My X-MEN TRILOGY Blu-Ray Review
With the upcoming release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, 20th Century Fox has mastered the original X-Men trilogy on Blu-Ray. The trilogy was released back on April 21, 2009. This collection comes in a box with three individual cases (for each movie). Each case includes a total of 3 discs - feature film, special features, and a digital copy disc.
The first installment of the trilogy gives a great start to the story of these super heroes. The movie does a great job of introducing the main characters and gives most of them enough screen time for some development. Bryan Singer (Usual Suspects) is very talented and it shows with his translation here. With some strong performances from Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen as the heads of both sides of the mutants.
The second movie, X2: X-Men United, expands on the characters and gives us better action and pacing then the original film. Singer has made one of the best super hero movies that we have seen yet. Much of the movie focuses on Wolverine’s past and how he became what he is today. It also leads us into the Jean Grey/Phoenix Saga.
X-Men: The Last Stand loses some of the steam and continuity due to new direction from Brett Ratner (Rush Hour). This is not to say that Last Stand is a bad movie, but it definitely feels different. My main complaint is that much of the movie feels rushed. Clocking in at only 104 minutes, it feels very compacted. Many subplots seem to come and go, without the detail that Singer originally brought to the table. There is still a fair amount of well-done action sequences and some closure to some of the main plot lines.
The video and audio quality are top notch on this disc. There is a very noticeable improvement over the original DVD releases of this title. The audio features an DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix, which provided great sound throughout, whether it was action or dialogue.
Other than a weaker third installment of a trilogy, this boxset of Blu-Rays gets my highest recommendation for overall quality of films, as well as an amazing spectacle of audio and video.
Popcorn Ninja
