MARVELFREEK REVIEWS: X-Men: Days of Future Past

Hey guys! Just a quick update but for those of you who are interested enough or care to read, my second part of my Amazing Spider-man 2 Review/editorial SHOULD be up this week. I was simply waiting to knock out this review. Thanks to all of those who read my articles though I really appreciate it! Anyways let's move ahead with the review!

 Well. Here it is. As I'm sure everyone has gathered; this movie has been hailed as one of the best X-men movies ever. Granted during production many (myself included) were skeptical because of their own reasons. For me it was because Singer was back. Hate on me all you want but I say that because after first class and the Wolverine I simply find Singer X-men movies a bit boring. They don't have any charisma to them in terms of direction. So I was worried after two films that reinvigorated the franchise we were back to the same old same old. Well let's see if my tune has changed. 

PLOT
 The plot is very talky. This is something I had never liked with ANY Bryan Singer film. That being said I give this a pass because with such a dense story to tell it is a lot to get across in a short run time. The overall jist of the plot is Wolverine has to go to the past and stop Mystique from killing Bolivar Trask and initiating the sentinel program that puts humanity on the brink of extinction. To do this he needs to band together Professor X and Magneto in the 70's eleven years after the events of first class. This film is very much Mystique's film because both Magneto and the Professor try to appeal to both sides of her ideals before she makes a world changing decision for the future. We see her moral issues take a large part in what she is to do because its a struggle over what is right and what is twisted to be considered right. What I really enjoyed about how the story was put across to me was that at the begining we see what a sentinel run future is like. They take mutants and humans alike and exterminate them. They dump bodies like the truckload and this reminded me of the holocaust. One could even say its a direct parallel of the beginning of the original X-Men. This could be a way for Singer to have said "I'm back but things are for sure different than before". The overall future tone was bleak and hopeless for the heroic mutants fighting against the machines. I can feel the intensity and the feeling that they know this is where they give it their all when the X-Men take their last stand. This is almost the opposite of the 70's setting. I will say this is where the feeling of Singer really bleeds through because there is a lot of talking and debating ideals (which as I stated before is fine because of this particular plot) that being said this is where Singer got lucky because it works here. Ther eis a feeling of tension because these are the few days where the world's future is decided and hope needs to prevail if they are ever to succeed. Hope plays a large role in this movie in noot only keeping it; but also regaining it. This was a strong plot and very engaging. 

CHARACTERS

 Professor X/James Mcavoy and Patrick Stewart: The Professor of the future was fantastic as always. He manages to guide even when he is in a war zone. He manages to be a powerful strategist and still a father figure for all of the scared X-Men. One of my most favorite moments is when he emparts his wisdom to himself from the past. James Mcavoy manages to deliver a youthful Professor that I still find to be a joy to watch. We see him broken. He can walk at the cost of his powers but this was by his own hand as he feels that by failing Mystique he failed everyone. To watch him come back to that hopeful and stong mutant leader is a powerful sight because he delivers some emotional scenes and lines. Also HOVER WHEELCHAIR.

Magneto/ Micheal Fassbender and Ian Mckellen: Future Magneto does not get much screen time. Or lines for that matter. But we do see him give a final push at the end of the film where he never spoke a word but it was so amazing and possibly even emotional because we have such a good idea of their friendship. To watch him give the Professor and himself closure as friends was very powerful also. It shows how he has changed as a man over decades. Fassbender Magneto on the other hand gives us that bad guy we know and love from the comics who operates with that swagger that was reminiscent of a James Bond movie. One question thoough. At the end of the fim when he has the sentinels under his control what was his motivation? Did he think the future would change by killing the president or did he not care? I honestly did not know. All in all though, his performance has made me contemplate if I like him or Dr. Doom more! Grade A all around.

Mystique/ Jennifer Lawrence: This is very much her movie. I felt that while the Professor had the best arc she had a strong one too. She doesn't know what she wants because all she wants to do is help mutants but she does not know if that means she has to take a life or not. The best line to describe her was when magneto said "Are you Charles' Raven or are you Mystique?" This is her internal conflict and this is ehat will untimately decide whether or not she damns the future or saves it. Another thing to point out was the relationship between her and the Professor and him realizing she is not an ignorant child and he does not need to tell her what to do. 

Beast/ Nicholas Hoult: He had a small role for sure. But being that he is my favorite X-Man, I found that when he was in action he was everything I could have wanted and more. My only gripes were that he was not blue most of the time and was treated like the hulk. The Hank I know would have accepted it after ten years especially after that 'mutant and proud' line from First Class set that up for him. I also was not a fan of his humanoid redesign. I like the subtle cat accents from the first class design as it made him look more like an actual Beast. Aside from those needless nit picks his role was awesome. 

Wolverine/ Hugh Jackman: With Wolverine being sent back in time my main worry was this would be anothe installment of 'Wolverine and his inferior friends'. Luckily his role was about as pivitol as him making sure the Professor got his act together. His future look was cool and he was back to chomping cigars too he also had adamantium claws ( I guess we are to forget the ending of the Wolverine) and in the 70's his bone claws are back so I suppose this was pre weapon X. Through him we meet Stryker in the 70's who is a trigger for him to have a scene where his PTSD starts to show.He was not a large part in this film which actually made it better and through his wicked action scenes, funn one liners, and torrents of pain inflicted on him; Jackman once again delivers as our favorite canuck. 

The mutants: Okay so the future mutants consisted of Storm, Bishop, Sunspot, Blink, Colossus, Kitty Pryde,Warpath and Iceman. I know a lot of screen time was not given to them but what we see was very cool (except Warpath, he got the shaft pretty bad). Iceman was probably the most refreshing because not only was he completely iced up but he was on his signature slide and that was just awesome. Bishop also had cool chances to showcase his power and his look was just as cool as the comic. I was never a fan of Halle Berry Storm so I can't say I was excited to see her but she did her job well. Blink was one of my breakout favorites because her power was so creative. In the past, the BEST part was widely predicted to be the worst and that was Quicksilver. He was a literal fast talker and a klepto which I thought was a nice touch. He was really carefree and sarcastic in his scene where he breaks out Magneto and watching him stop the guards in slow motion was a highlight for the movie without a doubt. In an ensemble piece as this it is hard to give focus to all of the mutants and for that I do not fault them for giving some short screen time.

Bolivar Trask/ Peter Dinklege and the sentinels: Dinklege plays Trask as an almost mad scientist who feels the best way to beat your enemy is to know it. His drive is not only to survive but to learn about the mutant species. He plays a slightly small role but it is integral because of the Sentinels he creates. Now the mark 1 sentinel of the 70's was not a large threat but the ones of the future were downright scary. The deaths that they doled out on the X-Men were both brutal and calculating and when you see them on the horizon you feel the hope drain out of you because these guys are death incarnate. They will not stop till they get to the mutants.

EFFECTS
  The effects in this movie were top notch. It really shined whenever cerebro was used or when Hank went full Beast and ESPECIALLY in the future. This helped in the brutality of the mutant deaths from getting ripped in half to decapitated. I think the effects really helped Storm show her powers work like in the comic and helped showcase the amazing new blackbird that was just like how it was made in the comics. Blink was one of the best parts of the effects because it showed how well her powers worked and Quicksilver because it showed just how fast he is. I'm eager to see how Whedon will either compare or surpass this use of his power.

SCORE
 John Ottman returned after X2 and while the general score was not technically memorable I must say it was exciting to hear the score from X2 reintroduced and reinvigorated into the series and it got me excited for the film as the main titles blasted through.

IMPACT AND CONLUSION

 This film was another step in the right direction. By the final scene, which is really the one true comic book moment for me, Logan sees all of the X-Men alive and well including Jean Grey, Scott, Hank and Rogue and the others from the future and I felt like that family dynamic from the 90's cartoon has FINALLY been set and I feel like these are the X-Men. While I would have wished for that cut Rogue scene to have stayed in and for a slight bit more action,but this talky return of Bryan Singer's X-Men has proven that actors really do carry a film. Many will get confused about the time travel but not enough to be lost and once we get to that last hour of the film the actors truly begin to shine and the emotion and theme to always have hope and that it's okay to be lost begin to shine. When Logan says everything is okay he speaks to all of us and this is a new dawn for the fox X-Men universe;  and if this is the direction they are going; I think I'm okay with the rights for the X-Men staying with Fox a bit longer. 8/10 stars.