Product Description

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 sinsiter plan for the future!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3884 in DVD
• Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
• Released on: 2006-02-07
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 104 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
In a time when race and religion don't separate people, but extra powers and mutated characteristics do, two longtime friends, Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) part ways, only to become rivals over the issue of how much patience they should have with "normal" people. Living lives that scare most humans lacking the "X-factor" (a special power such as telekinesis), they fight over changing the general population into mutants. Xavier decides to help mutants in a special school while waiting for humanity to be more accepting, while Magneto opts to change all "normal" people into mutants in order to create a mutant-only world. Leading a group of four powerful X-Men (and women) to rescue one lost girl (the mutant Rogue, played by Anna Paquin)--and the entire population of New York--Xavier recruits a new member to their group: Logan (Hugh Jackman), better known as Wolverine, joins the team with much reluctance, only to prove very valuable to the rescue effort.

Each member of the X-Men has mastered their special gift--the ability to create a storm (Storm, played by Halle Berry), telekinesis (Dr. Jean Grey, played by Famke Janssen), eyesight carrying laserlike destructive power (Cyclops, played by James Marsden), the ability to heal nearly any wound he sustains (Wolverine, played by Hugh Jackman). The chemistry among these four sets the stage for some expert teamwork--and some hidden romance. The mutants' ensemble work drives the action sequences, such as in a train station battle with Magneto's crew--including Sabertooth (Tyler Mane), Toad (Ray Park), and Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos)--that unleashes a lot of destruction, thanks to the striking special effects.

You don't have to be a fan of the hugely popular X-Men comic books to enjoy Bryan Singer's film, which is loaded with creativity, cool effects, and characters complex enough to lift it above run-of-the-mill action films. And Singer sets the stage admirably for the sequels that could turn X-Men into the strongest comic-book franchise since Batman. --Sandra Levin

From The New Yorker
The most beautiful, strange, and exciting comic-book movie since the original "Batman." The world, it seems, is filled with mutants-quirks of evolution and lost souls who band together for comfort and understanding. Feared by the regular humans, the mutants, according to Magneto (Sir Ian McKellen), will never be accepted, and since they are superior he believes they should either destroy the rest of humanity or supplant it. He's been engaged in a long quarrel about this with Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart), a soft-spoken, wheelchair-bound sage with empathic powers. The film combines the fear of aliens invading us (an old sci-fi trope) with a spectacular war of the gods. The director, Bryan Singer, builds the characters and then lets the action flow from their special physical skills. With Hugh Jackman as the anguished warrior Wolverine; Anna Paquin as Rogue, a teen-ager who tries to make out with her nonmutant boyfriend and winds up putting him in a coma; and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as Mystique, who can morph into anything, but whose preferred form seems to be a stunning nude blue silicone torso. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

X-Men
I bought this DVD to replace a VHS tape. The film is great and a must have.

X-Men movie
I have enjoyed ALL of the X-Men movies so this one is no exception. I'd recommend them all if you can find someone willing to give them up!

Welcome to Mutant High.
"X-Men" is based on the Marvel comic-book series and hit the big screen in 2000. Directed by Bryan Singer, the film stars - amongst others - Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Anna Paquin, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Halle Berry and Rebecca Romijn.

Mutants are seen as the next step in humankind's evolution and born with a slightly different genetic makeup - a variation that generally brings a superpower with it. You won't necessarily be able to tell just by looking at someone they're a mutant, however - in many cases, mutants look just like normal humans. In fact, only three of the characters in the film - Toad, Mystique and Sabretooth - look anyway different. In most cases, a mutant won't even know that they are a mutant until they reach puberty - which is generally when their powers 'switch on'. Throw in an unhealthy dose of widespread anti-mutant sentiment, and an over-complicated adolescence gets even worse.

Rogue is one such teenager. The poor girl enjoys her first kiss, and sees her young boyfriend collapse into a coma. Unfortunately for Rogue, her mutant superpower is destined to make her lonelier than most : skin-on-skin contact with another human will see her absorbing that person's life-force. (Although she doesn't know it at first, touching another mutant will also see her - briefly - gaining that mutant's superpower). In a blind panic, she flees - running more or less randomly to small-town Alaska. There, she finally has a bit of luck - when she runs into Wolverine, a cagefighter who's also a mutant. Originally known as Logan, Wolverine has an adamantium skeleton, a very sensitive nose, and a hyperactive healing factor. (You can injure him - he just won't stay injured for very long). However, he doesn't have much of a past - Wolverine's life is a mystery even to him. Unfortunately, the pair have barely made their introductions before they're dragged into a war...

On their way out of town, Rogue and Wolverine are attacked by Sabretooth - a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants, led my Magneto. Luckily, two X-Men called Storm and Cyclops arrive to help, and take the pair back to their base in New York State. The initial assumption is that Magneto wanted Wolverine for some reason. The X-Men's leader - Professor Charles Xavier, the world's most powerful telepath and a one-time friend of Magneto's - wants to find out why. He asks Wolverine agrees to stay a little while and, in return, the Prof will try to help Logan remember his past. Rogue, meanwhile, is enrolled at the Professor's School for Gifted Youngsters. The school could be viewed as a cover of sorts : the Professor's abilities are not public knowledge, though the 'gifted youngsters' are actually mutants. The purpose of the school is to train young mutants how to properly - and responsibly - control and use their powers. The Professor also believes humans and mutants can live peacefully, side-by-side - Magneto, on the other hand, disagrees.

Magneto is not alone in his belief : Senator Kelly - a 'standard', though influential, human - sees mutants as something to be feared and, therefore, requiring control. The Senator very strongly advocates the Mutant Registration Act, though he wants even more than that. "If it were up to me", he says "I'd lock them all away". If it weren't for people like Kelly raising the stakes and talking of imprisoning people without trial, this war may never have needed fought...

A cracking superhero movie overall. There's a bit more of Wolverine than any of the other heroes, though there is a heavy side-order of Rogue - who I liked a lot more onscreen, than did in print. (I was very impressed with Paquin's performance as Rogue, and also Romijn as Mystique. A member of the Brotherhood of Mutants, Mystique is a shapeshifter. However, while she doesn't look human in her natural form, she does look very cool). The sparring between Cyclops and Wolverine also worked very well, and provided a few comic moments. I wasn't too impressed with Storm, though - her contribution to the movie was pretty much non-existent. That may well have been down to the writing, but I'm not sure Halle Berry was all that bothered about making the most of her screen-time. Still, other than that, a very enjoyable show.