DVD Review of X-Men: First Class
As you all may or may not know, in my movie review of X-Men: First Class, generally speaking, I said the following bits about the movie:
X-Men: First Class takes the genre and steps it up a notch. I was impressed with how they took the ensemble of characters and injected them into real-world events that pulled you away from the idea that these were comic book characters and made them feel like they had more context behind the people themselves.
First Class is in reference to the first group of heroes, or X-Men, in their early days as they were pulled together by Charles Xavier, played by James McAvoy. Along with the formation of the team, we get to explore the early relationship between Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr, aka the soon to be Magneto (Played by Michael Fassbender).
Of special note is the portrayal of Sebastian Shaw by Kevin Bacon. A rather sublime and sinister effort on Bacon’s part.
I gave X-Men: First Class a 10 on my popcorn scale for being one of the most outstanding genre films to come along in quite a while. I think it’s a fun movie for both fans of the franchise and for folks who aren’t.
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With that said, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment provided Brusimm.com the single-disc DVD of the movie for review. (That was at my request.)
The X-Men: First Class DVD & Blu-ray release comes out on September 9th, 2011.
The movie will come out in your choice of different cases. One case cover will feature Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and the other has Erik Lensherr aka Magneto (Michael Fassbender).
The Blu-ray package will have more than two hours of special features, a digital copy of the film, ten Marvel X-Men digital comics, where one of them will include a new X-Men: First Class back story. (Dang, I have got to buy myself a Blu-ray player one of these days!)
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On the single DVD disc, there’s a few extras… Well one.
Children of the Atom:
On the Blu-ray, it’s an eight-part behind-the-scenes featurette, charting the film from pre-production through post-production, including visual effects techniques and cataloguing “X-Men” transformations through prosthetic make up and costume design.
On the DVD, it looks to be an abbreviated version with two sections. Second Genesis and Band of Brothers.
In the abbreviated section of extras, the feature touched on
Filming X-Men: First Class (XFC)
How, while they were filming X-Men 2, the idea came about for XFC. Then they had the multiple story lines initially, but then they had to go through massive rewrites to be able to save on budget. While trimming the monetary fat, they still tried to retain Charles’ and Eric’s relationship and keep the other sub-stories going.
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They talked about the ideas of introducing Havoc, they touch on how Azazel is like Nightcrawler and the concerns about these two characters addition to the group.
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There were arguments against Michael Fassbender playing Eric because he seemed too old. Especially in his audition tape, where he had a mustache that made him look much older.
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Kevin Bacon saw his chracter is basically a sociopath, but he also saw him as a Hugh Hefner type of guy.
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January Jones brought a cool, frostiness to the role of Emma Frost.
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The production staff see’s Jason Flemyng as a lucky charm. They made a humorous reference to how films that have Flemyng in them always do well and the ones he isn’t in, don’t do that great. LOL.
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It’s weird to hear Rose Byrne speak in her native accent.
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On my DVD, there was a no-smoking ad / extra feature and a how-to on how to deal with your digital copy of your movie.
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Other features that you can expect from the Blu-ray disc:
- Cerebro Mutant Tracker: The complete interactive Mutant Database with interactive videos giving fans the ability to learn about their favorite mutants in the X-Men film franchise
- Children of the Atom: An eight-part behind-the-scenes featurette, charting the film from pre-production through post-production, including visual effects techniques and cataloging “X-Men” transformations through prosthetic make up and costume design
- “X” Marks the Spot: An interactive feature allowing viewers the opportunity to learn more about specific scenes with talent interviews and behind-the-scenes footage
- Extended and Deleted Scenes
- BD-Live Portal with additional Cerebro Mutant Tracker profiles
- Composer’s Isolated Score
- Theatrical Trailer
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Though limited, the features on the DVD were an extra few minutes of enjoyable material. They obviously don’t compare to the Blu-ray extra features, but not everyone can stock up on Blu-ray players.
Remember,
The X-Men: First Class DVD & Blu-ray comes out on September 9th, 2011.
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– BruSimm on Twitter & Facebook
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Brusimm.com would like to extend a thank you to Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment for providing the review DVD.
