X-Men: Days of Future Past Review

Director: Bryan Singer

Starring: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, and Michael Fassbender

Released: May 23^rd 2014

Based on Characters appearing in: Marvel Comics

Finally,  at the end of my X-MenAthon, the wait and hype is now over I have finally seen X-Men: Days of Future Past and it was awesome! I am going to try my hardest to not to rush into a fan boy rant, but this movie hit all the points just perfectly and it has never been a better time to be an X-Men fan. The idea of crossing both the Original Trilogy and First Class cast is not new. When First Class was in theatres it was reported that the production team wanted to created a movie where both timelines run side by side in order to solve a dangerous problem. The plan was to have another First Class film and then move strait into a big cross over film; of course Fox went straight for the gold and gave us a film that is a First Class sequel, a Last Stand Sequel, a Wolverine Sequel and a reboot all wrapped into one amazing package.

The first move that made everyone excited was bringing back Bryan Singer, this is his franchise and he knows how to direct a damn good X-Men film. The only thing that would have made this all the more worthwhile was if they brought back David Hayter. The script is a major component to what we see on screen. Sure the Director calls the shots but remember, if your script is trash, your movie will be trash. Days of Future Past is not trash, no it is the best X-Men movie ever! It easily replaced First Class as my favourite X-Men movie. Now enough of me ranting about how much I loved the film, let’s get into the nitty gritty.

Taking place in the year 2026, Days of Future Past gives us a Terminator-esque future. The planet has been destroyed and conquered by the Mutant killing robots known as the Sentinels. The Sentinels have brought the entire Mutant race to the brink of extinction, making our heroes members of an endangered species. But the death and carnage doesn't stop with the Mutants, the Sentinels have taken their programming to its efficient peak, killing men that could pass on the X-Gene and women who are pregnant with children who could be Mutants. The remainder of the Mutant race have banded together to form a resistance against the machines, lead by old freinemies Charles Xavier/Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Erik Lensherr/Magneto (Ian McKellen) the Mutant resistance is about to face its final battle against the deadly machines.  In a last ditch effort to end the war once and for all the resistance uses Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page), to send Logan (Hugh Jackman) back to 1973 to stop Raven/ Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from assassinating Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) an event that sends the Sentinel program towards its terrible conclusion.  Logan must unite both young Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik (Michael Fassbender) to save not only Trask, but the future as well.

Yeah the plot is a complicated one, but when you throw time travel into the mix it’s hard to not have a complicated movie. Days of Future Past however is able to weave it’s time travel and not make it seem like a complicated mess like in movies like Looper, and series such as Doctor Who.  As far as I'm concerned the movie didn't contradict its own rules when it came to time travel, and it was a pretty interesting method indeed. By sending a consciousness back into its past, the person or “observer” would be able to interact and observe its past almost like being in a dream. The moment the person wakes up however anything that was perceived by that person ultimately becomes reality. It is an interesting concept and sending Wolverine back does make sense (as much as fans like to cry about it). In the original comics it was Pryde herself who is sent back into the past; however the problem with this is that the character was first introduced in the Last Stand as a teenager. If the past segments take place in 73 than it is impossible for her to travel back through time, the only thing that would be accomplished would be Kitty erasing herself from history.  Seeing as how Logan has the ability to heal he is the perfect medium to bridge the two franchises, and it helps that Jackman has hardly aged a day.

As always the cast in these movies are huge, but that’s really an understatement, the cast in Days of Future Past is the largest Mutant ensemble in the entire X-Men franchise. Many fans-myself included-were worried that we’d just get another Last Stand or Origins. There were far too many characters and two separate plot lines for the film to juggle, how was Singer going to pull it off? However the movie does a fantastic job at making sure that every character has a chance to shine, even minuscule characters like Havok have something to do.

Of course like all X-Men related films our leading man is Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Jackman already proved in the Wolverine that he could play the viscous beast without even trying; Days of Future Past has taken his past role into consideration. We don’t get the same performance that was in the last film; instead Days of Future Past gives us yet another different Wolverine. This is a situation where Logan can’t just use his claws to get what he wants. He has to use his "wonderful" people skills to unite two very conflicted friends who are prepared to rip each other’s heads off every second they can get.  He is forced into going towards a more peaceful route, and there are scenes where Wolverine tries his hardest to teach life lessons to a very lost Charles Xavier.

This leads right into the performance that stole the show for me, James McAvoy as Charles Xavier. In First Class McAvoy showed us a very human and relatable Xavier, in First Class we get to see something I never thought was possible, a wounded Xavier. Sure he has his legs back (which are one of the many time line corrections the movie helps fix) but on the inside he is a shell of the man he used to be. From the first trailer I knew that McAvoy was going to be the most intriguing part of the entire movie. This is a Xavier who has lost all hope, his best friend turned into a terrorist, the girl he considered his sister abandoning him and is quickly becoming a murderer. Of course many of these problems are linked back to Charles who will not admit that he messed up. McAvoy has humanized Charles to an even greater extend than in his last outing as the character. His scenes are filled with such a melancholy that it’s hard to believe that this is the Professor X who helps so many people find their way in the world in the future.

Fassbender on the other hand just knocks it out of the park as Magneto. He was so good in First Class and after the film he went on to being in some of the most memorable roles in recent years, he even was nominated for an Oscar. Erik this time around isn't the confused and lost man that was in First Class, we get to see Magneto in all of his egotistical glory. This is a Magneto to be afraid of and Fassbender makes us remember why exactly McKellen was considered such a threat in the first place. All that anger that was originally directed towards Shaw and the Nazi’s has now been thrown towards Humanity and anyone that doesn't see Lensherr’s vision of Mutant Superiority.  Some of the best scenes in the movie are when both Xavier and Lensherr debate amongst themselves, the best thing about their portrayals is that you can see where they are coming from and at the same time see the massive faults in their actions.  I was more impressed with Fassbender this time around compared to First Class, which is saying a lot because he was my favourite part of that movie.

Jennifer Lawrence also returns as Raven/Mystique, when we last saw her Raven was a very conflicted young woman. Worried about how the world would react due to her looks, but with some convincing on Erik’s side, she joined the Brotherhood. Days of Future Past really has Mystique as the figurehead of the entire Brotherhood organization and if anyone had complaints about Lawrence's portrayal of Mystique from the first film, they will lay all judgements to rest. Just like in the Original Trilogy, Mystique kicks-ass, this film marks the defining moment in her character growth, we see the event that will shape Raven into the deadly Mutant assassin Mystique. In fact most of the central conflict of the film revolves around the salvation of Ravens soul. She is torn between both the two men in her life and the mission she’s on, to kill Bolivar Trask. Of course she thinks what she’s doing is right but it has horrible ramifications for the future.

Game of Thrones Peter Dinklage plays the films villain Bolivar Trask. Trask is the man who creates the Sentinel program and is basically responsible for the way the future shapes up to be the horrible place it is. I found that the casting was brilliant, of course you see past the height of the actor and actually see Trask as Trask, but I see a little deeper into the casting choice of Dinklage. Dawrfism is largely caused by Achondroplasia which is a genetic Mutation. Trask is technically a Mutant, just not one with powers, so I find the irony that a man who is essentially a Mutant who has had to deal with prejudice his entire life would ultimately create a weapon that would completely annihilate a people who have suffered from the same issues, to be completely interesting. Trask unfortunately is pretty underdeveloped and Dinklage is horribly underused, the man is a fantastic actor, but he does bring his A game for the film.

Like I said the film has an enormous cast weaving both the old and newer generation of X-Men actors, I can’t even list all of the people that are in this movie it would just take way to long to go through them all. All I can say however is that every actor in the movie does their absolute best. I'm pretty sure this is the largest ensemble cast out of any Superhero movie, Marvel/Disney has a lot to live up to with.

However there is one character in this movie that I feel deserves special notice. A character that had received a lot of flack during the promotional campaign for the movie, of course I'm talking about Quicksilver who is played by American Horror Story’s Evan Peters. Everyone had their doubts about Quicksilver, his costume looked really ridiculous and there was that Carles jr. ad that got everyone fuming. But Peters is one of the best parts of the movie and I'm upset the character was just a glorified cameo; I really wanted Quicksilver to be in the entire film. I think the choice to cut him short was the same reason why Darwin was killed off so quickly in First Class. Quicksilver’s abilities would render almost any conflict in the film absolute, he’s so fast that he could defeat almost any enemy and you basically wouldn't have a film. However they never tell you what his fate is in the future, I'm curious if the Sentinels were even able to kill him.  Peters does a good job and the rumour is that he will be returning in X-Men: Apocalypse, I hope it’s true because another rumour is we’ll get to see a young Nightcrawler in that film as well. I’d love to see those two characters go at it with their abilities, be it a race of sorts or an actual fight. Disney has a lot to live up to with their version of Quicksilver in Age of Ultron. 

The soundtrack for the movie is also pretty great as well, John Ottman who scored X2 returns for Days of Future Past. That means you get to hear some of the awesome themes that were present in the second film. This really helped to set the tone for the movie, this is Singers picture and even having some of the music from one of his films just made it feels right. I hope Ottman sticks around because it’s great to hear those old themes that I heard when I was 11.

There are not many problems in the movie only tiny nitpicks. For example how can Kitty send people through time? The movie never fully explains this to the audience, is it a secondary mutation? If so, how does it work? We only get to know the result, how does phasing through walls= time travel? It is a very small nitpick but I wouldn't have mentioned it if it wasn't such a major plot point in the movie. Also, although I loathe X-Men Origins has it been completely retconned? You see, in the film Wolverine travels back to 1973 during the Vietnam War; he apparently is guarding some mobster’s daughter, but this completely contradicts Origins! By this point in time Logan should be with Victor Creed fighting in the war. Does this mean that X-Men Origins is no longer canon? I’d like to think so, but in the Wolverine Logan mentions Kayla and on all the official timelines for the films the events of Origins still plays a crucial part. Perhaps Fox wants us to forget the movie happened, perhaps it took place in some alternate universe? There is Time Travel now so it isn't that far fetched, it’s just going to have to be the answer for now, and I'm not that upset about it not being canon.

At the end of the day though there is hardly anything to complain about when it comes to Days of Future Past, the movie is basically perfect and ends with so many possibilities that I can’t wait to see where the X-Men franchise takes us now, so I give X-Men: Days of Future Past a

9/10

It is that good! I wasn't excepting to watch a comic book movie this year that was as good as the Winter Soldier, but Fox has somehow done it. Days of Future Past needs to be watched by everyone, and make sure to stay after the credits to get a glimpse at the villains that will be in the sequel.

So, that’s the end of my X-MenAthon, it was a pretty bumpy ride but in the end it had a pretty great pay off. So in conclusion to all of these movies I'm going to rate the X-Men franchise as a whole, but first here is my list of favourite X-Men films (as of now)

1)      Days of Future Past

2)      First Class

3)      X2

4)      The Wolverine

5)      X-men

6)      The Last Stand

7)      Origins

As for the entire X-Men franchise I give it a

8/10

There are some great films in here and Days of Future Past is an amazing addition, but it was a pretty bumpy road with some incredibly forgettable films that almost ruined the entire franchise. But the rest of time you’ll get a very great bunch of comic book movies that have  become just as iconic as Marvels Avengers films.