X Men 1/X Men 2: 2 disc doublepack

Starring: Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart Director: Bryan Singer Original UK Premiere: 2003 Dvd Release: 10th November, 2003 Number Of Discs: 2 Format: Box set, PAL, Region 2 Encoding

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X-Men 2 picks up almost directly where X-Men left off: misguided super-villain Magneto is still a prisoner of the US government, heroic bad-boy Wolverine is up in Canada investigating his mysterious origin, & the events at Liberty Island have prompted a rethink in official policy towards mutants, the proposed Mutant Registration Act has been shelved by US Congress. Into this scenario pops wealthy former army commander William Stryker, a man with the Presidents ear & a personal vendetta against all mutant-kind in general, & the X-Mens leader Professor X in particular. Once he sets his plans in motion, the X-Men must team-up with their former enemies Magneto & Mystique , as well as some new allies .

The phenomenal global success of X-Men meant that director Bryan Singer had even more money to spend on its sequel, & it shows. Not only is the script better , but the action & effects are also even more stupendous, from Nightcrawlers teleportation sequence through the White House to a thrilling aerial dogfight featuring mutants-vs-missiles to a military assault on the X-Mens school/headquarters to the final showdown at Strykers sub-Arctic headquarters. Yet at no point do the effects overtake the film or the characters. Moreso than the original, this is an ensemble piece, allowing each character in its even-bigger cast at least one moment in the spotlight . And that, perhaps, is part of its problem : with so much going on, & nary a recap of whats come before, its a film that could prove baffling to anyone who missed the first instalment. But thats just a minor quibble, X-Men 2 is that rare thing, a sequel thats actually superior to its predecessor.

Sir Ian Murray McKellen, KBE is a highly acclaimed British actor on both stage & screen, regarded by many as the greatest living British actor. His roles have spanned genres from serious Shakespearean & modern theatre to popular action movies. He is also well known as a campaigner for gay rights. // McKellen was born in Burnley, Lancashire, shortly before the outbreak of World War II & has indicated that this had some impact on him. Well, darling, you forget — I slept under a steel plate until I was four years old. McKellens father, Denis Murray McKellen, a civil engineer, was a lay preacher & both of his grandfathers were preachers as well. His home environment was strongly Christian, but non-orthodox. My upbringing was of low nonconformist Christians who felt that you led the Christian life in part by behaving in a Christian manner to everybody you met. When he was 12, his mother, Margery Lois McKellen died; his father died when he was 24. Posters Of Asylum

Editors Choice: Churchill, Asylum, The Lord Of The Rings, X Men 2, The Fellowship Of The Ring, Apt Pupil, Gods And Monsters, Richard Iii, View DVDology

Patrick Stewart is a famous British film & television actor. His bald head & classically trained vocal mannerisms are his trademarks. He was born in Mirfield, Yorkshire, England. His first appearance on stage was at a local outdoor history pageant as Tom Of Towngate when he was 9 years old. At the age of 12, he entered the local Secondary Modern School where he continued to study drama. He has said that the greatest thing that ever happened to me was after he read Shylock aloud in front of his class & his teacher told him, Stewart, youre good at this. You should do it for a living. At 15, he dropped out of school & increased his participation in local theatre. He acquired a job as a news paper reporter, but after a year, his employer gave him an ultimatum to choose acting or journalism. He quit the job. His brother tells the story that Stewart would attend rehearsals during work time & then invent the stories he reported. Supposedly, this caught up with him the night of a large fire of which, when questioned by his boss, he knew nothing about. Posters Of Patrick Stewart

Editors Choice: Steamboy, X Men, X Men 2, Nemesis, Star Trek, A Christmas Carol, Insurrection, Star Trek 9, View DVDology

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