Do I need to travel back in time and stop myself from watching this or is it worth the price of admission?? Find out in our review!!!
X-Men, X-Men, X-Men,
hmmm… My enjoyment of the X-Men series
has had its ups and downs to say the least.
My first real introduction to the world of the X-Men was in the form of
the 1990’s cartoon, which to this day is probably one of the best cartoon
series ever made. It was great and after
delving into the comics I realized that the characterization of Wolverine,
Cyclops, Xavier, Gambit, Jean, Rogue, Storm et al was pretty much spot on!
So when I heard about the
first X-Men movie in 2000, expectations were understandably high. But in classic Hollywood style, it was a
shambles! Sure it was great seeing the
team on the big-screen but they had messed around with a lot of the ages of the
characters and the dynamics of the team itself was way way off. The first film, honestly, was pretty
boring. X-2 on the other hand is a
pretty great film though it should probably have been titled Wolverine and
friends.
X-Men: The Last Stand will go
down in history as one of the biggest disasters of cinema. It pretty much killed all interest in the
franchise until director Matthew Vaughn made the ballsy move to make another
X-Men movie in 2011, the outstanding X-Men: First Class. This was a great prequel with some
surprisingly poignant scenes, scenes that made us want to root for
Magneto. It was pretty powerful
stuff.
The first standalone
Wolverine movie was another shambles.
The second standalone Wolverine movie was enjoyable but still not really
the Wolverine fans wanted, it did however link to Days of Future Past with its
post-credits scene. Fans were once again
intrigued by the X-Men and seemingly ready for another X-Men movie.
This was a chance to start fresh
with a clean slate, start X-Men again and do it right. But the studios decided not to do that,
instead they opted to tie it back to the original actors and series. I was shocked to say the least, they should’ve
used X-Men: First Class as an opportunity to give fans the X-Men movie they
wanted. Sony re-did Spider-Man (for
better or for worse) and this was the perfect opportunity to do the same with
the X-Men.
I have been pretty vocal
about my general dislike of non-Marvel made Marvel movies such as the X-Men and
Spider-Man movies. My expectations for
Days of Future Past were not high.
Well, I should probably eat
my hat on this one. Is Days of Future
Past any good? Yes, yes it is! After all my ranting above, why did I end up
enjoying this so much?? Well, I think
I’ve kinda stopped caring that it’s not the X-Men I’ve always wanted, my
expectations were probably appropriately primed, which in turn allowed me
to enjoy this significantly more than I thought I was going to.
In 2023 all of mankind is on
the verge of extinction thanks to giant invincible killer robots known as
Sentinels. The future X-Men have
pinpointed a moment in the past which they feel was the turning point in mans
history. The assassination of Bolivar
Trask in 1973, an anti-mutant activist lobbying for politicians to activate his
anti-mutant Sentinel programme. If
vetoed, the Sentinels would identify and systematically kill all mutants by
recognizing their genetic signature. The
future X-Men figure that the assassination of Trask, instead of stopping the
Sentinel programme, actually ensures that fearful politicians go ahead with it. The Sentinels would kill all
mutants and then start to kill normal humans too, recognizing and identifying
those humans who would eventually be able to give birth to mutant
children.
Under the threat of imminent
Sentinel attack, Kitty Pryde is able to use her powers to send future
Wolverine’s conscious mind back into the body of 1973 Wolverine in an attempt
to find young Xavier, Magneto, stop the assassination and hopefully avert the
extinction of mankind! Can he do
it?? Well you’re gonna have to watch to
find out!
So what did I like about Days
of Future Past? Well, I think part of
what made this enjoyable is the actors themselves. They’ve been playing these roles for 14 years
now and the familiarity is like seeing old family. I’ve always liked Hugh Jackman as Wolverine,
even if not quite the Wolverine of the comics, it’s still fun watching him in
the role. Days of Future Past is no
exception. Seeing Wolverine in 1970s US
is pretty cool albeit without his adamantium.
Fassbender and McAvoy are once again great as young Magneto and
Xavier. The best surprise was Evan
Peters as Quicksilver, I never imagined a super fast character could be so cool
and wonder how Aaron Taylor-Johnson will play the character in the the Avengers version of the character.
The best thing for me was the
ending. Combined with an outstanding
score (check out Xavier’s theme on YouTube), the film just ends on a really
satisfying note. And yes, there is a
post-credits scene.
What I didn’t like so much
are the Sentinels themselves. Despite
all the future scenes showing the Sentinels in action, they just don’t seem
particularly impressive or scary, they're also much smaller than they are in the comics and cartoons. If anything, it’s the future mutants who seem
surprisingly weak. Surely they can put
up a better fight?
Though there was probably too much Wolverine in previous X-Men movies, in this movie there seems to be oddly not enough. In the comics Kitty Pryde
sent her consciousness back in time, whereas here it is Wolverine. I think that’s a fine choice but in the midst
of all that is going on, I did feel that his character was really lost in the mix.
It also took me a while to get my
head around young Magneto’s character arc in the movie as he seems to undergo a strange change of behaviour, as well as the films twisted
time-travel ending, but after thinking it through it does all kinda fit into place and make sense.
Peter Dinklage is pretty
great as evil mastermind Bolivar Trask as is Jennifer Lawrence as
Mystique. But I still don’t get why
Mystique is always naked? Though I doubt
fans will be complaining.
In the cartoons it was Bishop
that goes back in time so it was nice of Bryan Singer to cast Omar Sy (The
Intouchables) as Bishop, even if his presence never amounts to anything more
than a guest appearance, as is the case for Fan Bingbing as Blink. I believe she has no dialogue in the entire movie.
On the whole this is a pretty
enjoyable movie and probably the second best X-Men movie to date (X-2 still
ranks 1st).
Not counting Captain America:
The Winter Soldier, this is so far the best summer movie this year, but with
Guardians of the Galaxy around the corner, we’ll have to wait and see if it can
keep that title.
Well worth the price of
admission, check it out!
Rating 4 out of 5
Bobby
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