Could / Should have been much better

Rating: 3/10 (30 May 2014)

Being a X-Men comic fan, I could not wait for this movie to come out. Days of future past is one of the story arcs which define the X-Men comics and seeing that Bryan Singer came back to direct, I thought that this effort would surely bring back the X-Men franchise in the eyes of the fans....or does it. Seeing that Rogue was cut out of the theatrical release was not a good start. But when I saw that there were plenty of other mutant characters I kept my hopes up for a classic offering.
As there was not a single cinema in town that offered the film in 2D in original language, I was forced watched the 3D version. Totally unnecessary and the viewing experience is made worse because the polarised glasses make the "future" scenes even harder to see since they are mostly filmed in darkness.
My first complaint is that the movie dives straight into action. A fight between the last of the mutants and the sentinels. There is no explanation on why these were the last mutants standing, and who they were. The movie also ignores the otherworldly Marvel characters who would be more than a match for the sentinels. The sentinel powers are also given a twist, plus their design differs from what we know from the comics. Now a great start for me.
Most of the film is based in 1973 and, during these parts, we see a total of 6 mutants with 4 or 5 other cameo appearances. There was no logical reason for why Wolverine chose Quicksilver for breaking into the Pentagon. Whereas the first Bryan Singer X-Men movie gave us 4 mutant villains, this movie only contained misguided characters. When compared to the other X-Men movies there are relatively fewer action scenes which really show off the mutant powers. It just felt cheap to me and to be brutally honest I was more impressed by the trailers than the film itself. I genuinely felt conned by Days of future past.
The mid-credits scene was also placed after ALL the credits have rolled. That means you have to sit through 5-10 minutes of uninteresting info. I won't give away what it entails (although you can easily do a google) but I would say that it brought me very little excitement as it does not tie in with any of the other Marvel movies.
The first X-Men movie in 2000 was a no-nonsense classic. The Wolverine showed promise in bringing back the same gritty action. Unfortunately, Days of future past was a disappointment for me.