REVIEW
Movie
This is the 3rd installment in the X-men franchise, but this film was directed by Brett Ratner and not by Bryan Singer. Singer left to film Superman Returns, and it was up to Mr. Ratner to make a film that lived up to the first two films. Let me start by saying the first two X-men movies were amazing, and the director had some big shoes to fill!
The death of Jean Grey in X2 is a big blow to Scott Summers (James Marsden) and he can’t really handle it and decides to leave the team. So Logan (Hugh Jackman) and Storm (
Wolverine and Storm go to Jean’s childhood home, only to find that Magneto is there trying to convince her to join the brotherhood, as he calls it. Meanwhile scientists have come up with a drug that can turn a mutant back into a regular human being. They're calling it the cure. The X-men eventually end up fighting the brotherhood, all the while trying to save humanity, and rescue Jean from her own destruction.
I thought the special effects in this movie were amazing. I loved how they did Jean Grey’s alter ego! So I would recommend the movie on special effects alone. But this movie did not have the same feel the other two movies did. There wasn’t anything terribly special about it, but it was still a fun summer blockbuster.
New characters: Beast, Juggernaut, Angel, Callisto, Kitty Pryde, Arclight and Colossus!
3.5 out 5 stars
Video
X-Men: The Last Stand is presented in 2:35:1 aspect ratio. I thought the movie looked fantastic. Everything was just as bright and colourful as I remember it in the theater. I read an interview with Brett Ratner and he mentions how he spent a lot of time on colour correction on the DVD and it shows.
4 out of 5 stars
Sound
There are plenty of choices in the audio department. The DVD has 6.1 DTS ES, English 5.1 Dolby EX. As you would expect the DTS track came out on top and definitely suits this type of film. In the interview I referenced in the video section. Brett Ratner also mentions spending a lot of time getting an amazing sound mix. Again it shows!
4.5 out of 5 stars
Extras
- Audio commentary by director Brett Ratner and screenwriters Zak Penn and Simon Kinberg
- Audio commentary by producers Avi Arad, Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter
- Deleted scenes and three alternate endings with optional audio commentary
So as you can see, the list of extras is not great. I am sure there will be a special edition in the future. There is a cool little trailer for the Simpson’s movie as well. The deleted scenes were pretty basic, but if left in might have given the film a darker tone. The alternate endings were mostly just extensions of other scenes. All in all if your looking for lots of extras wait for the inevitable special edition.
2 out of 5 stars
Overall I give this disc a 3 out of 5 stars, the picture and audio are great, but I really long for more extras.