Better late than never.
X-Men: Days of Future Past is directed by Bryan Singer, the director returning to the helm of the X-Men franchise after previously directing the first two instalments; X-Men and X2. The film sees the mutants we know and love living in an apocalyptic wasteland on the run from machines known as Sentinels. These beings are incredibly powerful and can adapt to any mutant power in order to defeat them, plus have the ability to target mutants and humans with the gene for mutation. In order to avert this future, the X-Men send Wolverine back in time to round up Charles Xavier, Magneto and others in order to stop Mystique from assassinating Bolivar Trask, this being the event which sees the Sentinel's creation.
I must say that the summer blockbusters of 2014 have been majorly impressive and enjoyable and this film is no exception. Bryan Singer's return proved to be a successful one for his directing career and the franchise itself as events within the film see a creation of an all new timeline, one which can be filled up with new X-Men movies. Singer not only removed some of the mistakes of X3: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins:Wolverine, but he also rendered the events of X Men 1,2 and The Wolverine as no longer canon.
I really have a fondness for the X-Men franchise because they strike an excellent balance between the ultra serious and realistic storytelling of The Dark Knight trilogy and the super-fun popcorn entertainment we get from the Avengers. The film finds this balance through genuine humour which works, especially in the first act of the film. At that stage of the film I was laughing consistently.
However the film is driven forward by its riveting story of time travel and alternate realities. For Bryan Singer and screenwriter Simon Kinberg to create a time travel tale, one from a beloved comic storyline of the same name, and create it so I never found myself confused or contradicted is a fantastic achievement. The time travel script was written with care, and translates clearly onto the big screen.
What really makes the movie though is the emotional weight we feel towards characters we are familiar with. Each character has different layers and depth to them. For example, Charles Xavier at this point is a broken man who has lost all hope, different to the wise old man we know. Wolverine has to use his brain as opposed to going berserk like he normally does and Mystique is emotionally conflicted in every sense. What I also loved was the parallel between past Magneto (Fassbender) and future Magneto (Mckellen) and seeing just how much that character has developed.
The performances are great across the board, my two favourites being McAvoy and Fassbender, who's chemistry which made First Class such a hit is still there.
While some may complain about the lack of action, I won't because the story was compelling and the characters were so interesting. My one exception would be main villain Bolivar Trask. While Peter Dinklage does well acting wise, I didn't understand his motivation for creating these Sentinels. A more compelling villain would have put this film on another level. Also, a few inconsistencies still exist within the X-Men timeline, but those events never actually happened according to the new timeline so I can't really complain.
Also, I can't not mention Quicksilver. While the production photos made him look terrible, he is actually a really cool character. And he's fast, really fast. That scene in the Pentagon where we see Quicksilver run at super speed and take out all of those guys in that kitchen is one of my favourite scenes in a Marvel movie.
Despite a weakness with the villain, I loved Days of Future Past and I think it exceeds the most through its story and through its characters. It's ballsy and changes the timeline of X-Men films allowing room for many more instalments. And with Bryan Singer returning for X-Men: Apocalypse in 2016, I can't wait to see where this franchise goes.
Rating - A
1 sentence summary - Everything great about the X-Men franchise bundled into one fantastic movie!
Thanks for reading,
Matt
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