X-Men: Days of Future Past Review
X-tremely good.
First off, sorry I have been so lax on my writing lately. I have had two back to back shows and am still up to my neck in work. However I have nothing lined up for most of June so I hope to get caught up on my movie reviews, as well as Star Trek and the occasional true nerd rant.
So X-Men: Days of Future Past. I loved it. Veteran readers of my blog may see some irony in that statement as I have said that time travel as a plot device is the tool of the amateur scriptwriter (one could also say that sarcasm is the tool of the amateur movie reviewer, but that’s neither here nor there) but I have seen a few films (Looper, for example) where it has been used effectively and this is one such film.
I think it boils down to two factors: how it is used and how it is explained. If you use it as a non-pivotal plot point that propels the story without dominating the flow I think that is good. If you use it as a tool to avoid actually writing a story and/or and carte blanche to destroy a story that is already flowing that is bad. Time travel used poorly is a non-religious version of deus ex machina (another writing tool I rail against). As for the explanation, time travel is constantly rife with plot holes and gaps. This is one of the few times I will say that a major plot point is better used with a minimum of explanation as to how it works, or what effect it can have on the timeline.
The point is this film managed to use it effectively. It would appear that the writers ascribe to a slightly more forgiving “butterfly effect” (if you want to know what that is go read the Looper review) theory of time travel. This is the theory that seems to make the most sense to me (at least until you get into the whole multiverse theory, a particular favorite of mine. However that theory really isn’t one that works well in time travel films) so they are already in the right ballpark to not annoy the crap out of me. Of course you can’t have a time travel film without gaping time paradoxes but this film manages to avoid falling into that glue trap by just ignoring them.
This is one of those rare films that I can sum up whether you should see it or not in one sentence: if you enjoyed X-Men First Class you will enjoy this film and should go see it. If you didn’t you shouldn’t. This film is by the same crew and has exactly the same feel. You would be hard pressed to have an issue with it (I did find a few, but then I always press hard). Maybe not quite as good as Winter Soldier but far and away superior to the Amazing Spider-Man 2.
The story starts off with the future a dystopian wreck thanks the the long running war between humans and mutants. The dreaded Sentinals are kicking the crap out of the mutants and a herd of them attack a mutant coven. The fight is really cool and features a huge number of mutants including Portal clone Blink (Bingbing Fan-One Night Surprise, Iron Man 3, Double Xposure), Bishop (Omar Sy-Mood Indigo), Sunspot (not Pyro to my disappointment. Adan Canto), Warpath (Booboo Stewart-Twilight, Space Warriors, White Frog), Iceman (in full ice glory, complete with ice paths. Shawn Ashmore-X-Men 2, X-Men Last Stand, The Ruins), Colossus (Daniel Cudmore-Twilight, X-Men 2, Rites of Passage), and Kitty Pride (Ellen Page-Inception, Juno, Hard Candy). The mutants get their asses handed to them six ways to Sunday until Kitty sends Bishop back in time a few days to warn themselves.
(X-Men image courtesy of the Marvel Comic T Shirt category)
At that point Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewert-Star Trek Next Generation, X-Men), Storm (Halle Barry-Cloud Atlas, X-Men, The Call), Magneto (Ian McKellen-The Lord of the Rings), and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman-Real Steel, Prisoners, Les Misérables) arrive. They identify the exact moment when the war went badly (Mystique being captured and her DNA used to create robots that can adapt to any mutants ability. Fans of real science may want to give themselves a whack in the back of the head with a frying pan in order to better absorb the “facts” of this film) after she killed the guy who first designed the Sentinels. They opt to use Logan to go back in time because he is the only one who can recover from the ordeal (going back in time means keeping inside your own body or something. Again, not long on details and that’s probably a good thing).
He goes back in time to the 70’s and has to find both Professor X and Magneto to convince Mystique to not do the killing (? Why not go back another 10 years and kill Trask before the whole mutant thing? Or Stryker before the whole X-Men 2 fiasco? This is where time travel does not bear up well to close scrutiny). He finds young Professor X (James McAvoy-X-Men First Class, Wanted, The Last King of Scotland) has turned into a whiny self indulgent bitch living with Beast (Nicholas Hoult-X-Men First Class, Warm Bodies, Jack the Giant Slayer). Beast has come up with a formula that makes it so Charles can walk but also interferes with his mental powers (?? A serum can make a shattered spine work? Just pretend you know nothing about most forms of science in order to enjoy this film. It appears the writers did). Charles is reluctant to help but eventually agrees.
Magneto (Michale Fassbender-300, the Counselor, Haywire) is locked up in yet another no-metal prison. In order to get him out they have to recruit a young Quicksilver (Evan Peters-Kick Ass, Never Back Down, American Horror Story), the super fast mutant. They use him to break out Magneto in the coolest scene in the entire movie.
I’m going to dedicate another paragraph to explain how cool the Quicksilver scene was. I’m not kidding when I say I’m considering seeing this film again just for that one scene. In about 40 seconds he stole the entire movie with his super speed. I have to give credit to young Evan Peters. A lot of the scene was cool camera and special effects but a lot of it was also his perfectly casual mien during it.
Anyway, at that point their goal is to keep Doctor Trask (Peter Dinklage-the Station Agent, Game of Thrones, A Case of You) from getting Mystique (Jeniffer Lawrence-Hunger Games, American Hustle, Winter’s Bone) and developing his Sentinels. Stryker shows up as a Major (Josh Helman-Jack Reacher, Animal Kingdom, Blinder). Trask has been vivisecting and experimenting on mutants, giving Mystique her motivation. There are double crosses and other kinds of trouble. Nixon surfaces for comedic value.
The stars:
The Quicksilver scene made this movie super cool. Two stars. I have to say I love the title of this film. One star. Decent story, as long as time travel and bad science works for you. Two stars. Excellent casting all around. I’m even used to Halle Barry as Storm and she seems to have grown into the role. One star. Good acting from all parties. One star. Comic book movie. One star. Excellent special effects, CGI, and camera work. One star. A sequel that manages to add to the story instead of leach from it. One star. In general a fun time and exciting movie. Two stars. Total: twelve stars.
The black holes:
It’s the nerd in me. I can’t let “science” this lame go unchallenged. The science in this film would have anyone who had watched more than one episode of Sid the Science Kid punching their teddy bear. One black hole. While the movie functions all the tremendous issues with time travel (paradoxes, why don’t they use it to win every fight in the history of everything, etc.) are still here. If you can avoid considering them it’s not a problem but if you like to think about such things (or have to write a review of this film) they will bite into your enjoyment like turning over a flat rock and finding a lot of gross stuff under there. One black hole. While I enjoyed the film tremendously there was a lot of stuff in it that was derivative. The awesome Quicksilver scene was pretty much the awesome Nightcrawler White House scene from X-Men 2, and for that matter so was the Magneto prison. One black hole. Time between action scenes weighed heavily, and Wolverine with his healing factor but no adamantium just isn’t that exciting. One black hole. Total: four black holes.
So a grand total of eight stars. Well worth your time, and a year from now when they put the Quicksilver scene up on YouTube it will be very heavily viewed. Should you see it? Like I said if you enjoyed First Class yes. Or if you just like cool movies. Date movie? I guess if she is a she-nerd. Otherwise you will spend half you time explaining things that never go explained to even a Marvel aficionado. The questions this film generates for a non comic book fan will be extensive. 
Bathroom break? Well, it’s 131 minutes so odds are you will need one but damned if I know where. Maybe the scene with Mystique and the North Vietnamese official (also really ripped off from X-Men 2).
Thanks for reading. I have lots more to see and write up so come back often this week. Follow me on Twitter @Nerdkungfu. Comments on this film or my review can be posted here and off topic questions or suggestions can go to [email protected]. Have a great night.
“the Infamous” Dave Inman
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