Review of X Men 2 (Japanese)

Introduction

In year`s to come the early 2000s will probably be known as the comic book era, in the annals of movie history at least. Over the past few years we`ve been given a large dose of silver screen superheroes form Spider-Man to the Hulk and Daredevil. Most of the fanbase have watched in anticipation as one-after-another inked hero is announced as an up and coming movie translation. But it`s this fanbase that I am currently feeling sorry for, as their expectations and visions of what each of these movies should be has left most disappointed.

Now this is a little gripe at that fanbase. Many like myself are not dedicated comic book readers, and the fact that Spider-Man`s web slinging antics are now more genetic than man-made or that the X-Men don`t ware blue and Yellow spandex doesn`t bother me. I just love the concepts and when it boils down to it many of the superhuman flicks are high concept from the outing and are just begging to be made into believable real world stories that we can relate to.

So without trying to sound condescending, I ask that all comic book purists take a step back and try and view these movies with a little more compassion and realize that comic books need a little tweaking before brought to the multiplex.

Getting back to the review, I must mention the first X-Men outing. Bryan Singer`s marvelously dark intro to the X-Men at the movies was great but did essentially feel like a setup. Singer had a huge task infront of him, bringing so may characters to life and giving each one depth and goal that it did take something away from the overall story. This isn`t really a bad thing as X-2: X-Men united uses all those setups to great effect.

For very avid fans of X-Men 2 you can get an official Fox Japan region 2 DVD now from your local Japanese high street DVD importer, if only it were that simple. (www.discemporium.com) is the only one I know of in the UK that has an all-in price policy, so you won`t have to pay any extra import costs. That said it will set you back £32, so you`ll need to be a real X-Men nut to justify the cost.

So how does this Japanese DVD fare?

Video

Your given the usual Fox pristine print for this Asian release. This 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen release is just awesome. The overall fidelity of the image is near reference, with no macro blocking or haloing. This means that blacks present themselves good and solid with a fantastic level of intermediate grey tones. Whites are on a par, being sharp and well defined. This is extremely good as it`s not been THX certified. The whole presentation has that almost three-dimensional feel. Colours are accurate, from warm skin tones to the overall metallic feel of most of the movie. A top job!

Audio

Three tracks are presented on this platter. There`s a Dolby Digital 5.1 track in Japanese and English plus a DTS 5.1 track in English. All tracks have superb audio reproduction, which can be very aggressive and subtle at the same time. The opening Nightcrawler "bamfing" scene, the X-Jet crash and Wolverine`s fight sequence really show of this DVDs audio quality. The DTS track has a very definite edge over the Dolby Digital. Everything feels to be much closer to the viewer with every surround effect picked out with crystal clarity. This makes panning effects much more realistic and an absolutely amazing assault on the ears. Again, near reference quality!

Features

There`s not as much here as there will be on the R1 and R2 releases in November but you get a nice bunch. Firstly there`s a Fox TV mocumentary that mixes false real world mutant news reports with on set interviews with Bryan Singer and some of the cast and crew. This is a nice fun piece, running at 23 minutes, that may give multiple viewings.

Next up is are a series of photo galleries. There`s a selection of photos and artwork for the production design plus two individual sets of storyboard art for the opening Nighcrawler "Bamfing" and the X-Jet crash. The only downside is that these are a little bit too small. It would have been nice to view each individual art piece in full anamorphic frame.

The best of the bunch is series of deleted or extended scenes which include:

Extended Wolverine/Deathstrike Fight
Wolverine Kills The Intruder
Mystique in Stryker`s Files
Nightcrawler Bamfs To Save The Students
Jean And Storm In The X-Jet
Jubilee At The Museum
Pyro Starts The Campfire
One Of The Children Is Sick After Bamfing
Rogue Helps The Children Escape
Professor X And Cyclops Escape
Arriving To An Empty School

All these are presented in full anamorphic 2.35:1 widesceen with subtitles in English and Japanese. The picture quality isn`t as good as the main feature but it`s worth having. I`d even go as far as saying that most of these cuts should have been left in.

Finally there`s a few trailers for DVDs coming soon in Japan. These include Daredevil, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and, to get any ALIEN fans salivating, an Alien Quadrilogy trailer.

There`s even a couple of TV spots for the Mazda X-8 car that features as Cyclop`s motor in the movie, why are superhero`s never poor?

Conclusion

A fabulous early release with some plus and minus points. It delivers truly outstanding, reference level, picture and amazing DTS sound. It has some nice extras and you can see it two months early. On the minus side it`s costly for a single disc and doesn`t have all the extra bells and whistles that the November release will bring. I`m just glad I have it now and I`m not even an X-Men nut!