X-Men
February 2001 Reviewed by: Wes Marshall Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Kansas Republican Senator Robert Jefferson Kelly (Bruce Davison) is fed up with the Homo Superior Mutants. He wants them all registered like sex offenders so the government can keep track of them. Erik Magnus Lehnsherr, aka Magneto (Ian McKellen) has seen this type of behavior before, as a child in a Nazi concentration camp. He and his gang, the Brotherhood of Mutants, resolve to change all the world leaders to mutants during a world leadership conference to be held at Ellis Island. This way, the politicians will experience the pain of being outcast mutants. Meanwhile, in immaculate Westchester, New York, Professor Charles Francis Xavier, aka Professor X (Patrick Stewart, looking like he had modeled for the original 1963 comic book) and his X-Men (and women) attempt to somehow bring Homos Superior and Sapiens together in peaceful harmony. When they discover Magneto’s plan, the die is cast. The X-Men will have to fight the Brotherhood of Mutants, which they do, in a dazzling sequence atop the Statue of Liberty.

If you are an experienced devotee of Marvel Comics’ X-Men, then this movie is a treat; however, if you are new to the whole thing, you might feel a little lost. The movie seems to start with the assumption that you already know what is going on psychologically with the protagonists, so they skip straight to the plot. This is a shame, because creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby always make the plot secondary to the emotional twists and turns of the characters. While director Bryan Singer (Usual Suspects, Apt Pupil) gives us a smidge of intro for Magneto, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Rogue (Anna Paquin), we get almost nothing on some of the comic’s most interesting characters. Dr. Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), Cyclops (James Marsden), Storm (Halle Berry) and even Professor X himself are basically left to react to the plot devices. Part of the problem is that too much information and action is crammed into too little time. In a 96-minute movie, it’s tough to set up a plot, introduce ten mutants and a Senator, tell you what side they are on and what kind of power they have, and still leave time for the big battle scene and the several in-jokes the fans demand. (My favorite: Wolverine looks at the X-Men uniforms and says, "You actually go outside in these things?" Cyclops deadpans, "What would you have us wear? Yellow spandex?"). Something has to give, and Singer chooses to sacrifice background information since he assumes that the majority of the audience will already know what makes these characters tick. Consequently, instead of a story about young adult angst and the irony of secretly protecting a human race that is bigoted towards the Mutants, we get to watch the good guys kick the bad guys’ asses. While I would like more of the emotional frisson that made the comic great, if you are familiar with the comics, the movie delivers fully formed characters and Overall Enjoyment rates a solid 4. If you aren’t acquainted with the comics, the lack of background or development reduces the OE rating to 2.

From a technical standpoint, the X-Men DVD is a triumph. This is the first DVD to hit my collection with the THX Optimode system. There is something reassuring about being able to set your contrast and speaker balance to a specific DVD. In the case of my carefully set up Runco and Lexicon system, no changes are required, but it is still nice to know that my system and this DVD are simpatico. The picture is crystal clear. Amazingly, for a movie with several lightning fast movements, there are no jaggies or other nastiness. Even Toad’s (Ray Park) somewhat silly looking, rapid-fire effects are rendered artifact free. The sound is not calculated to make you jump out of your seat from the wide dynamic swings, but crank it up and you’ll hear clean, powerful sound with activity in all channels and substantial subwoofing.

X-Men’s extras are aimed more at quality than quantity. Bryan Singer’s interview from the Charlie Rose Show is informative. You can tell that he has a deep respect for the comic and its heroes. Hugh Jackman’s screen test gives us the opportunity to see him in character but without makeup or costume, showing himself as a quality actor. I loved the addition of the Extended Branching Version, an ingenious way of putting the deleted scenes back in where they belong as you are watching the movie. The "making of" is called the "Mutant Watch Featurette." As an attempt to enliven the concept, the makers set it up as a news story on Senator Kelly’s Mutant Registration Act. Interesting, but not terribly enlightening. There is one very significant disappointment. Perhaps I’m getting spoiled, but I am surprised by the absence of a Bryan Singer/Stan Lee commentary track.

Pay special attention to Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of Wolverine. While clearly taller than the comic book character (Wolverine is supposed to be 5’3"), Jackman’s power as an actor is as feral and intense as his namesake. Despite the quality of artists surrounding him, he totally dominates the screen. Watching how he progresses during the two sequels should be quite a delight.

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