By: The Dweeb

DVD Features Video: 2.35:1 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 2.0, Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0 Interview with Bryan Singer Hugh Jackman Screen test Still gallery Animatics  Trailers Extra footage Theatrical release: 7/14/2000 DVD released on 11/21/2000 by 20th Century Fox Running time of 120  minutes Starring: Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, Bruce Davison, James Marsden, Rebecca Romjin-Stamos, Ray Park and Anna Paquin Director: Bryan Singer Plot: Born into a world filled with prejudice are children who possess extraordinary and dangerous powers – the result of unique genetic mutations. Cyclops unleashes bolts of energy from his eyes. Storm can manipulate the weather at will. Rogue absorbs the life force of anyone she touches. But under the tutelage of Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart), these and other outcasts learn to harness their powers for the good of mankind. Now they must protect those who fear them as the nefarious Magneto (Ian McKellen), who believes humans and mutants can never co-exist, unveils his sinister plan for the future!

As a long time X-men comic book collector, I was chomping at the bit waiting for this movie to come out. Films based on comic books don’t have a great track record, especially Marvel titles. So it was either going to be really good, or another bomb. This movie does not disappoint, I was surprised! Somebody finally got it right this time, and it lived up to my expectations.

What an entertaining flick, Bryan Singer really did his homework for this one. I guess it was a labor of love for him because he too is a fan of the comic. Even if you never read a single issue, you can watch this movie and not feel lost. It is structured so that the nonfan is given a bit of back story so they can jump right in on the main story line and not feel lost.

The casting of this movie was dead on, Patrick Stewart was born to play the role of Professor X, he is a spitting image. This is also the big screen debut of Hugh Jackman, who plays Wolverine, and he had some big shoes to fill with this character. He too plays him right on, which I was really happy to see. I think he stole the show, and this film has launched a relatively successful film career for Hugh.

Another choice that kept from ruining the movie was not using any major Hollywood stars in the film, so the ego of the actor doesn’t take over the character. I think the later Batman films were a lesson learned, what crap those turned out to be. Everyone plays their role very well and I have no complaints.

The sound and picture of this DVD is good. Fox did a great job transferring this film onto the format. I saw no pixelization, and the colors were sharp. The audio portion of the disc is really good. Even the onscreen menus are full of bone crunching bass, which makes this one of my favorite DVD menus.

The disc also comes packed with many other extras. There is an extended branching version like on the Matrix DVD which adds the extended scenes during the movie. You can also watch them all separately. They also include Bryan Singers interview on the Charlie Rose show talking about this film, Hugh Jackman’s screen test, and all the usual stuff like concept art and trailers. Lots of stuff to go through here.

X-men is an entertaining movie, even for non fans. Fox does an excellent job with putting this whole package together, so I give this an enthusiastic thumbs up!

Reviewer’s Opinion: BUY IT!!