Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2658 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-06-21
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
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 (who has retractable claws and amnesia), and Anna Paquin's Rogue (who sucks the life and superpowers out of anyone she touches). The plot has to do with a big gizmo that will wreak havoc at a gathering of world leaders, but the film is more interested in setting up a tangle of bizarre relationships between even more bizarre people, with solid pros such as Stewart and McKellen relishing their sly dialogue and the newcomers strutting their stuff in cool leather outfits. 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

Video Description
DVD Special Features:

6 Deleted Scenese
Bryan Singer/ Charlie Rose Interview Clips
3 Theatrical Trailers
3 TV Spots
"The Mutant Watch" Featurette
"X-Men Featurette"
Hugh Jackman Screen Test
Storyboards
Still Galleries
Easter Eggs
Moving Menus
Plus Trailer for Titan A.E
Subtitles in English for the Hard of Hearing, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, IB Portugese, Swedish.

Synopsis
Based on the long-running Marvel comic book series, X-MEN takes place in the near future, as certain humans are evolving into mutants with special powers. In the Canadian wilderness, a young runaway mutant named Rogue (Anna Paquin) and a bad-tempered, quick-healing mutant with retractable metal claws called Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) are suddenly attacked by the powerful Magneto (Ian McKellen) and his lackeys. Fortunately, Cyclops (James Marsden) and Storm (Halle Berry), students of the compassionate Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), interfere and bring them back to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Here Wolverine and Rogue learn more about the conflict between Xavier and the militant Magneto, who wants to power a device that will genetically alter humans, with possibly deadly results. Only Xavier's students can stop Magneto's plans.
Director Bryan Singer (THE USUAL SUSPECTS) displays his expertise with an ensemble cast, accomplishing a feat by making the first live-action film about an entire group of superheroes. Hugh Jackman's portrayal of the ill-tempered Wolverine is dead-on, while Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen are ideally matched in their Martin Luther King, Jr.- and Malcolm X-like roles. Smart and well-paced, X-MEN towers above most comic book movies.

Customer Reviews

Quality action
The opening shots depict a bleak concentration camp and a family being seperated. As the rain pours down and the parents are dragged off through the mud, a boy reaches out; his pain drawing the metal of the gates towards him until he is crudely beaten with the butt of a rifle and knocked senseless.

The beginning suggests that this film will take the exploration of discrimination of the x-men comics seriously and this is continued through Washington hearings as a senator whips up public support for the labelling of 'mutants'.

This is an action film that takes its subtext seriously; it develops slowly allowing actors time to structure their roles. It boasts a fine cast. Patrick Stewart and Ian Mckellen are heavyweight performers whose dignity and control give the film its integrity. Hugh Jackman is well-suited to the role of Wolverine, his initial rejection and isolation replaced by a gradual warmth.

The strength of this film is it allows itself to be driven by the characters who are never neglected for the sake of spectacular action. There are some impressive sequences, but I never found myself rejecting the world of the film and finding it difficult to accept.

ok
this is solid and watchable but a bit anticlimatic as the film never gets in to first gear

Great Comic Book Movie
As far as bringing comic books/games to the screen, this has to be the best so far. The filming, sound and acting are great. The only reason I feel I did not give it 5 stars is that I just finished watching "The Perfect Storm" the same day...and the acting does not compare... But if you like reading the X-men comic, you must have this film. The DVD gives you a lot of extras. And for a comic book, there is a very good story line. Wolverine's creation seems to need its own movie. Everyone else is born a mutant.... Of course the comic book as is the movie, is a statement on how the majority treats minorities they do not understand.