Good Fun

Rating: 7/10 (24 August 2014)

I watched X-Men: Days of Future Past in the cinema in 2D as a conclusion of a 7 day mutant movie marathon. Yes, that's 7 says of watching X-Men movies – one per day. That's quite a tall order for myself seeing as though I was never really into the movies (loved the 90's cartoon though) and I must say I was pretty burnt out by the time the end credits started rolling for The Wolverine. Being dragged along to the film this weekend meant I had to watch/re-watch all the previous installments which I'll admit is not something I had fun doing.
The first two films were very important for comic book movies. Along with Spiderman 1 and 2 they paved the way for the current superhero crave. I somewhat enjoyed them on my recap whilst acknowledging that they are children's movies, meaning I had to adjust my mentality whilst watching. The third had potential but was ultimately disappointing due to a number of creative decision. First Class was a much better effort with an exceptional cast – it felt fresh and reignited the franchise.
Don't get me started on the Wolverine movies.
The first thing you'd notice about Days of Future Past is who's in it. You have the likes of Ian McKellen, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Hugh Jackman, Ellen Page, Patrick Stewart and Shawn Ashmore. Whoa. That's a roster that would make Wes Anderson blush. The film handles its impressive cast pretty well, and most of the actors seemed invested in their characters. There are obviously people who would be disappointed with certain people not getting enough screen- time. I myself was a little upset that Ian McKellen wasn't around for much – though he did get an awesome moment against a bunch of sentinels. A lot of the 'now' actors hog a lot of the screen, like Fassbender and Lawrence, but that's OK since they are pivotal to the story. Wanna see more McKellen, CineRanter? Go and watch X-Men 2.
Performances all round are good. Jackman is on fine form once again as Wolverine, and his character opens up a lot more than before once he makes his trip down to the past. The Magnetos and Professor Xs delivered flawlessly again, and there was good supporting work from the likes of Peter Dinklage and Nicholas Hoult. 'Old' Magneto was played with subtle brilliance by McKellen, who gave of an air of compunction and regret, whilst his counter-part was fuelled with anger and drive. However, I could have done without Ellen Page's Japanese porn star-like squealing in the sending-back scene. I wasn't too impressed with Jennifer Lawrence either. Her character, ever since First Class, has been written much more differently from the first X-Men movies. Despite there being a huge gap in time, where a person can obviously change, Mystique is no longer cold andscary? She's far too open in this and a change in voice or something could have helped separate the character from the actress. I even though the makeup was a bit off. Mystic suddenly becomes involved in some kind of love triangle which was not presented previously.
As far as the story goeswell, time travel is very hard to get right. Only a few films have done it perfectly, such as 12 Monkeys, and there are undoubtedly going to be 'plot-holes' galore. Days of Future Past leave the idea of fate/destiny open (that is until we see Apocalypse) and other aspects of time travel are just not dealt with which is an ideal way to avoid confusion. If we're going to try and think scientifically about all this then none of the X-Men movies would be with us. The premise is good – The X-Men send Wolverine to the past in a desperate effort to change history (hint hint) and prevent an event that results in doom for both humans and mutants (nudge nudge) – and the execution is satisfactory. It clears up some mess from previous instalments pretty well and a lot of continuity errors can be dismissed by the fact that the First Class set of characters and in a different universe to the 'old' X-Men (and it seems the film says a big "Fuck you!" to Brett Ratner at times). The movie's two-and-a-bit hours drifts at a consistent pace with the cast of characters moving from set-piece to set-piece in flashy fashion. Humour is blended with action and drama seamlessly (Oh, that groovy 70's tune!) and there are Easter-eggs plentiful to please the hard-core fans. Not to mention some special cameos. One thing I really enjoy in fantasy films is when real life events are incorporated. I'm of course talking about the JFK bullet- bending material which made me chuckle.
Unlike a lot of modern action films, you can actually see what is going on in the fight scenes (looking at you Winter Solider). Someone clearly threw the Shaky Cam out of the window, and it's a beautiful thing. The 'future' fight scenes were great eye candy (especially those portals) and the 'past' ones were grounded and consistently spread out. There was no 'epic' end fight scene as I expected after seeing Singer's first two X-Men films which makes it easier for the next movie not to try and one- up it, which is becoming a problem with comic book movie sequels. Also, Marvel fans may have an Avengers-esque déjà vu with the post credit scene teasing a 'big baddie'.
Full Review: http://cineranter.wordpress.com/2014/05/27/movie-review-x- men-days-of-future-past/