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"X Men Trilogy" arrives on Blu-ray in a package similar
to the Trilogy on DVD from 2006. The good news is that all
three films look from extremely good to exceptional the
bad news is that we really get very little in the way of
new content except for “X Men 3: The Last Stand”. I apologize
for getting this out a bit late but as usual Fox choice
NOT to send out the Blu-ray boxed set for review. Man are
they getting cheap. ***
The X-Men comic book provided teen fans with characters
they could identify with—these were people who like teens
going through the changes of puberty who suddenly discover
their own sense of self, power and felt different, removed
from others at the same time. Bryan Singer was probably
attracted to the central themes of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s
comic book because he himself felt different—he was adopted
and gay. While the themes of “The X-Men Trilogy” intersect
with those personal ones that concerned Singer they are
also still universal enough for everyone to identify with.
Who hasn’t felt different regardless of age, sex, sexual
orientation or race at some time in their life? ***
The second film of the series still remains the best
with the most complex characters, conflicts and situations.
The first film is a close second hampered only by having
to establish the characters and the “origin” story for the
X-Men (although it doesn’t delve into the first team of
X-Men that Xavier had which is being held for “X-Men: First
Team” IF “Wolverine: X-Men Origins” does well in theaters
and a satisfactory script can be brought together. Rumor
has it that the producers want to focus on the exploits
of a young Cyclops, Jean Grey and Beast as part of the X-Men
team ). ***
While director Brett Ratner (“Rush Hour”) does a good
job with the material, it seems like a missed opportunity
for director Singer who had his finger on the pulse of what
make these characters and the story so unique. It’s a pity
because I would have loved to see what Singer would have
done with the Dark Phoenix storyline involving Jean Grey.
Also, at least one of the causalities in “X-Men 3: The Last
Stand” was unnecessary. Rumor has it that the actor’s character
was killed off early in the film because of his involvement
with Singer’s project (“Superman Returns”)because, in the
original comic book if I recall correctly, his character
was not killed off in the saga and was there all the way
to the end. It did, however, allow for a suitably powerful
conclusion for Wolverine’s tale and closing off his involvement
with the “X-Men” team saga. While the “Origins” stories
are quite interesting, I would have loved to see the film
series continued on (only with Singer’s involvement however)
for one more film to tie up the loose ends in the series.
Because of increasing cast cost Fox and the producers chose
to go in a different direction with the origins stories
because they would feature new actors. ***
Anyone interested in a synopsis of the plot should
read below. ***
"X-Men" the first film in the series focuses on Wolverine
(Hugh Jackman) a man with mysterious healing powers who
can also instantly grow claws out of his hands. Wolverine
is searching for clues as to who he was before as he has
only fleeting glimpses of his past in shards of memory.
We are also introduced to Rogue (Anna Paquin)a girl who
absorbs the life force of others (and other mutant powers).
Both end up at Professor Xavier's (Patrick Stewart) School
for Gifted Children where Xavier provides a refuge for other
mutants teaching them to control their powers. Xavier's
friend Magneto (Ian McKellan) believes that a war between
humans and mutants is brewing and he plans on jumpstarting
that. With Cyclops (James Marsden), Jean Grey (Famke Jannsen)
and Storm (Halle Barry) leading Xavier's "X-Men" team, they
fight those who threaten humanity. ***
In "X-Men 2: United" Wolverine discovers a key to his
past in the form of former Special Ops Commander William
Stryker (Brian Cox) who claims to have created Wolverine.
It seems that the mutant/human conflict continues to escalate
with a mutant called Nightcrawler (Allan Cumming of making
an attempt on the President's life. With approval from the
President, Stryker leads an assault on Xavier's school for
his own nefarious purposes. ***
Meanwhile, Magneto has broken out of his plastic prison
with the help of his sidekick the shape shifting Mystique
(Rebecca Romjin). The X-Men must team up with Magneto to
stop Stryker from destroying mutants everywhere and save
Professor Xavier before it is too late. Wolverine has his
own motive for becoming involved--he wants to discover who
he was and what information Stryker has on his past. ("Wolverine:
X-Men Origins" is a prequel to this film in many respects).
***
In "X-Men: The Last Stand" the discovery of a cure
for being a mutant pushes Magneto to inflame the conflict
between humans and mutants. He wants the cure to destroy
it. The conflicted members of the X-Men have to stop Magneto
as he gathers a group of like-minded mutants including Pyro
who can manipulate fire, Juggernaut a powerful mutant who
can rip through walls and others to help him. Magneto has
a secret weapon that none of the X-Men have faced before--Phoenix
a powerful mutant that has no conscience who can destroy
humanity and the X-Men. Motivated by jealousy over the close
friendship of Ice Man her boyfriend and Kitty Pagie (Ellen
Page of the film "Juno") Rogue elects to try the cure because
of her devastating powers and so she can consummate her
relationship with her boyfriend. We are introduced to a
former member of the X-Men Hank McCoy (Kelsey Grammer)aka
“Beast” a blue furred mutant with enormous strength and
agility. McCoy works for the President as a liaison to the
mutant community and becomes involved with the X-Men again
when the cure is first announced. ---
Image & Sound:
The first film in the series makes the largest leap
when it comes to the difference between the original DVD
and the reissue. Detail is extremely good and the images,
unlike "Patton", aren't over processed with the Digital
Noise Reduction that reduces grain kept to a minimum (in
other words, the film looks like "film"). Colors are more
accurate than the original DVD and the reissue (I suspect
that the digital master for this is probably from the one
created for the DVD boxed set from a few years ago that
was, if I recall correctly, a high def master scaled down
for DVD). While it doesn't look as stunning as "X-Men: The
Last Stand" (the best looking but the least impressive film
in the series), it trumps the previous home video releases
on DVD easily. ***
"X-Men: United" doesn't quite compare to "X-Men: The
Last Stand" either in terms of image quality but it IS an
improvement on the original DVD with sharper detail, a natural
look close that indicates it was shot on film. Blacks are
deeper and richer and depth improved over the standard two
disc DVD released back in 2004. While "X-Men: United" doesn't
take a huge leap when it comes to improvements in image
quality, they are there nevertheless. ***
"X-Men: The Last Stand" continues to be the best looking
transfer on Blu-ray. This appears to be the same transfer
as the previous Blu-ray stand-alone release (so I would
suggest buying the first two titles individually if you
have this on Blu-ray already). Brett Ratner's film isn't
as cohesive a narrative and truly lacks the power of the
first two films directed by Bryan Singer (in an interesting
note these directors swapped jobs with Ratner stepping in
to direct a retooled screenplay including many of the major
plot points of Singer's version of the story while Singer
stepped in to direct "Superman Returns" which Ratner had
been attached to). Both the original DVD and Blu-ray of
this film looked exceptionally good and were sourced from
the same high def source just scaled down for the DVD. ***
All three films sound exceptional with lossless audio
provided in 5.1 for all of them. The first two feature powerful
mixes that put the original DVD audio to shame (and they
were no slouch in that department either). ---
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