X-Men the Last Stand DVD review from IGN

[Storm22]

Thanks Retro!

The video is presented in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen. The screener copy sent by Fox leaves me wondering what the image is supposed to look like. I hope this isn’t the final transfer because it is rife with pixilation and compression errors. At least the colors are a good representation. Fox needs to realize that for such high profile DVDs the reviewers have to be able to give as accurate a review as possible. Find another anti-piracy method.

What the hell are Fox playing at?!!

 

[Retroman]

Finally some detailed reviews of UK (Region 2) 2-disc dvd.

From The R2 project:

Reviews

2006-09-19 20:52:20.0

X-MEN: THE LAST STAND

The Wilson Bros"

PUBLIC SERVICE RANT: Serious collectors of movies on DVD are informed, intelligent people who are not easily swayed by commercials. Therefore, they do NOT appreciate being forced to wade through a slew of commercials tacked onto a movie that they have paid good money for. This title in particular has trailers for no less than FIVE movies, a video-game and a commercial for Lards, sorry, Mars chocolate. This is bloody ridiculous - hey, Fox, nobody sits through these damned things, it only serves to annoy the serious movie fan, who will boycott the products advertised. UK chocolate is poor quality rubbish that people in Britain have developed a fondness more, much like a lot of really awful food here. Get yourselves a nice bar of Green & Blacks or Lindt. Go on, show your taste buds some mercy. Rant over.

The epic trilogy of mutants verses mankind comes to a close with the final instalment of the movie series that took everybody by surprise by breaking all expectations for comic-book adaptations. The X-men are still coming to terms with the death of Dr Jean Grey, and even though the mutants now have Dr Hank "Beast" McCoy (Kelsey Grammer) representing them in the government, there are those who still see their very existence as something to be solved, and endorse the use of a recently-discovered a cure for the mutant condition. While it would allow the persecution the mutants have lived with their whole lives to end, the fascistic cleansing of the "problem" is not welcomed with open arms by those proud to be different. . The leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants is not convinced that those in power will stop at the cure being voluntary, and with police being armed with "cure-bullets", Magneto plans to destroy the source of the new drug and secure freedom for his kind. As the truth about the late Dr Grey's true abilities come to light, something sinister is stirring under Alkali Lake and a Phoenix born from the ashes, giving Magneto the weapon he needs to make his last stand…

When Richard Donner created Superman: The Movie (and 75% of Superman II) 30 years ago, he made it his mission to bring the classic symbol of Americana to the screen with dignity and respect, rejecting the camp approach that it had been destined for by its producers. He took the word "verisimilitude" as the credo for the entire project, grounding the entire story in the reality of the time rather than all of the "zap-pow" notion that was associated with comic-books, and he created a film which was respectful, wistful, thoughtful and with a sense of irony that didn't mock the material. When the young Bryan Singer saw Donner's movie, he was blown away by it, and the offer for him to direct X-Men, one of the most celebrated of the Marvel universes, he used verisimilitude and made two films that shattered predisposed expectations from the public. X-Men was here, and more credible that anyone ever thought. When a third movie beckoned, Warner Bros were quick to make sure that Singer was given an offer he couldn't refuse, something that could keep him away from the Fox and working on a film that would take on the mutants on their own turf, and a sequel to Singer's beloved Superman: The movie ensured that X-Men: The Last Stand was looking for a new director.

Before we really get stuck in, we should maybe say that an enormous problem we had with X-Men 2 was how its way of directly paving the way for the third movie meant stealing its entire climax from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. Think about it. A ship struggling to get away from a destructive force initiated by the villain that will kill everyone, a main character giving up their life to save everyone else's and a resolution that shows everything is right with the world in the face of death Beat for beat it follows the same patterns in slavish emulation, but it's when Bryan Singer's love of Gene Roddenberry's greatest creation becomes known that it is no longer coincidence. He even had the bloody cheek as to have the same optimistic look at the final resting place as the deceased reads out the monologue at the start, a privilege reserved for the star. This tainted the rest of the film, with the first movie always been the one which gets our nod as a fresh, tightly-plotted example of introducing a world and the characters within it. On this note, we make like a towel and press-on with The Last Stand.

There is now a growing tradition of men named Ratner who sell lesser-quality material to the public under the guise of it being gold. UK entrepreneur Gerald saw his empire crumble when he cheerfully dismissed the quality of his jewellery as "crap", sending him bankrupt almost immediately afterwards. Now sees the spectacular achievement of bringing credibility to the comic-book genre tossed squarely in the bin as Brett Ratner takes the reigns of the final instalment of the Stan Lee & Jack Kirby's revered creation.

The theme of homophobia that lifted the previous films from disposable comic-book adaptations is still here, but it seems as though it has been downplayed so as not to put off adolescent males from going to something with "******s" in. Where the issue of the first film was about the oppression of those who are different, the second was about killing said people, this time out the societal outcasts are given the option to have their inherent traits "cured", a prospect that is almost as bad as those listed above. If someone is persecuted for being homosexual, bricks throw through their window, graffiti sprayed on their house, etc, this is blind hatred for what they are rather than who they are. If they are suddenly "cured" of their condition, that everything is quickly forgotten and they are welcomed by the very people who persecuted them in the first place is absolute hypocrisy. For someone to have to fundamentally change themselves to be accepted is possibly worse than the persecution that led to it. The theme is not as carefully played as the other films, but it is pleasing that it was kept, as studio dictates could have easily meant that X-Men: The Last Stand might have been just an oversimplified battle between the two warring mutant factions. They really missed a trick by not having "I Am What I Am" playing on the end credits.

One particular trend that ran through the other two is depressingly evident in that Patrick Stewart is given relatively little to do once again, as he is incapacitated less than half way through the movie. First time around, it was poisoning, next was being captured, and we have a whole new set of contrived problems to lessen the days worked and thus lower the price of their most expensive star. The Professor was always getting stuck in when the action got going in the comic-books, but the closest the movies got to this was in the first film and audiences are not given a proper look at just how tasty the Professor was when all things go to Hell. OK, so you get to see him do the odd parlour-trick here & there, but for a mutant that powerful, it's like giving somebody Calibre when you want to demonstrate the effects of beer. Come to think of it, nowhere in the movies is he even called "Professor X", even though it was used on the trailers for the original.

Speaking of the good Professor, Stewart was a very expensive person to sign up once more, and a good indicator about how much of the budget went into his back pocket can be gauged by recent speculation as to if he would ever play Picard again, to which a studio insider replied "…he would be looking at Professor X money for that…". Stewart looks bored in the role for the first time, as though he knows damn well that he has been brought in just to be killed off, and knowing that he wasn't dealing with the character-driven Singer probably added to his woes. He must have gotten flashes to the filming of Star Trek: Generations where Bill Shatner was enlisted just get rid of him. The negotiating of contracts after the original two-movie deal was played out produced some interesting wrinkles, with Academy Award winner (during the shoot of the second one, no less…) Halle Berry used her leverage to give her more to do this time around, and with everyone else in seniority at the mansion out of action, Storm becomes the leader of the X-Men, and it probably wasn't much of a stretch for Berry to convey the freedom and sense of power the Haitian mutant garnered. Storm now has the demeanour of a primary-school teacher, patronising everybody and breaking up fights between characters, with special emphasis on saving lives of the toughest mutants to butch her up a bit.

While Grammer's appearance as Beast is one of the few good choices of X-Men: The last Stand, it inadvertently causes a continuity error, and not the one that most viewers would have already worked out. Hank McCoy appeared on TV in X-Men 2 in a debate about mutants, and this was a lead-in to the character being in the next film, and the producers were very pleased that the guy who walked in looked exactly like the character in the comic, and hired him immediately. Beast has had a couple of incarnations, with one being a guy who becomes Beast in the same way a Lycanthrope changes into a werewolf, and the other is that McCoy is permanently blue & furry. In X-Men 2, he was obviously the former, using his human form to appear "normal" for the interview, but this time around Beast is the latter incarnation, as established in a key sequence. It is easy to argue that Grammer's portrayal of Beast is nothing more than a bulky, blue Frasier Crane, and this is something we are not going to disagree with too much, but he has held back on the smugness that made us dislike the show eventually, and he's all the better for it. There are times when you expect Beast to exclaim "Oh for God's sake, Niles…" when any political wrangling gets the better of him, but it is because of Frasier that they wanted him, so for audiences to make the connection is no surprise. His signature line "Oh my stars and garters…" isn't an easy one to deliver, but that Grammer pulls it off so well dispels any doubts about his casting - when publicity pictures of Grammer as Beast began to surface on the internet and in the press, most fans took one look and groaned loudly - it is a testament to Grammer's abilities as an actor in that he is able to make a performance come shining through the vaguely ridiculous make-up and costumes he has to wear. It all seems such a long way from the conceptual CGI version on him that was revealed as an Easter-egg on the DVD of the first movie. Come to think of it, they didn't have The Blob in any incarnation in the films, even though his conceptual art appeared alongside Beast's!

It seems obvious that the movie is specifically geared to an audience whose only previous investment are the other two films, and possibly not even that. The way that character's histories are recounted as almost crib-notes give away that the studio really didn't care about doing justice to the material and keeping things rolling along to a big climax to keep the causal moviegoers forking over their money. From the movie, there is no way that the serious power and deadly threat of Dark Phoenix's destructive abilities can be appreciated. Here, Phoenix merely does a few things that let you know she is "bad-ass", but the character was originally a slayer of entire galaxies, a malevolent force that with almost nothing to stop her, but here she is just supposed to be a "hot-chick" to look cool whilst being controlled by Magneto.

Much was made of Vinnie Jones joining the roll call of mutants, and we have to admit that even though there are limitations when creating a huge character as a practical effect rather than using CGI enhancement, he looks a rather impressive sight as Juggernaut. He smashes through walls with gleeful abandon and gives a real surge of adrenaline in the spectacular chase at the end, but the problem is when he opens his mouth: that same guttural voice is present, with no effort to make it fit the role. When delivering lines from inside the awesome suit, his tones sound almost squeaky, and if they had just modulated him a little bit, credibility would have walked away intact.

The absence of Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler is sorely felt, as he turned out to be not only the real surprise of the second film, but also its emotional centre. There are conflicting reports as to why he didn't sign up, but this has meant that other characters who were previously relegated to the background are given a bit more to do -it's interesting to note that Nightcrawler appears in the official videogame adaptation, though! Colossus made a cool - yet brief - debut last time, but here you get to see him really kick some arse when the metallic mutant fights for the right to exist. Fans were enraptured to see that the much-loved "fastball-special" manoeuvre - Colossus throwing Wolverine through the air at an enemy - is present and correct, even if the wire-work isn't that great. Kitty Pride gets her third and final choice of actress to play her, not to mention being given much more to do, and provides one of the best set-pieces in the movie. She isn't as chic as she was on the TV show X-Men: Evolution, where Shadowcat was a cute bit of *****, but she really hits home this time around.

Shortest of shrift is given to poor old Jason Marsden, who had little to do on the second movie, was in principle hampered by not being able to use his eyes as part of the character, and here just must have been tempted to use the five or so pages that he is on as toilet paper when he first read them. By way of compensation, Marsden was given the much meatier role of Lois Lane's new love in Superman Returns, a nice tonic to only have to wait for two months before audiences got a real taste of his talents rather than the conveniences that X-Men: The Last Stand had in store for him. We know very well how important loyalty is valued by directors. For one of the most prominent and longest-serving of the X-Men, that his death is an off-screen one is pretty insulting, and only a hair better than the post-mortem screen exit afforded to Bela Lugosi in Plan 9 From Outer Space. You can just imagine it: "Blinded by his great loss, Scott Summers left for Alkali Lake, never to return again…".

Of all the things that irked the hardcore fans, it has to be the use of The Sentinels in the movie, those massive robots of destruction so beloved that when they were removed from the second film, the sound of pencils being snapped was overwhelming. Here they are used as part of a training exercise in the Danger Room (the hallowed simulation area where the X-Men train, also cut from X-Men 2 - so late in the day that the teaser trailer was based around it - and you aren't even afforded a proper look at them, only the head of one after Wolverine reduces it to spare parts. Fox made it clear that they didn't want to have giant robots in their series, and with the less-than-stellar success of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow still fresh in the minds of the industry, it is not easy to see why they were nervous.

With the first two movies, great care was taken as far as casting was concerned with the choosing of actors who looked right and fitted in with the movie and the X-Men universe in general. Most of Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants look ridiculous; as though he went recruiting in a Goth bar, resulting in a collection of black-clothed people with multiple piercing, who probably have snakebite & black as their preferred tipple.

There are some remarkable flaws in logic if you go looking. One of the main gaffs being the question of why does Magneto need to recruit an entire army of mutants when he has a "slayer of galaxies" under his control in the form of Phoenix? Also, why would Magneto would hold his secret meeting of militant mutants in the middle of a forest? You might think that this is to ensure security, but it is quite ridiculous that a man who has incredible power over metal would conduct highly sensitive council in an environment with nothing that he can control if any problems arose. Granted, they throw in a bit in an attempt to answer those who have picked up on it, but the whole purpose is an adrenaline one, giving Wolverine the chance the skulk and kill with fan boy abandon. Chalk up the winning point to logic in this round.

Source: http://www.r2-dvd.org/article.jsp?sectionId=4&articleId=7496

 

[Retroman]

Continued...

The influence of The Fantastic Four going ape**** at box-office is felt here, and it seems apparent that changes were made in order to dumb it down a little so as to try and reach the mass-market which Tim Story's movie achieved with relative ease. The formula is something to the tune of slimming down emotional investment, having less interplay between characters, keeping everything fairly shallow and - above all - making sure that the action keeps the surface nice and shiny so as to distract from all the shortcomings. For the record, we liked The Fantastic Four, agreeing that it could have been so much more involving, but was entertaining for what it was, and a better film than X-Men: The Last Stand for choosing to stay firmly in one camp rather than busting its balls trying to keep a foot in both.

You can't help but be impressed with the climax as Magneto lifts up the entire Golden Gate bridge to get his hoards over to Alcatraz Island for the final battle with the government and their plans for deactivating the mutants. The effects here are just amazing, with the emphasis on spectacle as the setting sun paints the sky a terrific hue as Hell breaks loose over the bay. You could have come up with your own way of getting the mutants over to the island which would have been a lot more logical or at least convenient, but this is typical of Ratner's attitude of action over character/spectacle over logic approach to the film. Singer's influence might not have been banished completely, however, as while most of the homosexual subtext has been removed from the series this time around, surely there is some irony in that the climax of the movie takes place in San Francisco.

Remember how cheesed-off everyone got that even though Darth Vader was used prominently on all of the advertising and merchandise for Revenge of the Sith, but only appeared in two scenes, and brief ones at that? Well, for all of the posters and giveaways that touted Angel as being one of the big new characters in the X-Men universe, all he really amounts to is almost a fly-past rather than anything else. Much like William Stryker in X2, Angel's father works for the government and is driven by his son being a mutant to do something to stop the menace, with a very adolescent act of rebellion sending the winged offspring soaring off into the distance. He pops up a couple of times during it, but only when the ploy requires a visual spectacle and metaphor of freedom. An early scene of the young Angel discovering his wings as an allusion to being caught *********ing in the bathroom allusion is one that most people in the audience would be able to identify with, and even though it initially provokes laughter, the sight of blood is so effective that it makes the scene a very good addition to the movie.

Much was been made of the de-aging effects used on Stewart and McKellen, and at first glance the results are mightily impressive, with the years peeling off them convincingly to make them look as they appeared in Dune and The Keep, respectively. Once the surprise has worn off, you begin to notice that the faces aren't quite anchored to the heads, and the facial features "float" around just enough for the most acute eyes to alert the brain to the movement. The obvious thing to have done was to break out the Grecian 2000 for McKellen and slap a wig on Stewart, but it's a really commendable job from the FX team to help establish the Phoenix saga, as it allows the viewer to witness Charles Xavier and Erik Lenscher back when they were still friends and allies, back when Magneto still had a sense of optimism over just how mutants were going to be able to integrate within society.

The nicely-judged love story between Rogue and Bobby Drake is another victim of studio dictates that just wanted the movie to concentrate on action, as they get little time together to finish a strand that has been one of the most interesting of relationships between characters in the series. OK, we finally get to see Iceman in his fully frosty persona, and damn cool he looks too, taking on Pyro in the final battle, but Anna Paquin probably walked away the most cheesed-off, as it's easy to forget that this is an Academy Award winner they are short-changing here, and her handful of scenes lead up to a really cheap way of rounding off the character. It is worth noting that they really didn't know which way they were going to go with her, so shot three possibilities for the outcome. For the record, they chose the most annoying, probably under the impression that it was the most ironic. It's nice to know that these things are solidly planned out by directors with a clear vision.

With X-Men: The Last Stand trenchantly setting out to achieve its mission-statement, that being to produce a movie with big battles, lots of action and a wrap up to the majority of the storylines laid out by the other two films, it was going to suffer in the more important areas. In terms of action, it is a seat-gripper, with lots of energy and momentum, but if when counting points for style, humility and depth, the movie would be severely marked down on these counts. In Singer's universe, the characters were ones that might be living next door to you, normal people who just happened to be gifted with amazing abilities, but in the world of Ratner, it is almost with irony that all of the mutants practically have the mark burned onto their foreheads that Magneto feared right from the very start. Each line delivered is in the posturing "life-or-death" fashion, with a "cool" tilt of the head to accompany every wisecrack - the kind of camp nature that Singer made sure he didn't emulate during his films. If one plus comes from Ratner's induction into the franchise, it's that the he gives the characters more use of their abilities from the comics, most notable more opportunities for certain mutants to fly, with Storm doing her "twister" flight to impressive effect. Not much of a trade when credibility goes out of the window, it has to be said.

The film goes out on a high in more ways than one, thanks to the real jewel in X3's crown - the final scene of the movie (the one before the credits, not after) and whilst we all knew what was going to happen, the design, and execution of it is just stunning, as though a little gift to the fans for sitting through over an hour and a half of mediocre storytelling. It can't save the rest, but is a reminder that the other two films were outstanding pieces of passionate filmmaking.

Audio Commentary: Lauren Schuler Donner, Ralph Winter & Avi Arad: This is a perfect example of how DVD took the LaserDisc notion of having a movie insightfully narrated by its makers and turned it into merely "added value material", empty waffling for the sake of it just to boost the perceived value of the disc. There is virtually nothing of interest here, and you would have thought that the producers would have been the best equipped to detail the events of X-Men: The Last Stand's troubled production, but no. Questions about the general shabbiness of the movie due to its express green-lighting are not answered, and you might be forgiven for thinking that Singer was ever involved with the X-Men universe if you listen to this track. With producers on the defensive, all you are going to get is the practical side of getting a shot made, and they are all in default-mode here.

Audio Commentary: Bret Ratner, Zack Penn & Simon Kinberg: Want to gatecrash a bunch of dudes watching the latest X-Men flick? Thanks to new technology developed by Fox, you can! You will capture every "that was pretty cool", each "he/she was great" and you won't miss a single "whoa, that was fun…" with the new interactive "frat-track". Yep, it is as though they guys are just sitting around in their living-room watching the movie and that's it, and constant stream of low-wit is deeply annoying as they make quips that would leave basement-dwelling internet loners think twice about using. OK, there are a few interesting little bits of information dotted throughout the smart-arsery, but they were probably given a limit on what they could detail, and the most interesting pieces come when the writing of the movie is discussed, and this was a problem even before the bombastic talents of Ratner came onto the project. It is interesting to note that Bryan Singer is mentioned occasionally, but mostly in a dismissive way. With a movie as inherently flawed as X-Men: The Last Stand, there should have been much more juicy production woes to detail than we have here. It's better than the producer's commentary, but not by much.

Deleted Scenes: The extended fight in the house is a prime example of where a most of a sequence should have been restored to the DVD, as this really adds to the scene, and with the emphasis of the film being action, it makes little sense to keep it out. However, it is more violent and obviously cut to appease the MPAA in America, getting it a lower rating and a wider profit margin, but this was also trimmed to keep the dramatic context of the scene it was inter-cut with. The bulk of the rest comes in the form of extended sequences, bits where it the scenes went beyond the point is made adequately and into the realms of redundancy, so the scissors came out. There are an array of excised pieces here, though many of them only contain the odd line or two, or in one case, a growl from Beast. Addressed above, but there are three additional endings presented here, and is symptomatic of a director and producers who haven't establish a clear vision and shoot off the cinematic equivalent of "panic-fire". One nice coda has Wolverine heading back to Alberta, Canada, and stopping off at a certain bar on the way…Commentary for them all is available from Ratner, Penn & Kinberg, and this was achieved by running the clips after recording the commentary for the feature. Not very insightful - not to mention very brief, as are some of the clips - but you do get the paper-thin reasons for nixing the best of the material. Beast breaking someone's neck is damn cool, and should have been put back into to juxtapose the two sides to his character.

Blogs: Four individual pieces from production are presented here, originally made for downloading from Dangeroom.net, are a real mixed bag, ranging from the pointless to the damn good, all with the purpose of offering teasing glimpses to get the hardcore fans salivating. There are: "Production Teaser" - almost worthless, as it a brief collection of rapid-edit clips from the locations and shooting. "Live From the Danger Room" - a look at filming the training exercise at the start, with Ranter introducing a few of the cast & crew as the whole thing culminates in the shooting of a series of explosions. "Marvellous Cameos" - this is pure gold, as it follows Stan Lee around the location of his cameo as he talks to Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen whilst wearing a set of Wolverine claws. It also shows the appearance in the movie by Chris Claremont, the influential X-Men writer who created the Dark Phoenix story. It's a lot of fun to see the old guy doing his stuff. Best of all is "Editing Magic" - here we see the juggling act that was undertaken when dealing with a story containing so many characters. Two of the changes made during the editing process are shown and stem from a unfavourable first-cut. One shows Ratner's inability to focus on what he wants when the editors were asked to change Magneto's offering to Phoenix from a rock to a tin cup and finally to a gun. The other is a curious attempt to stop making Wolverine look too nasty, as originally he slaughters those protecting Magneto's secret meeting, but with the help of some re-shooting and editing, Logan is fighting for is life rather than stealthily infiltrating. A very good look at the production process.

Brett Ratner's Production Diary: There is some really good footage in here, and it's one of the few times you will get to see the crew travelling out on a plane to a location, and it really captures the spirit of the movie business. A nice sequence are the camera tests of the cast, with Shawn Ashmore asking Ratner if he wants "the ice thing" hand-gesture he makes. Rebecca Romjin gets some very frank footage shot of her, the kind that she was probably very careful didn't get used in the movie - OK, you get a great look at her arse - happy now? We follow the crew around to all of the major locations, with stop-offs at the mansion, where the kids used as extras are less the reverent about the funeral scene. It's interesting that during the filming of James Marsden's death scene, a comedic rant about Ratner has him using the word "****" a number of times, with only one of them unbleeped, and this looks like the BBCF have told them that they can only have a single usage in order to maintain a lower certificate for the set. Marsden jokingly says to Hugh Jackman that he hasn't been paid yet, and this is generally something that worries actors when filming in troubled productions (usually in Europe or Asia) that they haven't been paid by the end of their last day of shooting. Vinnie Jones turns up for Rebecca Romjin's last day of shooting dressed in an Everlast gown, his attitude to the craft of filmmaking depressingly evident as he says "Can you believe we're getting paid for this?" Keep an eye out for Ian McKellen camping it with come hilarious cat-calls. Want to see Ratner as Wolverine and why fat is eliminated from the diet of those playing X-Men? You won't have to wait any longer. It's topped off with the Cannes premiere, and with the movie not living up to the previous two, it must have been booked sight unseen.

Source: http://www.r2-dvd.org/article.jsp?sectionId=4&articleId=7496

 

[Retroman]

Continued...

X-Men: Evolution of a Trilogy: This is a pretty good documentary that covers the making of all three movies, allotting reasonably equal time to them and using certain pieces of production footage and interviews that seem unfamiliar. In order to get more mileage out of the older stuff, the logos for the previous films in the background have been digitally painted over in black to give it all a uniformity. With the saga now over, this could well be the definitive documentary to detail how they were brought to the screen, with enough detail for the fans and inviting for new viewers. Nightcrawler's absence from The Last Stand is mentioned, but no reason is given for Alan Cumming's departure, although they are quick to point out that there are a whole new bunch of mutants to take his place. It's good that interviews with the aforementioned Cumming and Brian Cox are included, as their only being in the one film might have meant they were forgotten, but not so. It mentions that they deliberately focussed on the younger kids during X2, and it comes off as a pretty cynical way to gear the movie towards that age-group. There is much blowing of trumpets for The Last Stand, but as this is primarily produced to plug it, then it is to be expected. Hugh Jackman is quick to say that the final instalment of the saga is the most emotional of them, but fails to differentiate between genuine emotion and melodrama, which the movie tends to wallow in. This is really good stuff, and a nice way to bring the series to a close.

X2: The Excitement Continues: The PR piece that Jackman spouts in the above is thankfully countered at the start of this making-of, when he is mucking around with Daniel Cudmore in his metallic version of Colossus as he insists: "Show some emotion: this is X3!!!" Indeed, the emotional angle is really pushed throughout the whole of this one, focusing on the relationships of the characters and just saying goodbye to a film series that has created a family of its cast. All of the main cast give their takes on what their characters mean to them and what they are dealing with in The Last Stand, along with their take on X-Men as a whole, and there is real sense of finality to it all. There is a lot of production footage which overlaps from the above documentaries, but it is used in creative ways to prevent it becoming repetitive. Stan Lee brings proceedings to a dignified, upbeat close with a perfect encapsulation of the nature of X-Men: "I was trying to show that no matter how different people are, they could be good. They could be on your side."

X-Men: X Close Up: This is a really cool feature, and one that could have been a really dry presentation of text, but this is a very much interactive piece where you learn about the X-Men, their various powers, histories, a good look at their comic-book and movie incarnations, interview snippets with the actors and a handy little chart to gauge their mutant abilities. Many other discs have tried to employ this sort of thing, but failed when it comes to the presentation, but they get the tone and atmosphere to it just right, setting it out in comic-book panels to as to make it easy and fun to navigate. The only problem is that once it, it is damn near impossible to get out again unless you spot the almost hidden icon. Nevertheless, it is gratifying to know that newbies can bone up on the X-Men universe in a way that won't just look like crib-notes.

Anatomy of a Scene: Golden Gate Bridge: If not presented just right, pieces like this can be like watching paint dry…no, wait…they can be as boring as an FX teams' audio commentary track. Fortunately, they are right on the money with this one, keeping it the right length to make it informative without getting bogged-down in the various passes that had to be run through the computer, focussing on the more practical nature of it. From its origin in an issue of the comic where Magneto holds Manhattan to ransom, we get the whole story about the effort needed to create the most visually impressive sequence of the three movies. Weta realised when making the landscapes for the Lord of the Rings movies that to create something in miniature and have it look convincing, you have to build it as large as possible, and the crew in charge of making the Golden Gate Bridge fly knew that only too well, and you can see the apprehension that they might screw up a very expensive shot by wrecking their huge miniature during the filming. A very nice addition.

Vignettes: Running at an average of about four minutes, this is a collection of seven futurities (Prophecies, X-Men Politics, Clothing Vs. Costume, Makeup Chair Confessions, Weapons of Choice, On-Set Effects & Learning to Fly) which give a look into various aspects of the production, almost as though they were created for putting onto a website to drum up interest in the movie - either that or for television to cut to their own needs. They give some insight into specific areas where the above documentaries don't quite go so deep, especially in the production design, but there is a fair bit of overlapping material. It's all presented in easily digestible chunks, and makes for interesting viewing.

Galleries: Divided into two categories, we first have a range of publicity material, and most of the main cast are covered in here. It's funny, but only very few photos even of the headliners, being bolstered by the odd production snap. Rebecca Romjin gets one of the worst deals, with only two shots and one of her makeup being applied. It's OK, but the images could have been presented in a way that would make them worthwhile, rather than only a small part of the screen. Then we get to Concept Art, Storyboards and Models, where a number key sequences are presented in as either of both of the above, and there is some really nice material, along with little bits that were snipped from the final edit.

Previz Animatics: All of the major sequences in the movie which involve effects are presented as animatics, with some containing the on-set recording of the cast and others with temporary dialogue, inserted just to get the pace and dynamic movement within the scenes. Best of them is the entire Danger-Room scene, with more movement and excitement that ended up in the final film, with a flow that was lost with too much editing. Topping it off is a better line from Wolverine at the climax, with him casually asking "Who wants pizza?" after destroying the Sentinel.

On the first disc you get a sneak-peek at an animatic of The Simpsons movie coming out next year. Things like this just date discs and look rather embarrassing when you have the actual movie stacked up next to it just over a year later. The scene is one of the two which have appeared on the internet, being the dogsled sequence. It looks like it's staying true to the last few years of the series, meaning that it isn't huskies being flogged mercilessly but dead horses.

Hey kids, hold onto your enthusiasm, but when you pop the disc in, you get to choose whether you "join the brotherhood" or "make a stand", with the menus being appropriately different upon selection. This was mildly fun the first time around, but it drags like a set of "granddad balls" when you just want to get into the movie. Leave these gimmicks back in the boardroom where they belong.

THE VIDEO: The transfer of X-Men: The Last Stand is quite disappointing; there is a distinctly muted colour pallet - the colours could almost be described as "smudgy", with some noticeable edge enhancement and a lack of contrast. The tones might just be that the look of the film has been heavily colour-graded, but we're pretty sure that it didn't look that overdone at the cinema. On the surface it looks nice, with a very shiny, smooth look and you could be under the misapprehension that it Fox would not put out an average transfer, but we are going to have to let you down. With DVD on its way out, you would have thought that the art of digitally mastering a movie for the format would have been a formality, especially one that only runs for 99 minutes, but Fox have let the side down. Do you want to bet that it will look a damn-sight better when it is unveiled in one of the new formats? Could we possibly be thinking that the major studios could now be deliberately putting out average quality transfers in an effort to get consumers to switch to a new format? Perish the thought…

THE AUDIO: If the image quality is distinctly lacking, then at least they make up for it with the audio. Presented in both Dolby Digital EX and DTS 6.1, this is sound design as bold, vivid and enveloping as can possibly be. The Danger-Room sequence is a prime example of the prowess of the mixing, with explosions going off in all directions, rockets whizzing to their targets and deep bass to back the whole thing up. It literally drops you in the middle of a battlefield, and gives credibility where it was lacking before. While both formats will give your audio set-up quite a workout, the discrete DTS 6.1 audio option is the one to go for if you have the equipment to experience it, as greater spatiality, tighter bass and more transparent transients make it a clear winner. Also included is a DD5.1 Audio Descriptive track, and this is only fitting for a movie where those who are different from everyone else fight to get equal rights.

X-Men: The Last Stand is an enjoyable but very frustrating movie - what should have been the epic climax to an intelligent movie trilogy seems rushed and almost empty. With the talent and passion of Bryan Singer sorely absent, what remains is a very mechanical, near-hollow movie that still manages to push the right buttons. You will get a lot of bangs for the ol' buck and the popcorn will be munched with great enthusiasm, but popcorn is perfectly apt, as you will enjoy it while lasts, but there is no nutritional value to it. A real shame that such a pioneering movie series has to end this way.

Source: http://www.r2-dvd.org/article.jsp?sectionId=4&articleId=7496

 

[Retroman]

From AVPlay.com:

X-Men: The Last Stand

Title : X-Men: The Last Stand
Media : DVD
Region : 2
Country : UK

Number of discs : 2
Media Format : DVD9
Studio : Fox Home Entertainment
Release date : 2nd October, 2006
Retail price : £24.99
Running time : 100 minutes
Chapters : 25
Sound : English Dolby Digital 5.1
English Dolby Digital 6.1
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Descriptive
English Commentary
Subtitles : English
Picture : Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40:1
Extras : Audio Commentaries by director Brett Ratner and producer Avi Arad
Production Diary of director Brett Ratner
'X-Men: Evolution of a Trilogy' featurette
'X-Men: The Excitement Continues' featurette
'X-Men Up Close' interactive gallery
'Anatomy of a Scene: The Golden Gate Bridge' featurette
Vignettes
Blogs
Previz Animatic Gallery
Stills galleries
Concept art, storyboards and models galleries
21 Deleted Scenes
3 Alternate Endings
Trailers

X-Men: The Last Stand
Region 2 DVD review written by Seth Gecko, published 23rd September 2006

Franchises are always an interesting thing. The current movie is always judged on its predecessors and both movies before this are regarded highly, certainly with both movie and comic book fans. But then the previous director, Bryan Singer, was offered his dream movie with the rebirth of the Superman franchise, so this was given eventually to Brett Ratner. Yes, the director of Rush Hour, Red Dragon and Into The Sunset helms arguably the hottest Marvel superhero franchise (You could argue Spiderman, but the X-comics outsell him). Of course, there were worries that the third movie was being brought out far too quickly and with someone at the helm who is more miss than hit with the average movie-goer, it was with trepidation that this title was reviewed, as I never bothered with it at the cinema unlike the previous two.

So, what’s the story here? Well, for true believers out there, they’ll know that it’s a somewhat bastardised version of the Dark Phoenix saga. As was hinted at in the last movie, Jean Grey didn’t die and in this movie she comes back as the dark side of her persona “The Phoenix” (Yes, they dropped the Dark bit). She then goes on a bit of a tear, killing a few people in the process and hooking up with Magneto. At the same time, a pharmaceutical company has developed an anti-mutation gene, which would effectively turn homo-superior back into homo-sapiens. This obviously doesn’t sit well with the mutants, especially Magneto, so his brotherhood with the Phoenix are going to destroy the humans and the gene. Enter the X-Men who will tackle both Jean and Magneto and save humanity from possible extinction.

If the movie has a singular failure, it would be it couldn’t possibly live up to the previous two. With new blood at the helm, it was never going to be as dark as the previous two, nor was it going to have as much depth. I never considered the first two to be action movies at all – they had sequences, but they had more heart to them, more soul and more layers to their complexity. Here, we have a very action based movie, so it is no surprise that fans of the first two aren’t overly happy with this movie. Taking that aside, one has to remember that these movies don’t gel with comic book continuity. From the creation of the team in the first movie to the scaled down storyline here, this certainly isn’t the comic books and from one perspective we should be happy about that. Don’t get me wrong – I prefer the comic books to the movies. They had more going for them – so much so, that the tales couldn’t be kept in one comic book! The movies are still fun, but they are lacking in comparison – there’s no escaping that. The biggest sin they commit is in the continuity stakes – Psylocke wasn’t a Morlock, Leech was a relatively new character, Callisto wasn’t Quicksilver, Juggernaut wasn’t Vinnie Jones but a huge dumb character, Jamie Maddrox was in X-Factor not in the Brotherhood, the list goes on. Do I sound like a fan-boy? Yes, but even though I’m not, it’s a bit like making the Joker Batman’s sidekick – totally wrong. I’m sure that this doesn’t make much of a difference to the people who’ve not read the comic books, but picture this. Jean Grey, as the Dark Phoenix, could destroy galaxies and we’re not talking the chocolate bar here. Here, Jean Grey is actually more akin to the Scarlet Witch, even down to the clothing, when she went a bit loopy in the comic books – even more so when you consider that the Witch was related to Magneto!

Anyway I digress. The movie, if taken in context as the big finale for the trilogy and not related to the comics is fun. There’s a few shocks along the way with some of the characters who die, there’s still an emotional heart to the movie, albeit not to the same degree as the previous two and the action set pieces are well done. Maybe a director’s cut could flesh out some of the storyline, or perhaps, just once, the studio should have not interfered and cut back on the dark elements that this storyline truly needed to work.

Ultimately this movie is fun, but a severely missed opportunity.

Movie score : 6

Picture
With an anamorphically correct ratio of 2.40:1, as with all new movies it should have a decent transfer and indeed this does. Fox, wisely keeping the movie to a single disc on the UK release means the extra space needed keeps the movie looking great at all times. Detail is very good, from the detail on close-ups of the cast to minor things, such as the pattern on Rogue’s fishnets during the funeral scene, we have a fine looking disc. Colours are bright and vivid, Jean’s red hair looking bright at all times for example and black levels, of which there are plenty of night time scenes, always look dark with the detail level being maintained throughout. Of course, the detail would be better on a HD disc and crisper, but this is a very good DVD release and as such, such comparisons are unfair. Needless to say, you won’t be disappointed with how this looks at all.

Picture score : 8

Bitrate
For user information we use Bitrate 1.4 to scan the disk for the video bitrate, which also calculates the average bitrate. Below is a graph illustrating the bitrate of the disk, including the average bitrate reading. This disk averaged at 7.56 Mbps.

Sound
With both a Dolby Digital EX mix and a DTS ES mix, this is a very lively and active soundtrack. Both soundtracks are very good, with the edge going to the DTS mix, but the Dolby is still very, very good. With dialogue being crisp throughout, bass being superbly punchy and surrounds being utilised very effectively during the action sequences as well as during the more subdued scenes, there should be no grumbles at all about this. From the scene where Jean is reborn, we notice the dynamics in the soundtrack – the punch of LFE from the crash of water, the sound of the water flowing from rears to the front and the dialogue seconds before this bouncing from speaker to speaker to the finale of X-Men vs. Brotherhood, you can’t fail to be engrossed. I think that a few people will start to use this as a demo disc, it’s that good.

Sound score : 8

Extras
Other than a few trailers on Disc 1 and a very brief look at the Simpsons movie, that’s all we have other than the movie. Disc 2 is where all the goodies can be found though.

The disc breaks down into several sections, such as Blogs, Featurettes, Vignettes and so forth. Each section breaks down into smaller parts, for example, under Documentaries, we have “Brett Ratner’s Production Diary”, “X-Men: Evolution of a Trilogy” and “X3: The Excitement Continues”. Most of these subsections can be played separately or altogether, the choice is yours and the choices are plentiful. The running time of the 3 documentaries alone total 100 minutes, so without breaking down every single element, let me just say that for those who want extras, for those who like the 3 movies and for those who even like the comic books (as Chris Claremont and Stan Lee both crop up), then you will get a kick out of this. An X-cellent X-tras disc.......

Extras score : 8

Verdict
I prefer the comics over the movies – period. I prefer the first two movies over this – period. BUT, having said that, if you put the grey cells on hold for a bit, forget you ever read the comics and forget some of the things from the first 2 movies, then you should get a kick out of this. If not, then you’ve got a fantastic looking movie, a fantastic sounding movie and the extras dwarf those of the other discs in the series, in my opinion.

JUST don’t turn the movie off when the credits roll – there’s a final scene at the very end you will want to catch!

Overall score : 7

Source: http://avplay.avforums.com/index.php?showreview=8248
http://avplay.avforums.com/index.php?showmedia=8248

 

[Retroman]

Continued.....

Source: http://avplay.avforums.com/index.php?showscreenshots=8248

 

[Retroman]

From Zeta Minor

X-MEN: THE LAST STAND [a.k.a. X-MEN III]

Region 2 (UK) Edition

Director: Brett Ratner
Starring: Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Famke Janssen

THE FILM

Two factions of the mutants battle when mankind discovers a cure for their condition.

Fans of the X-Men movie franchise where aghast when X-Men and X2 director Bryan Singer announced that he was jumping ship, to work on Superman Returns. Singer had managed to make two remarkably good movies based on the comic book series, delivering films with more depth and maturity than anyone might have reasonably expected, given their pulpy origin.

When it was announced that his replacement was to be Rush Hour director Brett Ratner, fans began to fear the worst. Ratner had not proved himself with a film of the complexity or scale of an X-Men movie, and he didn't have a track record in the genre (the nearest was his 2002 remake of Manhunter, Red Dragon).

They need not have been concerned. Ratner doesn't have Singer's flair for the dramatic, or his obvious affinity for the themes of the subject matter, but X-Men: The Last Stand is a fine effort, by any standard.

The film has a lot of ground to cover. It has a simple plot (the humans have created a cure for the mutant gene, causing civil war among the mutant population), but woven through it is a story arc for one of the key characters, Jean Grey, which is distilled from a landmark X-Men comic book saga. Ratner was also obviously under instructions to eliminate some regular characters, as a way of paring down costs for the next film in the series. He takes all this in his stride, introducing new mutant characters to the story, and creating several set pieces equally as good as anything Singer was able to conjure. It's true that not all these changes have met with the approval of the fans, but for every small liberty taken with one of the supporting characters, there's compensation in the form of a fleeting cameo, or reference to X-Men lore.

It almost goes without saying that X-Men: The Last Stand leaves the door open for further instalments (not only a hint that one of the villains survives with his powers intact - a frame-by-frame analysis of that shot should remove any ambiguity, incidentally - but also with a post-credits shot that will make little sense to anyone who's not thoroughly steeped in X-Men mythology), but it's a very satisfying conclusion to an exciting film trilogy.

THE DVD

Fox's UK division has, once again, delivered a two-disc set that trounces the initial single-disc Region 1 edition. There's a chance that, eventually, a Region 1 version will come along and go one-better than the current UK edition, but be content that UK customers are getting the best deal.

The first disc contains the film itself, two commentary tracks and the deleted scenes. It kicks off with a bunch of junk adverts and trailers, which can be skipped using the chapter forward button on your remote. In case anyone's interested, these are: Prison Break (DVD advert), Mars advert, My Super Ex-Girlfriend (trailer), X-Men III computer game (advert), 24 Season 5 (DVD advert), The Omen 666 (trailer) and Night at the Museum ("January 2007" trailer). The disc also features an Inside Look (trailer) for The Simpsons Movie, which shows a work-in-progress version of a scene with Homer driving a dogsled.

Source: http://www.zetaminor.com/dvd/dvdreviews/x_men_last_stand.htm

 

[Storm22]

Thanks Retro!

 

[Retroman]

Continued...

The film is presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 format, with a choice of 5.1 Dolby Digital EX or 6.1 DTS ES soundtracks (at 448kbps and 768kbps, respectively). Also offered is a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio descriptive version (at 384kbps). There are English HoH subtitles for the film and the commentaries. The average bit-rate is a healthy 7.56Mb/sec.

The film has a virtually-flawless transfer, marred only by a slightly gritty look to some shots, and a touch of over-sharpening and edge-enhancement.

The film features a couple of "Ten years ago"-type captions (see example, above). These are presented burnt into the picture, and thankfully not player-generated.

The soundtrack is boisterous, and features many sequences that will give your home cinema system a good workout. The DTS version offers wide dynamic range, and excellent fidelity, particularly with John Powell's rousing score. You can toggle the soundtracks on the fly, if, for example, you wished to compare the Dolby Digital and DTS versions. Both tracks are excellent, and guaranteed to thrill.

BONUS MATERIAL

DISC ONE

Once past the trailers and adverts, the first thing that you see is a menu screen that offers you the choice: "Join The Brotherhood" or "Take a Stand" (i.e. the join-The-X-Men option). From there on, you see one of two sets of menu screens (which are very similar to those on the X2 disc).

You are also offered a unique set of bonus features, depending on the choice you make. Choose the Take A Stand option, and you get the Director and Writer Commentary by Ratner and writers Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn. Choose the Join The Brotherhood option and you're offered the Producer Commentary by Avi Arad, Lauren Shuller Donner and Ralph Winter. Both are worth listening to, although the one with Ratner and the writers is a bit frustrating, because very little is taken seriously, and there's almost as much disinformation imparted as information.

Once you've selected a side, there's no obvious option to go back - it seems at casual glance as if you have to re-start the disc. In fact each menu set features screens with the icon for the other faction, allowing you to toggle between the two. No doubt, though, there will be people who, having chosen one side or the other, and having watched the film, will forget that they're in one of two menu sets. They may not even realise that there are two sets of bonus features, and might easily miss out on half of the bonus features because of this. Fox is to be praised for creating some wonderful menu screens for their top titles, but sometimes you have to remember to cater for the lowest common denominator.

There are two sets of deleted scenes, depending on which of the two menu options you've selected.

Take A Stand Deleted Scenes (10m)

Xavier Voice-Over For Main Titles

Continuing the tradition of the first two films, a chunk of exposition. Dropped because it was deemed superfluous.

Alternate Version: Beast Meets Logan

A slightly more antagonistic first encounter between Wolverine and Beast.

Extended Fight Sequence at Jean Grey's House

A much more brutal version of the scene where Wolverine and Storm try to get into Jean's house. This includes more Wolverine and Juggernaut mano e mano, and a nice bit of business where Logan becomes a conduit to channel Storm's electrical energy into Juggernaut. Cut because it was "too long".

Alternate Version: Bobby and Kitty Skate

A "controversial" version of the skating scene, only this time they kiss, adding more of an incentive for Rogue's actions later in the film.

Plastic Weapons Manufacturing

Did you wonder where all those groovy plastic guns came from? Wonder no more!

Hank Warns Trask of Magneto's Plan

As the military prepare to enter Magneto's forest hideout, Hank calls to warn them that Magneto may be preparing an attack elsewhere.

Original Version: X-Men Board The Jet

A different version of the rallying scene between Wolverine and Iceman, shifting the emphasis to Iceman. Some of this version appeared in one of the trailers.

Jean Senses a Scared Little Girl

...an extension to the scene where a family, trapped in their car on the bridge, encounter Magneto. It also helped take the scene from daylight to dusk - it was cinematographer Dante Spinotti's favourite scene of the film.

Storm Creates a Wave

An addition to the attack on Alcatraz - Storm creates a deluge, to fend off a wave of attacking Brotherhood members.

Beast Breaks a Neck

Cut to ensure a PG-13 rating.

Bobby Freezes Phat

Remember the fat mutant at the church meeting, who shrank down in size so he could sit down? Well, here he returns, during the Alcatraz attack, where he is brought down by Iceman and Colossus. This scene was cut because it wasn't well-executed.

Alternate Ending: New School Year Begins

Shows Hank returning to teach at Xavier's school, instead of taking on the Ambassador's job.

Alternate Ending: Logan Returns to Alberto, Canada

An apparently-disillusioned Wolverines return to the inn seen in the original X-Men.

Join The Brotherhood Deleted Scenes ( 9m)

Jimmy in Laboratory

Shots of Leech being scanned, and various scientific bits of equipment being used to create the cure.

Pyro Tells Magneto About The Cure Announcement - Clean Shaven Version

Short "They just announced it!" scene between Pyro and Magneto.

Pyro Tells Magneto About The Cure Announcement - Bearded Version

A different version of the same scene, only with a bearded Gandalf - err - Magneto.

Alternate Version: Guard Yells at The President

A more expressive version of the scene where the imprisoned Mystique impersonates the President: "Mr President, shut the **** up!"

"Psychic Battle" Voices

A version of the scene where Jean attacks the Professor, with just their various overdubbed lines of dialogue, (which are otherwise almost lost in the mix - "I am Phoenix!")

Original Version: Jean Displays Her Power at the Encampment

An longer version to the scene where Magneto emerges from his hideout, and tempts Jean into exercising her power on the cure gun. In this version Jean's powers flow freely, endangering the gathered mutants. It also reveals a continuity problem, discussed on the commentary track, where Magneto isn't carrying the gun when he emerges from his hideout - he has a metal cup, instead.

Plastic Weapons Manufacturing

The same as the version on the X-Men Deleted Scenes package, I think.

Magneto Asks Jean To Help In The Battle

A nice addition to the Alcatraz attack: Magneto sees that some of his pawns are being cut down by cure weapons, and demands that Jean step in to help. "You sound like him again", she observes.

Alternate Version: Here's Juggy

A version of the scene where Juggernaut enters Leech's cell, with dialogue paying tribute to The Shining.

Magneto Tortures Logan

Slightly extended version of the "You never learn" torture scene.

Extended Dark Phoenix Destruction

A apocalyptic version of Jean attacking the Laboratories.

Alternate Ending: Rogue Returns

A gloved version of the scene where Bobby greets Rogue on her return to the school...

All the Deleted Scenes have optional commentary by Ratner, Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn, and, thankfully, this time there is a Play All option.

Easter Eggs

There are at least two Easter Eggs on disc one.

The last page of both versions of the Deleted Scenes listings offers a link to an Easter Egg (look for the Brotherhood or X-Men logo): a visual effects clips created to promote the film, in mid-2005, when the final act was to have taken place in Washington: X-Jet Lands in DC (1m)

Another Easter Egg can be found in the either version of the Scenes 10-12 menu screen, where an X-Men or Brotherhood logo links to a deleted scene called Beast Recites Shakespeare... "We few, we happy few... we band of brothers..." (1m).

DISC TWO

It's straight to business with the second disc, which offers the following options: Documentaries, Featurettes, Previz Animatics, Vignettes, Blogs, Galleries and Trailers.

Documentaries

Documentaries is split into: Brett Ratner's Production Diary; X-Men: Evolution of a Trilogy; and X3: The Excitement Continues

Brett Ratner's Production Diary (41m)

Titled Brett Ratner's X-Diaries on-screen, this is a bit of a mess, and it doesn't help that it begins with a fast-moving sequence that suffers from interpolation and encoding errors, and then goes into a sequence which has very distorted (badly recorded) sound. It soon settles down, but it's hard to escape the impression that it's just shoddily-assembled scraps of video cut together. Some of the captions will be partly off-screen if your display has a moderate amount of overscan. There are some nice moments here, however, including Ratner joking around with his cast, including one scene where Ratner dons Wolverine costume and make-up to stand in for Jackman (see below). The last five minutes or so of the Diary follows the cast to the Cannes premiere of the film.

X-Men: Evolution of a Trilogy (43m)

A primer on the three films, divided roughly into thirds. The sections on the first two movies might not be new. This is a handy overview of the trilogy, and shows how the filmmakers wanted to take the films forward each time.

X3: The Excitement Continues (20m)

A pretty solid promotional piece examining the new film, and introducing some of the new characters.

Featurettes

Two Featurettes are offered: X-Men Up Close and Anatomy of a Scene: Golden Gate Bridge.

X-Men Up Close

A short video montage ends with a menu screen with images of various X-Men characters. Clicking on any of them leads to a sub-menu, offering written profiles, galleries and short sound-bite sized video clips. Fifteen characters are profiled in this manner.

Anatomy of a Scene: Golden Gate Bridge (12m)

A detailed look at the creation of the Golden Gate Bridge scenes, focussing on the construction of a twelfth-scale model.

Previz Animatics

There are Previz Animatic sequences for the following scenes: Young Jean Grey, The Danger Room, Mystique's Interrogation, Jean Rises From The Lake, Logan and Storm Look For Scott, Jimmy Meets Mutant Playmate, Angel Escapes, Mystique's Prison Break, Jean Kills [SPOILER!], Angel Lands at School, Magneto Talks To Jean In The Woods, Logan Fights With Spike, Multiple Man Decoy, Magneto Moves Golden Gate Bridge, Angel Joins The Battle, Angel Saves His Dad, Ash Burns Soldiers, Omega Muties Break Into Lab, Juggernaut Chases Kitty and Dark Phoenix Finale.

These total about twenty-five minutes, and there is a Play All option. The X-Men films pioneered the use of Previz (see the featurette on the X2 disc), and it's interesting to see how they've evolved in the three years or so since that film was made. The evidence here shows that they're significantly more sophisticated - one or two shots might even pass for the finished movie! Some shots are offered with storyboards. Many have interesting data in the margins. A couple of these scenes didn't make the final cut. Since they weren't in the deleted scenes, either, they probably weren't filmed. Most notable are the shots of Angel landing at the school; the Jimmy Meets Mutant Playmate sequence (which has similarities with the scene where Beast visits Jimmy); and the rather silly Angel Joins The Battle sequence. Also, note the early interpretation of Juggernaut, who looks more like he did in the comic strip.

Vignettes

There are seven vignettes, totalling about twenty-five minutes, with a Play All option. They are: Prophecies, X-Men Politics, Clothing Vs Costume, Make-Up Chair Confessions, Weapons of Choice, On Set Effects and Learning to Fly.

Prophecies

A look at the hints of things to come in X-Men and X2.

X-Men Politics

An examination of how the films have tackled prejudice and minority persecution.

Clothing Vs Costume

How the characters' looks have evolved over the course of the trilogy.

Make-Up Chair Confessions

Comments about the make-up process from Kelsey Grammer and Vinnie Jones.

Weapons of Choice

An interview with Jimmy Chow, prop master.

On Set Effects

A cursory look at some of the film's practical effects.

Learning to Fly

Featurette on the film's wire work, notably the Storm flying sequences in the Danger Room, and Wolverine's fight at the forest hide-out.

Blogs

The fifteen-minute Blogs section offers four sections: Production Teaser, Live From The Danger Room, Marvelous Cameos and Editing Magic. These were used to promote the film on the www.thedangerroom.net website.

Production Teaser

A montage of behind-the-scenes clips, set to music.

Live From The Danger Room

More fly-on-the-wall behind-the-scenes footage.

Marvelous Cameos

An on-set report from the day when X-Men creator Stan Lee and Dark Phoenix author Chris Claremont shot their cameos.

Editing Magic

A look at the altered "tin cup" sequence, with editor Mark Helfrich, and a look at how the scene of Wolverine attacking Magneto's camp evolved, with fellow editors Mark Goldblatt and Julia Wong.

Galleries

Broken down into Character Stills and Concept Art, Storyboards and Models, and these are then broken down further into sub-categories. The galleries represent only a tiny fraction of the number of stills that would have been shot for a film of this magnitude. You could argue that this sort of thing is better presented in book form. Here it's a bit of a half-assed effort, although root around, and you will find some very nice art (in the Concept Art section devoted to the Phoenix Vs Wolverine section, for example).

Trailers

Three trailers: Trailer A (1'30"), Trailer B (2'20") and the action-packed Extended Trailer (6'55").

For all the bonus material on the second disc, there's very little of any real substance. There's plenty of behind-the-scenes footage, but very little effort has been made to explain to the viewer how particular sequences were created. We see lots of wire work, and some green screen, but don't see how these elements are put together to create the finished image. A more detailed look at the design, costuming and make-up for some of the new mutant characters (Callisto, Kid Omega, etc) would have been very welcome. (There's virtually nothing on the disc about how they created Angel's wings, for example). There are some good segments though - the one about the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Editing Magic blog spring to mind - and even those that aren't particularly focussed give you the feeling that you've been given a whirlwind tour of the set.

SUMMARY

Once again Fox's UK division has created a packed two-disc edition of a blockbuster that leaves the Region 1 edition looking positively anaemic. The transfer is fine, and the soundtrack will have nick-nacks falling off the mantelpiece. The bonus features are plentiful, but rather superficial. There are plenty of golden moments, though, and the experience of watching them is generally rewarding.

Source: http://www.zetaminor.com/dvd/dvdreviews/x_men_last_stand.htm

 

[Retroman]

Thanks Retro!

No problemot: Now you know what the picture quality will be like.

 

[Storm22]

Yep, I'm happy with those reviews! Roll on the weekend!!

 

[WorthyStevens]

Yep, I'm happy with those reviews! Roll on the weekend!!

I watched Storm's tidal wave scene today. You're gonna like it. And if you watch it with the commentary, Ratner/Penn/Kinberg explains why it was cut.

 

[LostSon88]

why do we (R1) get the shaft?!

 

[Storm22]

Here's another review of the X3 R2 DVD...

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=62915

 

[danoyse]

"Remember how cheesed-off everyone got that even though Darth Vader was used prominently on all of the advertising and merchandise for Revenge of the Sith, but only appeared in two scenes, and brief ones at that?"

People were mad about that? That's the first time I've ever heard it.

What a cranky review. Anyway...this week's Entertainment Weekly gave it a good review, and they actually liked it better on TV than they did in the theater:

Let's Talk About 'X'
-The third time is indeed a charm for Wolverine, Storm, and the mighty mutant gang.
By Daniel Fireman

Slashing Brett Ratner to ribbons has become something of a gleeful Hollywood blood sport. And, to be fear, it's entirely deserved. An odd creature who seems to get work because he brims with bonhomie and has the heart (and art) of a 13-year-old boy, Ratner has committed his share of crimes against cinema--most notably Red Dragon, that utterly inexcusable remake of Michael Mann's Manhunter. So it is not without trepidation that I confirm the bizarre rumor that circulated around the release of X-Men 3. The movie is actually...good.

It's a suprise that lingers on DVD. As established by the nation's leading cape-and-tights auteur--Brian Singer, who zipped off to make the limp Superman Returns instead--the X franchise proves a sturdy pop confection in less capable hands. And why not? It's still bursting with high-end talent (stars Jackman, Berry, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan all return). It still boasts one of the best conceits of any comic book adaptation. And Ratner, to his great credit, just gets out of the way and lets the mutants do their thing. Which, in this case, means fighting a pitched battle against the humans and one another after a "cure" for mutation is discovered. Magneto (McKellen) bends metal and forms an antihuman resistance. The Professor (Stewart) preaches calm. Those nasty Wolverine claws are bared and newbies with an assortment of tasty powers--Beast! Porcupine man!--make their appearances.

Watching X3 at home (and given the success of of Prison Break), it's hard not to wonder whether Hollywood's favorite punching bag wasn't made to be a television producer; the smaller format is a balm for the more regrettable Ratnerian touches. His love of the hack one-liner--for example, "Charles always wanted to build bridges," Magneto chuckles while doing a number on the Golden Gate in San Francisco--plays much better on the same screen that has such hit shows as, say, Two and Half Men. (Think about it: On bad sitcoms, characters often come off as comic-book characters anyway.) And his high-gloss, cartoony action--the hallmark of his Rush Hour films--doesn't seem nearly as cheesy when compressed to fit your living room.

The DVD extras may negligable, just a few cruddy deleted scenes and couple of commentary tracks that end up being outshined by a sneak peak at the new Simpsons movie. Yet all but the most cranky of superhero fans should find The Last Stand a worthy addition to any X-library.

Oh, and one last tip: If you do decide to throw this one on your Netflix queue, do yourself a favor. Stick around and watch through the end credits. You won't regret it. B

 

[xwolverine2]

Okay, VileOne, some of us remained optimistic because we love these characters and this world, and we were excited to see that.

And some of us are still optimistic, because we feel that we got a good product.

Some don't.

The difference is, we're not running around gloating the fact that the finished product ended the way we thought it would. Because trust me, despite what you might want to believe, there is a lot that I (and the rest of us optimists) can gloat about with this movie.

There was stuff you felt ruined it. Great. But quit running around here with the whole "I was right, you were wrong, you suck" attitude. You've had it through the entire production. Your agenda was out to prove how horrible this movie could be, so your little bullcrap routine would be "justified". It's lame.

co-sign xw2

 

[PeRfEcT_StOrM]

awesome i love it all!!!