X-Men (Widescreen Edition)

This is a good movie. If you don't like this one you won't like any of the X-Men movies. However, I am writing this review to explain something to people who are marking their reviews incorrectly. As an overall movie rating I would probably only give this move 3 stars. In these reviews, however, the stars indicate how well the seller did for you. If you received the movie or tv show that you ordered, in a timely fashion, and in good condition, give them 5 stars even if the show was terrible. You can write you opinion of the movie in the text, but if you ordered a crummy movie - that isn't the sellers fault. It makes people think the seller isn't trustworthy and they are afraid to order when actually the seller does a good job of getting the buyer what they asked for. Yes, you can take starts away because of a product that doesn't work well, but if the DVD plays well, it is working well.

Great

In any group there can be found extremists and throughout history the most common type is the "kill the strangers" brand of fanatic. In the X-Men, we are introduced to a new group of humanity, mutants. These people are born with gifts and curses that set them apart from their neighbours. It is no surprise to learn that the rest of humanity is rumbling and in the best tradition of politics, one Senator stands up to be counted. Senator Robert Jefferson Kelly has made it his mission to track and control the dangerous and secretive mutants. If you replace the word "mutants" in his speeches with "Jews", you would get a clear Nazi feel for it all. The scriptwriters clearly borrowed a lot from Nazi Germany, not the least of which was the opening scene. A crowd of Jews is being herded into a concentration camp, complete with ominous smokestacks in the background. In the crowd, a young boy is separated from his parents as the gates close, the quota being filled. The boy is distraught and struggles to reach his parents. What is surprising is how successful he is, dragging two soldiers along the muddy road. Then we realise that the wire fence is bending towards him, being twisted as if by a giant hand. This miracle abruptly ends as yet another soldier slams the but of his rifle into the boy's face. Powerful images abound in the film. But at no stage is it heavy handed. This is one of those great stories where things are not always clear. We feel sympathy for the most violent and aggressive character in the film, Magneto. He may want to kill or transform the greater bulk of homo-sapiens but all the time, we know he is that little boy who survived the holocaust. Even the bigoted and opportunistic Senator gets our sympathy when he is imprisoned and subjected to experimentation by Magneto. What's even scarier is that some of the good Senator's speeches actually made some sense. "These mutant children have powers more dangerous than hand guns. We don't allow guns in schools, do we?" Not all mutants want to dominate humanity. There is a group in Westchester being led by a wheelchair bound Professor named Charles Xavier. A mind reading mutant himself, he runs a school for the gifted that also doubles as a base for the X-Men. What do his students do when they graduate? Why, they use their talents for good, fighting crime and injustice. Luckily they have avoided the spandex accessories in their super hero careers, opting instead for form hugging black leather. Where do I sign up? The film has a large cast of important characters. Given the scope of the comic series, on which it is based, that is unavoidable. As the franchise develops, this will only become more of an issue. However, the story focuses mainly on one mutant, Wolverine, and we are encouraged to see most things through his eyes. Otherwise known as Logan, he is a great character and his main gift seems to be a long-burning anger at the world. If you're angry all the time, it comes in handy to have six spring-loaded blades that can sprout from between your knuckles. Just the potential for damage forces us to carefully watch his every move. I was quite pleased when Hugh Jackman got this role. He's a talented Aussie actor and for those that aren't aware, he has a good singing voice as well. There's little point is describing all the characters in the film, although I would like to single out Anna Paquin for special praise. There are many powerful roles and they are all interesting. All except Dr Jean Grey, Famke Janssen, who doesn't do a whole lot of important things during the film. Since, in the comics, the good doctor developed into, Pheonix, one of the most powerful mutants, I look forward to seeing her spread her wings in the future. In fact, there is so much that needs exploring, after watching this enthralling film, that I hope they make another ten.

Thank you. Got my DVd and it actually looks practically new. It was confusing though, I don't know what a parcel locker is. So... Good buy!

Love the movie series

DVD's played perfectly with no damage or scratches.

I love, love, love, love, love superhero movies. They have something for everyone. They have action scenes and sometimes scantily clad women for the guys and they sometimes have romance and scantily clad men for the chicks. They are not normally oscar contenders, but they are almost always one hell of a time. The X-Men series is my favorite superhero series of all time. It has the best characters, the best actors, the best romance, the best action scene and there is always the required scene of Hugh Jackman shirtless. You can't beat this cast: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen and Anna Pacquin. All of them give wonderful performances. Then this series has my favorite superhero of all time, Wolverine. He is sexy, flawed, vulnerable and badass. You just can't wait to see what he will do next. Hugh Jackman has made this character his own and that makes for an awesome film. Of course it only helps that he is surrounded by an outstanding cast. I love that the X-men were born this way. They didn't come from another planet, they weren't bit by a radioactive spider nor were they born with enough money to buy themselves enough toys. Even the story line is fun and exciting. They were able to weave in an interesting storyline while still spending a decent amount of time on characterization. The weakest person in the bunch was Famke Janssen as the love interest. I didn't get the attraction and there was no chemistry between her, James Marsden or Hugh Jackman. Lynn Collins, from Wolverine Origins was much more plausible and effective. This series is so good, that the best film in the series is the 4th installment. What an amazing achievement. I highly recommend all the movies in the X Men series.

Professor X :"Mutation, it is the key to our evolution. It has allowed us to evolve from a single organism into the dominant species of the planet. This is process is slow, normally taking hundred of years but with a few millenniums, evolution leaps forward!" In what I think is one of the best adaptation from comics, X-Men 1 and 2 deserves to be the winners. Bryan Singer and his team managed to turn this comic series into modern day "reality". I won't go into the movie details but if you think about it. Mutation may just happen in the near future or very soon. Imagine being prejudiced against because you can move metal/things, read minds, transformed into anyone, blast off a mountain with just your eyes etc. When it does happen, what would you do: 1. Join Magneto and wipe out the human race as what Ian McKellen's character said "We are the future, not them Charles?" OR 2. Join Professor X and learn to earn their trust and show them we're are humans too as what Patrick Stewart's character said "If no one is to oppose them (i.e. Magneto and gang), humanity days would be over." The storyline is close to the heart, what if you are gay, a jew, a minority race that is considered "not normal" in the eyes of everyone else... This movie does great along those lines. Great action is useless without great storyline. X-men 1 and 2 hits bull's eye! P.S. Give X-Men 3 a miss please, it was pure fluff and utter rubbish with only great CGI and poor storyline. I blame 20th Century Fox for not willing to wait for Bryan Singer and gang to come back with a powerhouse story for X3.