"X-Men 1.5 " on DVD

Can You Say "Cashing In?"

Just in time to promote the Spring 2003 sequel's release, 20th Century Fox has reissued the first "X-Men" movie in a brand new DVD edition. And it's a good one that we'd recommend for people who want to own this movie but who haven't yet bought it.

Based upon the Marvel Comics series, "X-men" is a ripping and intelligent yarn about what could happen if mankind were to suddenly experience a rash of mutations.

According to the script, humanity periodically sees such mutations and, wouldn't you know, the "right now" of the movie (set in the "near future") is one of those times.

The mutations are all over the map, leading to a new race of humans that have a variety of strange super powers.

The majority of the human race don't have these powers, of course, and many are afraid of the mutants. Some are even trying to "register" mutants in the same way misguided liberals want to register firearms, and this causes severe angst among the mutant community who rightfully feel themselves under assault not for something they've done but for who they are or for what they could possibly do sometime down the road.

There are two camps of mutants, the good guys (the "X-Men") who are led by the intelligent and (at least so far) benign Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart), and the bad guys led by a Holocaust survivor who goes by the name "Magneto" (Ian McKellen). The conflict between the two mutant camps occupies most of the film, set against the larger background of the "anti-mutant" movement among the humans.

It's an intelligently done story, especially considering its comic book roots, and we liked it a lot.

Production values are great, and the cast turns in very good performances. Patrick Stewart is terrific as Xavier, and Ian McKellen is appropriately mean without having to chew the scenery. The other mutants include Wolverine (Hugh Jackman, whose story this basically is), Storm (Halle Berry), Cyclops (James Marsden), Jean Gray (Famke Janssen), Rogue (Anna Paquin), Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), Toad (Ray Park) and Sabertooth (Tyler Mane). Some of their powers are awesome, some pretty gross, and some are not particularly powerful. Just like regular people, except for the powers...

It's a neat movie and well worth seeing. Part of the reason may be the presence behind the scenes of Richard Donner and his wife Lauren.

The new DVD is THX-certified and presented in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS audio; needless to say, both the picture and sound are terrific.

The 1.5 disc really piles on the extras, too, including a second disc's worth. Disc One includes an "enhanced viewing mode" where you can click to deleted scenes or other nifty stuff periodically through the movie (when an icon appears on the screen.) There's also a running commentary, and some 24 deleted scenes.

Disc two begins with a rather self conscious intro by director Singer (who seems embarrassed by the mere existence of this "Special edition." offers a glimpse at X-Men 2, which is probably why this disc exists in the first place - though to be fair it's an interesting and entertaining preview. There's also a quite substantial "The Making of X-Men" documentary that includes branching features with which you can access other supplementary material while you watch the film. You can either watch the whole shebang at once, or break it down into its sections: Part 1 (Origin of the X-Men), Part 2 (The Uncanny Suspects) - 11 character designs, Part 3 (X-Factor) - Pre-viz animatics, 4 make-up tests, 2 set constructions, Part 4 (Shooting X-Men) - 2 scenes, behind the scenes photo album, Part 5 (Remembering the X-Men), and more.

As if that isn't enough, there are also trailers, TV spots, internet interstitials, and a couple of "surprises."

So while this may be a case of cashing in proactively, Fox has at least given plenty of goodies that offer good value for DVD lovers and/or X-Philes.

X-Men 1.5, from 20th Century Fox Home Video
120 minutes, Widescreen (2.35:1), Dolby Digital
Starring Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin
Produced by Lauren Shuler Donner, Ralph Winter
Written by David Hayter and Directed by Bryan Singer

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