serious, and I wouldn't be surprised if I were a mean joke. But it is true that two more XMEN movies are planned, so if your a purest you may want to stay away. But for under £20 (or £12 at HMV >_>) its a bargain for any movie fan.

A bit disappointing
Great movies - have been looking really forward to watch them. Received them 2-3 days after i ordered it, 5 days before I expected. But did the package contain six discs? No - seven. Two copies of X-Men 1,5 - CD 1. One of them was OK, the other one did not work at all. Inside the X-Men 2 cover, both discs were not able to attach. Both disc worked, though.. The rest was fine.

Anyway, what can I expect when the price is so low?