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Stars:
Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian Mckellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James
Marsden, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Brian Cox, and Alan Cumming
Writers:
Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris, and David Hayter
Based
On The Marvel Comic Book Series
Director:
Bryan Singer
Feature
length: 134 minutes
Extras: Commentary
By Bryan Singer and Tom Sigel, Commentary By Lauren Schuler Donner, Ralph
Winter, Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris, and David Hayter Documentary – “The
Second Uncanny Issue Of X-Men” – Making of X2, 11 Featurettes: “The Secret
Origin Of X-Men”, “Nightcrawler Reborn”, “Evolution In The Details –
Designing X2”, “United Colors of X”, “Wolverine Deathstrike Fight
Rehearsal”, “Introducing The INCREDIBLE NIGHTCRAWLER!”, “Nightcrawler
Stunt Rehearsal”, “Nightcrawler Time-lapse”, “FX2 – Visual Effects”,
“Requiem For Mutants – The Score Of X2”, “X2 Global Webcast
Highlights”, 11 Deleted Scenes, Still Galleries, 3 Theatrical Trailers
Languages:
English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Sound, and French and Spanish Language Dolby Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish Language Subtitles
Chapter
Stops: 40
Sound:
DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, and
Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2003/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Home
Video Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG-13
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Already
living in a society that mistrusts them, the mutants are faced with even greater
discrimination after an unforeseen attack on the President at the White House by
a mutant causes a public outcry and renewed support for the Mutant Registration
Act. Enter William Stryker (Brian Cox), a military leader who has experimented
on mutants including Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). He is now one of the most vocal
supporters of registration and manipulates the attack on the President to get
the okay to forcibly enter and detain the students of Professor Xavier’s
School For Gifted Children. After a successful offensive upon Xavier’s
mansion, and school, the few mutants who happened to escape end up joining in an
uneasy alliance with a recently liberated Magneto (Ian Mckellen) and the shape
shifting Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) to enter Stryker’s compound and free
Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) before he can be manipulated into the mass
genocide of all mutants worldwide.
“X2:
X-Men United” feels like the second issue of a stellar graphic novel series
transposed to film. It quickly recaps the story and hits the ground running with
the introduction of “Nightcrawler” (Alan Cumming) and an expanded role for a
younger group of mutant students introduced in the first film to rise to the
occasion and take a stand. “X2: X-Men United” is a solid sequel though the
opening action sequence in the film is so explosive that none of the other well
choreographed fight sequences ever quite equal the excitement of the terrific
introduction of “Nightcrawler” in the movie. Not even future scenes with
Alan Cumming are quite as extraordinary as his introduction. The first film also
contained a certain human quality to all the characters that given a historical
context, helped viewers to understand the plight of the characters better and
even relate to the villains’ point of view if only because their reasoning,
however misguided, is still all too human. As a whole though this is still a
nice continuation of the storylines developed in the first film with fine
performances from the entire ensemble cast. I hope that if there is a third
movie, the filmmakers will introduce a new Marvel Comics super villain and
perhaps a storyline that takes the characters in a direction away from the
previous storylines that have revolved around bigotry and mistrust and move
toward a grander adventure. I mean Magneto is not the only villain the
“X-Men” have fought so why not try something else from the comics?
Twentieth
Century Fox Home Entertainment’s two-disc set is feature packed with hours of
extra value features. The film is presented in a very solid anamorphic
widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio. The colors are never over saturated and there
is no compression grain evident. There is a bit of shimmering on the top of the
screen, but it is kept to a minimum. Unlike the previous DVD releases for the
first “X-Men” movie, “X2: X-Men United” is not THX certified though this
could change between the time of this writing and the actual product release
date. The English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Soundtrack and Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtracks are virtually indistinguishable. Both are very
well mixed with a discrete quality, but I was hoping for a more aggressive DTS
mix personally. Again things might change between the time of this review and
the release of the film on DVD. French and Spanish Language Dolby Surround
Soundtracks and English Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing impaired as
well as Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded onto the first disc as options.
Director
Bryan Singer and Cinematographer Newton Tom Sigel participate in a feature
length audio commentary track that is screen specific and refers frequently to
materials on the second DVD. Understandably I suppose, Singer sounds a bit tired
and at one point there is about 30 or so seconds when neither participant says a
thing. I thought there was something wrong with my speakers or something before
checking the receiver and hearing their voices speak again. There is a second
feature length audio commentary with Producer Lauren Schuler Donner, Producer
Ralph Winter, and Screenwriters Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris, and David Hayter.
The tone on this commentary is more jovial and at times more interesting as the
Writers and Producers share various anecdotes regarding the development of the
project without losing focus to what is occurring on screen. As a whole both
commentaries are good and given the subjective nature of movies, I’m sure
there will be some who prefer the Director and Cinematographer’s commentary
track, but personally I think the second track worked better if only because the
speakers appear to have had a greater level of enthusiasm during the recording.
The
rest of the extra features are on the second DVD. Under the subtitle “History
Of The X-Men” are featurettes that include “The Secret Origin Of X-Men,”
which features videotaped interview clips with Stan Lee, Avi Arad, and Chris
Claremont and covers the development of the series from the early comic releases
through the development of the characters over the decades, including the
1990’s animated series, and the earlier attempts to bring “X-Men” to the
big screen with James Cameron attached to direct at one point. “Nightcrawler
Reborn” features Writer Chuck Austin discussing the singular evolution of the
character through the years up until the new feature film complete with actual
comic book script pages that look a lot like screenplay formatted pages.
This
is supported by a multi angle examination of the opening attack sequence, which
allows viewers to examine the animatics, and pre-special effects pass
individually and to alternate between a comparison of either the animatics or
pre-special effects pass with the finished scene below. The next featurettes
include an interesting look at the Production Design for the film with Guy Dyas
and the Costume Design with Louis Mingibach.
Under
the “Production Banner” is the hour-long documentary “The Second Uncanny
Issue Of X-Men” that features tons of behind-the-scenes footage and interviews
with the cast and crew. There are some stunning featurettes attached detailing
the choreography for the fight between Wolverine and Deathstrike with rehearsal
footage that is nearly as exciting as the scene in the film itself and then
there is a dissection of the way Alan Cumming was taught to move onscreen as
“Nightcrawler” with Movement Coach Terry Notary. There is also some stunt
footage with the “Nightcrawler” character and a time-lapse look at Alan
Cumming undergoing the process of being prepped with the makeup for “Nightcrawler.”
Though the viewer will see the process at an accelerated rate, I found this
featurette too slow to sit through. The special effects of the film with the
Visual Effects Supervisor as well as the CGI by Cinesite are explored in the
“FX2” featurette.
Under
the “Post-Production Heading” there is a featurette exploring the musical
composition for “X2: X-Men United” in “Requiem For Mutants: The Scoring Of
X2” and some videotaped footage from an online webcast Q&A session with
select cast members and Bryan Singer hosted by Fox Executive Michael Broidy.
There
are no less than 11 extended/deleted scenes presented in a (2.35:1) aspect ratio
with Dolby Surround Sound. The scenes are detailed as follows:
1)
Extended
Wolverine Deathstrike Fight
2)
Wolverine
Kills The Intruder
3)
Mystique
In Stryker’s Files
4)
Nightcrawler
Bamfs To Save The Students
5)
Jean
& Storm In The X-Jet
6)
Jubilee
At The Museum
7)
Pyro
Starts The Campfire
8)
One Of
the Children Is Sick After He Bamfs
9)
Rogue
Helps The Children Escape
10)
Professor X And Cyclops Escape
11)
Arriving To An Empty School
Next
are still galleries detailing Characters, Location and Sets, Mutant X-Rays,
Nightcrawler Circus Posters, On Camera Graphics, as well as The Unseen X2, which
features various stills of the Danger Room and character designs for Arch Angel
and the Sentinels. Three trailers,
a public service announcement, and a web link to a Marvel website where the user
can claim three free comics wraps up the extra features in this two-disc set.
The
menus are beautifully animated and are all easy to navigate. “X2: X-Men
United” will debut on DVD-Video on Tuesday, November 25, 2003 from Twentieth
Century Fox Home Entertainment.
Check out the cool interactive menus by clicking here!
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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