Stars: Halle Berry, James Marsden, Famke Janssen, Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin, Ian McKellen, Bruce Davison, Tyler Mane, Ray Park, Matthew Sharp

Director: Bryan Singer

Summary: Based on the long-running Marvel comic book series, X-MEN takes place in the near future, as certain humans are evolving into mutants with special powers. In the Canadian wilderness, a young runaway mutant named Rogue (Anna Paquin) and a bad-tempered, quick-healing mutant with retractable metal claws called Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) are suddenly attacked by the powerful Magneto (Ian McKellen) and his lackeys. Fortunately, Cyclops (James Marsden) and Storm (Halle Berry), students of the compassionate Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), interfere and bring them back to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Here Wolverine and Rogue learn more about the conflict between Xavier and the militant Magneto, who wants to power a device that will genetically alter humans, with possibly deadly results. Only Xavier's students can stop Magneto's plans.<BR>Director Bryan Singer (THE USUAL SUSPECTS) displays his expertise with an ensemble cast, accomplishing a feat by making the first live-action film about an entire group of superheroes. Hugh Jackman's portrayal of the ill-tempered Wolverine is dead-on, while Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen are ideally matched in their Martin Luther King, Jr.- and Malcolm X-like roles. Smart and well-paced, X-MEN towers above most comic book movies.

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Although the superhero comic book has been a duopoly since the early 1960s, only DC's flagship characters, Superman and Batman (who originated in the late 1930s), have established themselves as big-screen franchises. Until now--this is the first runaway hit film version of the alternative superhero X-Menuniverse created for Marvel Comics by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and others. It's a rare comic-book movie that doesn't fall over its cape introducing all the characters, and this is the exception. X-Mendrops us into a world that is closer to our own than Batman's Gotham City, but it's still home to super-powered goodies and baddies.

Opening in high seriousness with paranormal activity in a WW2 concentration camp and a senatorial inquiry into the growing "mutant problem", Bryan Singer's film sets up a complex background with economy and establishes vivid, strange characters well before we get to the fun. There's Halle Berry flying and summoning snowstorms, James Marsden zapping people with his "optic beams", Rebecca Romijn-Stamos shape-shifting her blue naked form and Ray Park lashing out with his Toad-tongue.

The big conflict is between Patrick Stewart's Professor X and Ian McKellen's Magneto, super-powerful mutants who disagree about their relationship with ordinary humans, but the characters we're meant to identify with are Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Anna Paquin's Rogue. There are in-jokes enough to keep comics fans engaged, but it feels more like a science-fiction movie than a superhero picture. --Kim Newman

On the DVD:X-Men 1.5's two-disc set offers little more than the original X-Menrelease. The six extended scenes which can be incorporated into the feature on Disc 1 were already available on the initial DVD version (though they're cleaned up a bit here), and when played within the film's original cut they seem disjointed and tacked on, adding very little to the overall story.

Disc 2, meanwhile, will have little appeal to any but the most diehard of fans. The X-Men 2Sneak Peak, the X-Men 2trailer, the Daredeviltrailer and the Activision Wolverine's Revengetrailer are little more than adverts. The four-part documentary, meanwhile, is impressively interactive (with multi-angle segments and two play modes), but unfortunately it's also a bit dull and self-congratulatory. --Robert Burrow

Aspect Ratio:	2.35 Anamorphic Wide Screen, 16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Audio Commentary From Director Bryan Singer, 6 Extended Scenes With Optional Commentary, 17 Behind The Scenes Segments, X Men 2 Sneak Peak, X Men 2 Trailer, Daredevil Trailer, Activision Wolverines Revenge Trailer
Subtitles:	Dutch, Swedish
Year:	2000
Release Date:	May 3, 2004
Runtime:	100 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	24019 D V D
Keywords:	Action, Men, Two, General, Wide, Screen, X, Adventure, Discs
Genre:	Action/Adventure