X-Men: 1.5 DVD Review

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X-Men 1.5

Title: X-Men: 1.5

Region: One

Genre: Comic Book Superhero Action Adventure

Stars: Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin, Halle Berry, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, James Marsden, Famke Janssen, Tyler Mane, Ray Park, and Bruce Davison

Writer: David Hayter

From A Story By: Tom De Santo and Bryan Singer

Based On The Marvel Comic By: Stan Lee

Director: Bryan Singer

Feature length: 104 minutes

Extras: Feature Length Audio Commentary With Director Brian Singer and Writer David Hayter, Featurettes, Branch Viewing Mode, Multi-Angle Scenes, Internet Interstitials, Theatrical Trailers, TV Spots, X-Men 2 Sneak Preview, Daredevil Trailer

Languages: English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, and French and Spanish Language Dolby Surround 2.0

Subtitles: English Captions and Spanish Language Subtitles

Packaging: Two-Disc Digipack Within A Glossy Cardboard Slipcase

Chapter Stops: 40

Sound: DTS Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, and Stereo Surround Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 2000/DVD Release: 2003

Theatrical Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox

Home Video Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

Based on the characters created by Stan Lee that have appeared in Marvel Comics, "X-Men" recounts the story of Professor Xavier (Stewart) who runs a school for Mutants and provides the support and guidance for his students, who are known as "The X-Men" and through his teachings tries to foster a balance of safety and mutual tolerance for humans and mutants living together in harmony. On the opposite side of the spectrum is Xavier's former colleague and friend, Magneto (McKellen) who leads a Brotherhood Of Mutants that strive to dominate and eradicate humanity out of fear of what might happen if humanity should let their paranoia turn into hatred and cause a mutant holocaust.

"X-Men" is one of the best comic book to film adaptations ever made based on characters from Marvel Comics. The story is fast paced and the action and the effects never overshadow the characters and the drama. The cast is dynamite and Bryan Singer's direction is on target.

This new DVD Edition of Fox's feature film version of "X-Men" features a great anamorphic transfer in a widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio that is THX certified complete with the THX Optimizer® program encoded onto the disc that enables viewers to tune their audio and video systems as close as possible to how the filmmaker wants it to be seen.

The soundtrack is also on target with a fantastic mix in English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and French and Spanish Language Dolby Surround 2.0 Soundtracks along with English Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing impaired and Spanish Language Subtitles encoded on to the DVD. The best part of this new release of “X-Men” is the English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Soundtrack that simply rocks and in my opinion justifies the upgrade for anyone with a home theater system that features a DTS audio decoder.

The menus are fully animated with full motion scene selection options. The interactive choices take the viewer to a different computer generated recreations of the four themed orbs on each of the four corners of the “X” on disc one to the DNA animation on disc two.

Like the previous DVD release, viewers can watch the film in an enhanced viewing mode with 7 extended/deleted scenes automatically branching into the feature with commentary by Director Bryan Singer, who also participates in a feature length audio commentary track with Writer David Hayter. There are also 17 behind-the-scenes video segments that can be activated when an image on the right hand corner of the screen appears by pressing the SELECT or ENTER button on their DVD player’s remote control and both the extra scenes and behind-the-scenes footage returning the viewer to right where they left off before while watching the feature too. A nice touch is that the commentary and enhanced viewing mode can be activated at the same time, which makes going through the extra features on disc one easier.

The remaining extra features are on the second DVD and can be viewed collectively with a multi-layered enhanced viewing mode much like the feature on disc one. The extra features can also be viewed individually as well and include new interviews from the set of “X-Men 2” and 4 new featurettes such as “The Uncanny Suspects” (24:14), “X-Factor: The Look Of X-Men” (22:48), “The Special Visual Effects Of X-Men” (17:27), a videotaped “Production Scrapbook” (63:23), and “Reflections From X2” (8:39), which concludes with the theatrical teaser (1:42) for “X-Men 2.” The teaser trailer for “Daredevil” (1:44) is also included in a (1.85:1) aspect ratio with Dolby Pro Logic Surround Sound.” Three theatrical trailers (5:27), 9 TV spots (4:49), and 12 Internet Interstitials (11:04) are provided along with 3 multi-angle scene/animatic comparisons concept art, storyboard, and multiple image galleries. There is supposed to be an Easter Egg hidden within this two-disc set, but I couldn’t find it. Unfortunately, the Bryan Singer interview from “The Charlie Rose Show” and the Fox Television Special "The Mutant Watch" featuring Bruce Davison reprising his role from the film are not included in this new re-release.

So I suggest that if you already have the first release, keep it because in some ways I liked elements from the first DVD better than this new one, but for the DTS soundtrack and the new extras, I think “X-Men: 1.5” is definitely worth a look. “X-Men 1.5” will debut on DVD from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment on Tuesday, February 11, 2003. “X-Men 2” will open in theaters worldwide on May 2, 2003. “Daredevil” will open in American theaters on Friday, February 14, 2003.

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