X-Men: Days of Future Past

XX-Men: Days of Future Past is the perfect transition film for those audience members who love the original X-Men cast and have yet to like the cast of X-Men First Class.  Based on the award winning comic two issue miniseries publiched in 1981 the plot of Days of Future Past involves Wolverine’s consciousness going back in time to prevent the assassination of Dr. Bolivar Trask.  Trask created the Sentinels who in the future are the machines that hunt down mutants and those who have the possibility to birth a mutant.

The reason this movie is so spectacular is because both timelines and the rules they follow make sense.  The interactions between young Magneto and Xavier are fantastic because both men are at the point where they truly realize the greatness each other possesses.  The big shock of the film is that Xavier from 1973 can walk because Hank McCoy created a serum to help control Xavier’s paralysis from the bullet wound and because he now has that freedom he lost his mutant ability to read minds.  Director Bryan Singer who directed the first two X-Men films poses an interesting question which is if given the opportunity to free yourself from an affliction would it be worth it knowing you’d be giving up part of what makes you unique as a person?

The answer to that question evolves and changes just as the characters do and a lot of that is thanks to all the world building that was established in the first three films.  I like that Singer is constantly making audiences not only think about their differences but also encouraging them to celebrate the differences others have.   Raven played by Jennifer Lawrence wants to make a difference by eliminating Trask and Wolverine has no idea how to stop her.  Xavier is trying to control Raven which only increases her belief in her cause.  I love the fact that given the years between First Class and this new entry Raven’s relationship with Xavier has eroded even further.

My main issue with the film is that the film never allows audiences to see how the beginning of the war between mutants and sentinels began.  The film also never bothers to explain how future Professor Xavier got a new body after being brutally disintegrated by Jean Grey in X-Men: The Last Stand.  I would also love to know how other human beings survived once the war with mutants began.

I can easily applaud Singer for his camera work and the ability to somehow make Hugh Jackman’s interpretation of Wolverine even more abrasive but still mildly in control of his emotions.  James MacAvoy and Michael Fassbender demonstrate great chemistry on screen as the relationship between the two opposing mutant factions becomes even more distant.  I find Fassbender’s interpretation of Magneto to be the same level of impulsive as in the last outing and that behavior still gets on my nerves because there are occasion where that level of anger seems completely fake thus killing any genuine sympathy for Magneto’s cause.

The real standout character of this film is Evan Peters version of a young Quicksilver. Pietro’s part in this film is to assist Xavier in breaking Magneto out of a heavily fortified and basement buried jail cell.  Magneto was imprisoned there because Washington He’s very much a know-it-all.  What makes him great is that he has none of the other characters level of seriousness.  He’s a very playful quick-witted person.  This attitude makes his one fight scene the most enjoyable part of the film.  In fact, when Piertro level I can guarantee a lot of audience members which the character had remained in the film a little while longer.

X-Men: Days of Future Past is a great film about how juvenile actions in the past effect things in the future and with the timeline of this comic book franchise reset there are a lot of wonderful places this wonderfully unique team of characters can venture.  I can’t wait to see what happens next.