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: #18189 in DVD
• Brand: TCFHE
• Released on: 2006-02-07
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 104 minutes

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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