X-Men: Days of Future Past Review:
Bright Future Ahead
BY IAN TAN
After two X-Men film abominations, namely X-Men 3: The Last Stand, which butchered the entire Pheonix saga,
and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which
butchered Wolverine, there was little hope for the mutant-superhero franchise…
until Kick-Ass director Matthew
Vaughn stepped in to direct X-Men: First
Class, which was acclaimed by both fans and critics alike. After Vaughn was
scrapped off as director for Days of Future Past, original X-Men 1 & 2 director Bryan Singer returned to the director’s
chair to not only continue X-Men 1 &
2 (and First Class)’s success,
but to fix any continuity errors present in the Last Stand and Origins:
Wolverine. The result is one of the best X-Men films to date. It still doesn't top X2 though. Something about that movie just makes it unbeatable.
The film opens with an apocalyptic future in which giant mutant-killing machines called Sentinels have taken over and destroyed all mutantkind save
Professor X, Magneto, Storm, Iceman, Kitty Pryde, Colossus, a couple
of new mutant faces, and of course, Wolverine. Our little band of heroes are
now tasked with a mission that could potentially save the lives of all mutants. In order to do this, they send Wolverine back
in time in order to prevent the events leading to the creation of those
bloodthirsty Sentinels from ever happening. Consequently, this means
having to make young Professor X and Magneto to join forces to aid in this race
against time, which, mind you, is no easy task considering the events the two
characters shared in First Class.
Story wise, this has to be smartest and most thrilling of
the X-Men saga, continuously keeping audiences on the edge of their seats. If a
movie’s able to immerse you that much, you know you’re in for a great theater
experience. The cast, consisting of all the big names from the first X-Men trilogy and X-Men: First Class are second to none, with every team player
giving it their all to their roles. It’s clear that these actors truly care for
the characters they play on screen, and it’s great, almost nostalgic even, to
see some old faces pop-up. Even Wolverine’s first appearance in the film makes
you want to applaud, despite the numerous spin-off films and cameos he’s had
throughout every X-Men film to date. Jennifer Lawrence plays an even bigger and
more central role in this sequel as Mystique, helping carry the film’s themes
of revenge and individualism perfectly. She also sells it when the emotional
stakes rise. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, who play young Charles Xavier
and Erik Lensherr respectively, couldn’t be better, having truly grown into
their respective roles since First Class. Here they put on stellar performances
that dig deeper into the ideals of each character, as well as providing a
backstory to them that’s arguably better than the ones given to them in the
original trilogy (sorry Ian McKellen & Patrick Stewart). Hugh Jackman…
well, he is and always will be the perfect Wolverine. This film, however,
provides Wolvie with his most difficult tasks: patience and teaching, which
allows for a different, refreshing take on the clawed mutant that we rarely get
to see. Kudos must go to Simon Kinberg and his script work on this film. The
scene-stealer here, however, must go to Evan Peter’s Quicksilver character-
Marvel’s version of The Flash. One scene involving him busting Magneto from
prison in slo-mo is a must see, and reason enough for you to catch this film in
3D [besides Blink's (Fan Bing Bing) portals].
One great thing about this film is how coherent it is
despite it being a time-travel movie. Never are you confused over what’s going
on and why, as the editing keeps the film at a steady pace while apportioning
enough screen time for both time periods without distracting from the film’s
plot. But alas, movies can only last for so long, and as a result, we do not
get as much mutant character drama during the scenes set in the future as we’d
like, which limit each player in the apocalyptic future to just a few cool
action sequences that show-off their abilities. They’re cool scenes, for sure,
but as most of the film’s importance is based on the events in the past, a
number of scenes set in the future had to be left on the cutting room floor
(eg. Rogue’s exclusion from the film). Hopefully we’ll get an extended edition
on Blu-Ray that would properly allow time for the sequences and events in the
‘future’ to have more weight. Two and a half hours really isn’t enough time for
such an epic piece of cinematic comic book beauty like this to be told.
Minor editing issues aside, the film’s strength lies in its
characters and how they’ve progressed throughout the series; and humanity’s
view on mutants is done and handled better here and in any previous entry in
the X-Men saga, providing a more emotionally and character driven plot that
works for the film - and franchise’s - best. All in all, X-Men: Days of Future
Past is one the best comic book movies ever made, rivaling even The Avengers
(woah!) and with all those continuity errors fixed, the X-Men series seems to
heading for a bright, and better future.
Final Verdict
X-Men: Days of Future Past gets 8.7 out of 10 stars - Bring on Apocalypse!
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