X-Men 2 Review:

Synopsis

Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is back and gets his claws out, with the cast of heroes and villains, which includes Storm (Halle Berry), Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), Magneto (Ian McKellen), Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), Rogue (Anna Paquin), Cyclops (James Marsden), as they take a final stand against the wrong doings of an evil mutant assassin. This time around the Mutant Academy are battling for survival. In the wake of a shocking attack on the White House and the US President, the X-Men face their most dangerous mission ever. They must stand united with their deadliest enemies to combat a menace that threatens every mutant on the planet.

Critique

While Hugh Jackman's iconic character, Wolverine steals most of the show the focus of the film is Nightcrawler, who gives moral weight to the story, played with relish and unusual pathos by Alan Cumming. A devout Catholic, the Nightcrawler is a German-speaking dark blue mutant with a forked shape tale who can turn himself into dust and then resurface within a space of a few metres. The characters are fascinating and the special effects outstanding right from the spectacular opening sequence. The movie provides strong character development, an intriguing plot, exceptional acting with well executed results making everything in the sequel bigger and better than the first film. The superb combination of Science Fiction and loads of action is truly eye popping and the powerful message that the film attempts to convey to the audience is ever so relevant to the global community.

X-Men 2 is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and in addition to the feature, boasts more than five hours of bonus material created exclusively for the DVD. The picture is pristinely clear, crisp, and the transfer stunning. The photography and the CGI are a feast for the eye and viewers are in for a ride of visual delight. There are no signs of grains or compression problems and colours have come out first-class. This looks even better than in the theatres. X-Men 2 comes with a Dolby Digital 5.1 and a DTS audio track. Both tracks sound phenomenal and will not disappoint. The audience will find this DVD hugely entertaining and undoubtedly delivers on all counts.

Bonus Features

Disc One includes the movie and two audio commentaries, one with director Bryan Singer and cinematographer Tom Sigel and the other with the co-producers and co-writers.

Disc Two deals with different aspects of the film making and broken down into separate sub-sections. Contains 11 featurettes and deleted scenes. The 'Nightcrawler Reborn' is an interesting watch that looks deeply at the blue coloured creature. There is also a 15 minute documentary 'The Secret Origin of X-Men', where Stan Lee discusses how he came up with the idea and brought them to life in his comic book. Some of the crew and cast talk about what it took to get the movie made. The hour-long 'The Second Uncanny Issue of X-Men' seems to be the most informative and enjoyable segment on this two-disc DVD set.
The Interactive Multi-Angle Scene Study of the brilliant opening sequence, featuring Nightcrawler is a decent addition to the package.

Reviewed from DVD distributed in Australia by Twentieth Century Fox

Mos Khan

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