Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #53705 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-11-21
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: Spanish, English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 104 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
In a time when race and religion don't separate people, but extra powers and mutated characteristics do, two longtime friends, Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) part ways, only to become rivals over the issue of how much patience they should have with "normal" people. Living lives that scare most humans lacking the "X-factor" (a special power such as telekinesis), they fight over changing the general population into mutants. Xavier decides to help mutants in a special school while waiting for humanity to be more accepting, while Magneto opts to change all "normal" people into mutants in order to create a mutant-only world. Leading a group of four powerful X-Men (and women) to rescue one lost girl (the mutant Rogue, played by Anna Paquin)--and the entire population of New York--Xavier recruits a new member to their group: Logan (Hugh Jackman), better known as Wolverine, joins the team with much reluctance, only to prove very valuable to the rescue effort.

Each member of the X-Men has mastered their special gift--the ability to create a storm (Storm, played by Halle Berry), telekinesis (Dr. Jean Grey, played by Famke Janssen), eyesight carrying laserlike destructive power (Cyclops, played by James Marsden), the ability to heal nearly any wound he sustains (Wolverine, played by Hugh Jackman). The chemistry among these four sets the stage for some expert teamwork--and some hidden romance. The mutants' ensemble work drives the action sequences, such as in a train station battle with Magneto's crew--including Sabertooth (Tyler Mane), Toad (Ray Park), and Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos)--that unleashes a lot of destruction, thanks to the striking special effects.

You don't have to be a fan of the hugely popular X-Men comic books to enjoy Bryan Singer's film, which is loaded with creativity, cool effects, and characters complex enough to lift it above run-of-the-mill action films. And Singer sets the stage admirably for the sequels that could turn X-Men into the strongest comic-book franchise since Batman. --Sandra Levin

DVD features
Ten minutes of X-Men deleted scenes (most of them superfluous) are viewable separately or integrated into the complete film, with an onscreen symbol to mark when a deleted scene has been inserted. "The Mutant Watch" is a 23-minute promotional featurette originally broadcast on Fox TV at the time of the film's release, and combines interview clips with a "mockumentary" news profile of Senator Kelly (Bruce Davison) and his campaign to promote "mutant registration." Excerpts from Charlie Rose's interview with director Bryan Singer are worthwhile but too brief: the entire interview should have been included. Hugh Jackman's screen test (with costar Anna Paquin) provides an interesting glimpse of the casting process. The DVD's features are rounded out by a standard variety of production and costume sketches, two computer-generated "animatics" showing the preparation of action sequences, plus TV spots and theatrical trailers. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
The most beautiful, strange, and exciting comic-book movie since the original "Batman." The world, it seems, is filled with mutants-quirks of evolution and lost souls who band together for comfort and understanding. Feared by the regular humans, the mutants, according to Magneto (Sir Ian McKellen), will never be accepted, and since they are superior he believes they should either destroy the rest of humanity or supplant it. He's been engaged in a long quarrel about this with Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart), a soft-spoken, wheelchair-bound sage with empathic powers. The film combines the fear of aliens invading us (an old sci-fi trope) with a spectacular war of the gods. The director, Bryan Singer, builds the characters and then lets the action flow from their special physical skills. With Hugh Jackman as the anguished warrior Wolverine; Anna Paquin as Rogue, a teen-ager who tries to make out with her nonmutant boyfriend and winds up putting him in a coma; and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as Mystique, who can morph into anything, but whose preferred form seems to be a stunning nude blue silicone torso. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

X-Men 1.5 rooked me too
First I have to say I love X-Men the movie, and this is a great dvd. But I cannot give it the five stars I would like to (or that I gave the first X-Men dvd) because I feel that they have cheated the fans. Much like the comic books themselves, they've devised a way to take more money from the fans. Why wasn't all these extras on the original dvd? Even Bryan Singer himself says in the introduction to the dvd that he hates to do it, and that he hopes a group of people are sitting around watching the 1 dvd they bought (then why did you do it Bryan? whay didn't you just put all this good stuff on the original dvd?)

First of all, the menus aren't as cool as the original dvd. Sort of cheesy in fact. Now, both the original and 1.5 come in slipcover cases, but the original has a nice design, with a metallic type sheen to it--very x-meny. 1.5 has much less of the sheen, horrid red letters, and instead of a small tasteful cover art, a large picture of Wolverine, flanked by Mystique and Storm. It looks all right, if you haven't seen the original slip case design. And inside is almost good. it has a nice red and black design (not the vulgar read of the outer cover, but a more tasteful and subdued red), and only loses it when you see a cast lineup. From a design perspective, 1.5 is definitely weaker.

Disc One
The X-Men movie is on this disc. I won't go into a review of the movie, because I already did that in my review of X-Men. I will say that it is a great movie, Singer does a great job, and the casting is inspired. There is a commentary track on this dvd, something that was missng from the original. Singer does a great job talking about the film and the filmmaking process. I just have to ask, why wasn't this on the original dvd? There is also an Enhanced Viewing Mode on this cd. It contains extended/deleted scenes, where they would have been placed in the film (also on the original dvd). The problem is that you can't go to them seperately, you can only access them in their place in the Enhanced Viewing Mode (a definite weakness, and not a problem on the original dvd). The Enhanced Viewing Mode also has 17 different behind the scenes footage, at various locations in the film (these you also can only access through this mode and not in a seperate menu. a minus).

Disc Two
Here is where Singer's introduction and apology is located. "It's not my nature to be putting out multiple dvds of a film" --then why Bryan, why did you do it? But the orchestra is nice (you'll see what I mean). There are two menus here. One is X-Men 2, which has a Daredevil teaser (there's a movie I won't go see) and has an X-Men 2 sneak preview (I understand why this isn't on the original dvd, and it is a great addition, but not worth buying a whole new dvd). The other menu is titled Evolution X. Under it you'll find all sorts of goodies, which can all be played in sequence, or accessed one at a time (which I recommend), and there is branching her as well, but I'm not sure if you have to go at it all together or not, but I suspect you can only get it if you choose the 'Play All With Branching' option, which really isn't such a bad way to go. There's a 'Production Documentary Scrapbook' where you can watch the train sequence from all different camera angles, and without the post-production and multi-angle fight rehearsals. 'X-Factor' which contains costume tests, toad's makeup test, and an image gallery. 'The Uncanny Suspects' (my that's witty) which has a character gallery and Hugh Jackman's first reading and screen test. 'Special Effects of the X-Men' contains all sorts of effects featurettes and extras. 'Marketing the X-Men' which has trailers, tv spots, and internet spots. And finally 'Reflection of the X-Men" which has footage from the Ellis Island Premier and premier's around the world. And don't forget all the xtras found in the branching option. Overall you do get a lot of good stuff that you won't find on the original dvd. But what you will find on the original dvd that you won't find on 1.5 is the easter egg Spider-Man gag, which is great (but you will get something similar where a Wolverine appears in the original yellow costume), nor will you find the Fox Special "The Mutant Watch", which isn't esential to the film (actually, it doesn't fit great continuity-wise), but it is entertaining, and should be on the 1.5.

Now, should you buy X-Men 1.5? I did, but that's because I'm a huge fan of the X-Men (in film, cartoon, comics, toys, and fiction), and the huge X-Fans will end up doing this. Also, I'm a student of film theory and criticism, and this dvd has things I couldn't pass up. But if you have the original dvd, then I'd either rent 1.5 or borrow it from a friend. If you don't have either, I'd say go ahead and pick up 1.5 (borrow the original dvd from a friend, you've got to see the Spider-Man gag). 1.5 does give you the better value, it's just that this stuff should have been on the original dvd. Instead, in the grand Marvel tradition, we screw the true fans.

Okay, how about an actual review...
It's a shame we had to wait until summer was half over to get to the REAL blockbuster. This is easily the most entertaining movie of the summer season (with Gladiator being the BEST, but best & most entertaining can be different things). It's fun, it's action packed (take that MI:2) and the performances are all on point. Hugh Jackman delivers as Wolverine, he's splendid. We all know what Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan are capable of. The other performances are perfect as well.

I'm a fan of the comic book, which to some may make it seem like I'm biased, but quite the contrary. That just means I'm more likely to hate a movie if it just takes whatever creative liberties it wants with pre-established characters and storylines (as much as I love Batman, it still urks me that everyone now thinks that the Joker killed Bruce Wayne's parents). Thankfully, X Men holds true to characters and storyline touches. Even little things like Mystique's manipulation of Rogue are handled subtley. They obviously can't go into the depth of 30 years of continuity provided in the Marvel comics, but they do a MARVEL-(pun intended)-ous job at putting what they can into an hour and a half of screen time.

It's funny, it's tense, it's exciting, it's serious, it's not campy or absurd. It's just awesome, and I WILL be buying this the minute it hits video stores.

What the Batman franchise should have been.
X-Men, the first REAL attempt at bringing a Marvel Comic to life on the silver screen, succeeds on several levels. First, it is well written, leaving just enough cheese and in-jokes for fans of the comics--but it doesn't ignore the newbie, either. Each important plot point is explained, and we are saved from watching the "origin" of every character.

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, and Ian McKellan as Magneto really steal the show. They've embodied their characters, and work well together. The message of discrimination is never played heavy-handed, but it comes across. All in all, a solid performance.

Michael Kamen's music is wonderful and fitting. Just the right amount of adrenaline and somberness. (I recommend you by the CD as well as the DVD!)

In short, X-Men is a rewarding superhero flick. People with children however, should be warned that there is an amount of violence, but it is not gory. All in all, and excellent movie.