-Men, based on Stan Lee's long-popular Marvel comic
book series, is the story of mutant generation and
two men's crusades for opposing ideals. On the one hand,
there's Magneto (McKellen), a genetic mutant who wants
to avenge the witch-hunt treatment of mutants
everywhere and put mutants in control of the future.
Professor Xavier (Stewart), a mutant who's taken a more exemplary,
passive-aggressive course toward preserving the
future, is determined to keep Magneto at bay.
The video release includes 10 minutes of behind-the-scenes
footage, including animated storyboards and
excerpts from the Charlie Rose Show's interview with
director Bryan Singer. The DVD expands on that
foundation.
Chief among the add-ons is the Extended Branching
Version of the film, which allows viewers to watch a cut
of the film that features the six unfinished scenes. The
extended branching option is enabled as a default, though
viewers can also choose to turn off that feature and watch the scenes
in their stand-alone form. Some of the scenes were left out entirely, others are
simply longer, different edits of scenes in the movie.
Most of the six scenes involve character development--something
which many X-Men fans noted was lacking in the
fast-paced feature. Reportedly, some 45 minutes of
footage ended up on the cutting room floor in the end.
This DVD is chock-full of extras other than the
handful of cut scenes. There's the 22-minute behind-the-scenes
documentary which originally aired on HBO, the
screen test of Hugh "Wolverine" Jackman, concept art,
two animated storyboards that map out the Statue of
Liberty fight scene at the end of the film, two
versions of the theatrical trailer and three versions of
the TV advertising spots.
The X-movie that might have been
Conceptually, the idea of adding back scenes that weren't seen in
theaters
is great; unfortunately, it's the implementation that is
flawed. The added scenes are jarring--one second there's
a scene from the film, the next there's a short
pause before the added scene begins, and another pause
when it ends. Considering how advanced video editing is,
it's surprising that there isn't, at the least, an
X-Men X-logo in a swipe-style transition effect to serve
as a visual cue that this scene is "special"; even that
visual intrusion would have seemed less awkward than
what is offered here. Furthermore, on some entry-level DVD
players the fast-forward and rewind buttons don't
function properly over these inserted segments--another
surprising technical glitch.
Still, it's interesting to hear Storm's (Halle Berry) concerned
conversation with Rogue (Anna Paquin) in the classroom,
and to watch a longer version of Storm's classroom scene
prior to seeing some of the same footage melded
seamlessly into the film. Other segments
include a shot where Logan (Hugh Jackman) observes Jean
(Famke Janssen) and Scott's (James Marsden) casual
intimacy, an extended bedroom sequence between Logan,
Jean and Scott, more character interaction between
Rogue and a fellow student, as well as between Professor Xavier and
Jean.
True X-aficionados will appreciate the art gallery
that includes 170 concept art stills. The stills are
culled from production, development and character
design stills that were amassed during the pre-production stages of the film.
The menu interface for navigating the DVD and its
various options is a clever animated version of
Professor X's underground chambers--a gimmick that clearly
fits with the DVD. But the novelty soon wears off, and
the graphics' extended transitions between menu
selections prove frustrating for the extra seconds they
add to switching between tasks.
