X-Men 1.5: UE

As all boys just currently experiencing puberty should know, X-Men is the big screen live action version of the Stan Lee comic book saga. To recap the story briefly, just in case you’ve been busy over the last year or two getting a life: It’s the near future on Earth. People still live in houses, not geodesic domes. We wear wristwatches and hang out at bars. We don’t use jetpacks and we don’t eat Soylent Green. So it’s pretty much like today, only it’s a little closer to tomorrow and just as boring. However, one thing is different. Mutants. They’ve been around for a while, but hiding out because normal society doesn’t feel comfortable around people who can see through toilet walls, disguise themselves as a bowl of jelly or do complex multiplication in their heads. THOSE EVIL FREAKS! KILL THEM ALL!

Battling for the safety of the normal everyday redneck racist humans is politician Senator Kelly, who wants mandatory registration of all mutants and their exclusion from entering game shows like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (especially that dastardly mutant, Cheato, who can turn into a tasty cheese flavoured snack and guess the answer to every question with 100% accuracy).

Not happy with the Senator’s plan, and the ominous direction that this kind of regulation is heading, is Magneto. His magnetic ability allows him to gather up fiddly little screws faster than anyone alive, and he also just happens to be the leader of a crapulent of bad mutants (I’m assuming that ‘crapulent’ is the correct collective noun for a group of mutants, of course). He and his mutato-collective are hell-bent on taking over the world by turning humans into mutants.

Then, two new mutants show up, Wolverine (he’s mutated into the sideburns of Elvis Presley) and Rogue (she can suck the lifeforce from your body like a Hoover). They’re attacked by one of Magneto’s goons, Sabertooth, who has big teeth and stinky cat breath. Suddenly, Wolvy and Roguey are rescued by two members of...

TADA!... The X-Men! Yay! These good guys are lead by Professor Xavier Luc Picard and with his jolly band of merry freaks he has the unenviable job of trying to protect the humans that fear him and his squad from Magneto’s evil plans. Needless to say, Xavier won’t be getting 'thankyou' cards for saving the world. But Xavier doesn’t need thanks, he has a cool wheelchair and the coolest bald head in showbusiness. With his team and their superpowers, they’ll fight the good fight and even if they lose the battle they know they can still try again in X-Men 2.

Running a brisk 100 minutes (not counting the extended viewing version), X-Men is an exercise in humanising a comic book saga that succeeds as admirably as Batman and Superman and Howard the Duck. Singer has crafted a swift story which sets up an inevitable follow-up by the time it’s all over, sacrificing any substantial character background for action and events which tally up to a minor showdown climax atop the Statue of Liberty and promises of more apocalyptic battles to come.

For all I could tell, this is the same transfer from the last release, so hard I found it to detect any change. But that’s a good thing, if you want to be positive. The original transfer and this one are excellent show-off pieces, with a uniformly high quality look. It is full of fine detail which is welcome for rendering the more intricate designs and patterns and close-ups. There are no noticeable compression issues unless you go desperately looking for them, but that holds true for any DVD, and is more a statement on the sort of person you are, rather than how good the DVD is. Sorry, very uncalled for, I know. But true.

I noticed nothing objectionable with the transfer. The aliasing is still present, but it never jarred me enough to cause concern. It shows up in the typical places, such as grilles, bright straight lines, anything like that, but not all the time and like I said, it's never really a problem unless you’re ‘allergic’ to aliasing in any degree.

The print is very clear without any notable blemishes, and it’s one of those slick pictures free from grain that DVD aficionados so dearly love.

So far, I give this two mutated claws up...

The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track on the original release was perfectly fine to my ears when I first reviewed it. This time around, I’m figuring this is the same one again, which means that it stands up on its own as a very capable track. With a very clinical, clean and crisp sound to effects and dialogue, the dynamic range is suitable for the extended segments of enhanced audio action and surround activity.

But, if your gear is DTS capable, naturally you’ll be thinking that the new DTS 5.1 audio mix is the way to go (and probably the biggest selling point for this DVD for many people). Well, you’d be wrong. After you account for the difference in volume, there is little difference in the actual sound quality. There is no difference in the LFE output, no difference in the surround channels, in short, I found no difference anywhere which would have me claiming the DTS track to be hugely superior. Highlighting certain scenes (Magneto as a child bending the concentration camp gates or Xavier in Cerebro, for example) and switching back and forth between DD and DTS yielded no difference that couldn’t be accounted for by simply boosting the DD volume to compensate. Quieter moments did not yield any significant changes to the soundstage or quality.

I think many people will find the louder DTS mix will fool them into believing that there’s a massive improvement that simply isn’t there to my ears.

Still, the audio quality is great, even if it could have used more LFE support in critical scenes. I’ll give it two mutated claws up again, but then I’ll hack off half a claw for not offering any improvement with the DTS.

And this, my drooling friends, is the other reason you might be interested in snapping up this DVD. Packaging all the extra goodies (with the exception of the commentary and extended viewing options, of course) on a second disc, there’s a fair bit of stuff to mosey on through, so let’s jump right in...

Things start on disc 1, where alongside the film, we have: Commentary – Director Bryan Singer and Brian Peck
The single most interesting fact I gleaned from this commentary? That it was recorded in Singer’s apartment in Vancouver. That’s not to say the rest isn’t interesting, just that I always figured these things are done in a studio of some kind. But it was recorded while X-Men 2 was still shooting, so that probably explains it. Singer has a fair bit to say about the film production, specific scenes, anecdotes etc, he’s fairly open about his views, proud of the fact that it’s not a overly heavy CGI film, relying more on physical effects to achieve his aim.

Extended Viewing Options
You can select to view the film with the inclusion of: extended scenes, or extended scenes and behind the scenes featurettes or extended scenes with commentary. These options insert the extended scenes that are available on the original release, which aren’t 16:9 enhanced unfortunately so jar the viewing quite a bit. The behind the scenes featurettes are short looks at the production of some scenes, and really should have been available separately, but if you like this geeky implementation I’m sure you’ll be happy.

And then, when you’re finished with the film options, slide in the second disc and be greeted by:

Introduction from Bryan Singer
This is the personal greeting from director Singer, where he practically apologises for releasing this interim DVD before the cinema release of X2. This can’t be accessed from the menu system, so you have to restart the DVD if you want to replay it. I can’t imagine you would want to anyway, unless you really want to see the look on his face when he says “It’s not my nature to be putting out multiple DVDs of films, so I trust you’ve bought one copy and you’re all sitting in a group watching it.� Why can’t he look me in the eyes when he says that?

After this, you are presented with a screen which has two options: X-Men 2 which contains some brief preview stuff on the upcoming X2 film, and Evolution X which allows you to watch bonus material about the making of the first X-Men either as a single documentary or via an indexed menu system that allows you to directly access any part you wish.

Beginning with the X-Men 2 section, we have:
X-Men 2 Sneak Preview (7:51)
Bryan Singer gives us a bunch of stats and walks us around the sets of the new X-Men film. This wastes about two minutes of disc space, then Patrick Stewart gives us a bit of info about what occurs in the story, with a few short clips from it, and tops it off at the end with the trailer for the film.

X-Men 2 Theatrical Trailer (1:46)
A minor variation of the teaser shown at the end of the sneak peek above.

Activision Trailer (1:33)
A clip for the game of X-Men: Wolverine’s Revenge, presumably available on PS2/X-Box/Nintendo/Atari 2600/Commodore 64. Yay! Pre-pubescent boys and nerdy adults rejoice!

Daredevil Trailer (1:47)
If it wasn’t for Jon Favreau and Colin Farrell, I would have rated this as the worst film of 2003. They injected some much needed humour into a script that took itself far too seriously. More annoying than the logic was the overloud music. Anyway, this is the trailer for the film, which no doubt will sell about a hundred billion copies on DVD when released. Look out for the DVDnet review coming next week. Just kidding...

That’s it for this X2 section, so as you can see, the tie-in to the new film is fairly lame, and devoid of any real content.

Then, to access the more extensive bonus material related to X-Men, we jump to the Evolution X section, which brings us to another menu screen, The Evolution: From Concept to Screen to X-Men 2. From here you select whether you wish to watch all the extras as one two and a half hour doco (minus some minor supplemental stuff) or access all the extras individually in their subsections. Choose to load each one individually and you can pick from:

Special Effects of the X-Men section

The Visual Effects of the X-Men (17:30)
Mostly brief run throughs of how they created some shots in the film, both physical element and CGI, without going into too much boring detail.

Senator Kelly Effects Breakdown (5:02)
Pass after pass of how they created the effect of the politician melting away to water. There's lots of work for the effects guys for such a short sequence, with many, many layers of different effects adding up to the total. It’s the same short sequence show over and over with the different effects passes, so it does get dull fast.

Multi-Angle Breakdowns (1:48)
Four scenes (Liberty Head, Toad vs. Jean Grey, Wolverine vs. Mystique, Wolverine vs. Sabretooth) with three different angles each (Animatic, Film and Composite). Very short segments, you barely have time to flip through the different angles before it’s over. It's a good thing each one has a multi-window camera to view all angles at once then.

�Reflections of the X-Men� Section

Reflections of X-Men: From the Set of X2 (8:40)
A fond look back at what it was like to make the first film by the cast and crew. Yep, it was the highlight of their lives, they all had amazing times and learnt a lot, made lifelong friends and didn’t know whether anyone would like the film, etc etc. A bit too self-congratulatory for me.

Ellis Island Premiere (4:24)
The premiere at the location of the climactic showdown in the film. See stars walk, see carpet be red, see fans adore!

Premieres Around the World (far too many minutes)
Spliced together footage from different premieres, the red carpet walk, the banter, the introductions at the showing, Halle Berry’s boobs etc, etc.

�Producing the X-Men� section

Producing the X-Men: Production Scrapbook (1:03:28)
This doco is more of a behind the scenes look at the production, culled from lots and lots of footage. Some production meeting stuff, some fooling with props and sets, some brief interviews. You might find yourself fast-forwarding a fair bit to find anything juicy. The best bit is the end when Hugh Jackman’s wife tells him (after receiving a Wolverine toy for their son from the producer) “You’ve made it darling, you’re a toy.� That’s a pretty telling statement, don’t you think?

Multi-Angle: Train Splitting (1:00)
Four angles to view how they split the train apart in the scene where Magneto comes after Rogue. Forget trainsurfing, kiddies, try this on the Broadmeadows line instead for a bit of fun.

Multi-Angle Fight Rehearsal (1:05)
Two angles of Wolverine and Sabertooth practising a fight scene. They’re fairly energetic lads and could probably defend themselves in a scrap. Well, Sabertooth’s a wrestler or something in real life, so if you picked a fight with him he’d probably beat you to a pulp and smash a chair over your head then pull out a microphone from his pants and call you a pussy to the audience.

The Prime Minister of Canada (:22)
Yep, it’s him (I guess) walking past the camera. He must have visited the set or something. Yep, stunning stuff. You’ll get your money's worth here. Try to contain your excitement. Who do I have to sleep with to get a decent extra around here?

�Bringing the X-Men to Life� section

The Uncanny Suspects (24:19)
This opens with practically the whole cast admitting they know nothing about the X-Men, having never read a comic until after they got the part. The actors discuss their roles and their involvement. This has an interesting perspective from Sir Ian McKellen, who says that being gay in real life has made him a mutant in the sense of the film that he is not considered part of the normal society at large. This is quite an interesting comment, and the most honest and insightful one made in all the extras.

Hugh Jackman – First Reading (11:01)
Shot before he was given the role, this is footage of Jackman reading lines for his part with Bryan Singer. I’m really stretching my patience here.

Hugh Jackman – Screen Test (1:59)
Jackman and Paquin acting out an early scene in the car. The dialogue goes over the same part covered in his first reading above. He’s a bit better this time around, and thankfully this is much shorter.

Character Gallery
70 images of the characters in various costume designs. Some are well drawn, some look like what a five year old sends in to a colour-in competition.

�X-Factor� section

X- Factor: The Look of X-Men (22:49)
Gordon Smith, special makeup designer, walks us through the different looks of the good and bad mutants, where he reined the more outlandish things in to make it look a little more believable than the imagery of the comic book.

Costume Tests: Cyclops and Storm (1:19/1:27)
An odd inclusion, because it doesn’t even look like Marsden modelling the costume, and Berry’s test is so dark that you can barely see her at all for much of it. I think this may have been deliberate so they could see the effect of her contacts, though I might be wrong on that.

Toad’s Makeup Test (3:29)
Good ol’ Ray Park sticks his tongue out, goes all bug eyed and gets painted up for his bit. God bless the fool.

Image Gallery
Four sections (Hardware – 44 images, Magneto – 33 images, Locations – 12 images, Xavier's School – 26 images) of pictures of varying quality, some quick renders, some CGI, some very nice sketches. If you like viewing galleries like this, you’ll be happy.

So there you have it, lots and lots of stuff to look at and ponder as you waste away yet another day of your life within the magical world of DVD. If I have any criticisms, it’s that the menus are slowish and tend to feel as though they were ‘spaced out’ to make the extras seem more extensive than they actually are. That could be seen as just nitpicking on my behalf though.

Frankly, after this DVD I look forward to a disc with just a trailer and maybe a commentary on it.

The film is still as entertaining when revisited this long after its initial release, with plenty of thrills and spills to excite the little kiddie in us that likes this kind of thing. As an easy quick-pick for a night's entertainment with friends, you can’t go wrong.

But, to buy or not to buy, that is the question. Whether it is better to own this new release or stick with your old one is a matter of personal fanaticism. I own the original X-Men - Special Edition DVD, so if I had to spend my own money on this new 1.5 edition, I wouldn’t buy it. However, if you don’t own X-Men on DVD yet, then this is a great value for money purchase and comes highly recommended.

The audio is as good as it always was, with the DTS offering up nothing new to sway the buying decision. The extras are fine if you simply must own every single little bit of bonus material related to the film, but doesn’t reveal anything earth-shattering that you can’t live without.