Thought I'd fit in a review before going on to part two of my Resident Evil rant, and what better film is there out right now to review than X Men: Days of Future Past. Now I am going to really talk about this film in detail and that means SPOILERS.
This film follows a story set in two timelines; the first set in a dystopian future were Mutants and Humans who could potentially have a mutant child are at the brink of extinction by the near invincible Sentinel robots while the second is set in 1973 America just before the Sentinels were ever created.
Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is the one who is chosen to go back in to the past because of his healing abilities and he must convince a young professor Xavier (James McAvoy), who is in a state of depression after many of his students and teachers are killed in Vietnam, to team up with a young Magneto (Michael Fassbender) who betrayed him in X Men First Class. Together they must stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from killing the Sentinel creator Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) that, after being murdered by a mutant, gained sympathy and support for the Sentinel Program. However that is not all, Mystique is captured shortly after the murder and it is her DNA that it used to eventually upgrade the Sentinels to their invincible form in the future.
Meanwhile in the future the X men team led by older Professor Xavier (Patrick Steward) and Magneto (Ian Mckellen) must guard Kitty Pride (Ellen Page) from the Sentinels while she is using her powers to transfer Wolverine to the past.
Now I have read the comic that this film was inspired from and even though there are quite the few differences it is a really faithful adaption that is, in my opinion, the best X Men film to date. The biggest difference that this film has to the comic is that they send Wolverine back instead of Kitty Pride and even though I was very, very slightly disappointed when I first saw it in the trailers it worked really well in this. The reason why I was disappointed was because Kitty Pride is played by the great Ellen Page who is like perfect in everything she has been in (take X Men Last stand for example; no matter what anyone said about that film she was great in it), so in this she only seen in the future segments. However if they did send someone else back I am glad it was Wolverine because Hugh Jackman IS Wolverine, he has probably one of the most iconic roles ever and I can think of no one else to play the part than him.
Another reason I why I think this film is such a great adaptation is because this film is directed by Bryan Singer; director of X1 and X2 and worked as producer and writer for First Class, so this is like the return of the one who gave who the best X Men films (though The Wolverine is also great as well).
Besides some of the cast I have already mentioned above this film has a very wide variety of mutants and Humans from the comics, some with a more larger role than others. In the future for example we also have Storm (Halle Berry), Warpath (BooBoo Stewart), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), Bishop (Omar Sy), Colossus (Daniel Cudmore), Blink (Fan BingBing) and Sunspot (Adan Canto). All of them have some great fight scenes with the future Sentinels and the cast was just perfect however since the majority of the film takes place in 1973 we don't see as much of them as I would have liked. Especially Bishop who is one of my favourite mutants because my favourite mutant power is absorbing kinetic energy which is his power and I would have wanted to see more of it (also why Sebastian Shaw is my absolute favourite mutant).
We also get some other great cast in the past besides the ones I have mentioned above as well like young Beast and Quicksilver (Evan Peters) who is a stand out in this film. When they break Magneto out of the Pentagon and we see Quicksilver take out all of those guards in slow motion was just so funny and damn cool. It is a shame however he is not in it for too long and the same can be said for Havok (Lucas Till) who only gets a small cameo.
As for the Sentinels they are portrayed really well in this film whether it was their past versions or their future versions. The ones in the past look more like the Sentinels that have been used in various X Men media and even looks like we can even build them today. As for the future ones they really seem like unstoppable killing machines thanks to their bio - mechanical armour that changes to adapt to any mutant they are fighting. So good job with these Sentinels, a really good portrayal of one of the X Men's most popular foes.
There are tons of action in this film to please any fan who wants to see a lot of mutants fight with their powers from the battles in the future to Magneto lifting an entire stadium over the white house. But there is also a good mix of great interaction from many of the cast like when the two Xaviers meet and the young Xavier trying to stop Mystique, this film is something that I think can please any movie goer.
However one thing that does annoy me in this film is that most of the mutants from First Class were just killed off, off screen. This includes Banshee, Emma Frost, Angel, Riptide and Azazel - all killed off and used for Trasks experiments before this film. It is a shame because the end of the First Class sets the former four as a major team with Magneto and Banshee in the comics was a major X Men.
Now I will now touch on the end of this film and its after credits scene, so even though I warned you before I will say it again that this next part will contain MAJOR SPOILERS!
In the ending of this film we see Wolverine return to the future but the world now seems to be at peace and he is now a history professor at the X Mansion. We also get the return of both Cyclops and Jean Grey because the events of X3 has now never happened. To be more precise the events of X1, X2, X3, X Men Origins Wolverine and The Wolverine has never happened. This is because this film takes place shortly after First Class and from the newspaper that glorified Mystique saving the President I am guessing that mutants are now not hated as much in this new timeline so maybe Magneto never set the events in motion in X1.
Now I am not saying that the previous films are now not worth watching all I am saying that Wolverine has now created an alternate timeline, the events in the previous films did happen but only Wolverine is aware of them. I think they have done this for two reasons;
1. It is almost like they have rebooted the series but they don't have to recast any of the characters, they can now create a new series of X Men films but without completely redoing the entire story. Also this way they can keep on using the cast and characters from this film and Days of Future Past.
2. They wanted to get rid of the some of the events they were not satisfied with in a way that could please the fans, like X3 for example. Now I know X3 got a lot of negative feedback however I did enjoy it overall because it did have some good points e.g. Ellen Page and Beast, but I will admit they messed up the Phoenix saga and needlessly killed off Jean, Cyclops and Xavier. At least now if they set any more films in the new future that Wolverine is in we will have those characters back.
So props to Bryan Singer because not only has he erased the events of X3 he even did it to his own films and that must have took guts. But I will say again those films are still worth watching because the series has not really rebooted and they are important and play a part in the overall story arc, especially in the future events in Days of Future Past.
Now I don't know about any of you but I am really psyched for the new X Men film because of the after scene credits which features one of the most deadliest foes the X Men have ever faced; En Sabah Nur - Apocalypse. I won't go in to too much detail of Apocalypse but lets just say that he is possible the first mutant ever with almost unlimited powers. We also get to see the Four Horse Men in the background for are his loyal mutant followers. I have read that the new X Men film takes place with the young generation of X Men which is good because we from 1973 I think there is around fifty years until the new timeline to cover. Also I read that we will see a young Cyclops and Jean Grey so that is great as well, I hope Wolverine is in it even if it is just a cameo.
So that is it for my review, it is the best X Men in the entire franchise and sets up the future for a new series of films. It is only just below perfect because some mutants that I wanted to see more aren't and previous mutants from First Class are kill off screen.
SCORE: 9/10
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