The Marvel Comics mutant super-team known as the X-Men have had hundreds of adventures since Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created them in 1963. But few of these adventures are quite as famous as the 1980 story "Days of Future Past." Part of Chris Clairmont and John Byrne's legendary run on the Uncanny X-Men comic during the '70s and '80s, "Days of Future Past" has earned notoriety over the years as not only one of the X-Men's greatest tales, but perhaps one of the best stories Marvel has ever published. And once 20th Century Fox began producing movies based on the X-Men, most fans assumed it was only a matter of time before the story would have some influence on the franchise. And fourteen years after director Bryan Singer helmed the first X-Men movie, he returns to the franchise to translate "Days of Future Past" into cinematic form. And it's actually not a bad flick at all.
By the year 2023, the world will have become a dystopian wasteland. Mutants have been hunted to the brink of extinction. Those that remain, along with their supporters and sympathizers, have either been shuffled off into concentration camps or are killed on sight. The few that remain free have become refugees, constantly on the run from the unstoppable Sentinels, massive robots designed solely for mutant extermination.
With the revelation that Kitty Pride (Ellen Page) has developed the ability to project someone's consciousness back in time into their younger bodies, Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) formulates a plan to swing things back to mutantkind's favor. That plan: to send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back fifty years to prevent Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from killing Dr. Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage). An anti-mutant government scientist who began engineering the Sentinels in response to the events of First Class, Trask's murder would lead to widespread support of the Sentinel project. Mystique, meanwhile, would be taken into custody after killing Trask and experimented on while in captivity, her shape-shifting ability allowing Trask's colleagues to develop Sentinels able to mimic and adapt to any and all mutant abilities.
Upon his arrival in 1973, Wolverine finds a younger Xavier (James McAvoy) left emotionally devastated by his school's failure, the majority of the students and faculty having been drafted into the Vietnam War. He's also begun abusing a serum developed by Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult), one that negates both his psychic abilities and his paraplegia. Xavier wants nothing to do with Wolverine, even less so once Wolverine suggests they break Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) out of his maximum security prison in a bunker beneath the Pentagon. But Wolverine ultimately talks him into it, their mission proving to be a race against time. Not only does Mystique killing Trask loom ever closer, but the X-Men in 2023 must prevent an approaching Sentinel attack from interrupting an increasingly exhausted Kitty before Wolverine is able to complete his mission.
The "Days of Future Past" story is one of the most popular in the long history of the X-Men, one that many comics devotees were eager to see translated into a movie. And while elements of the story were changed to fit the movie franchise's convoluted canon, X-Men: Days of Future Past is still a pretty cool movie. The franchise has had its ups and downs over the last fourteen years, with missteps like The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine seriously damaging one's perceptions of the series. But Days of Future Past holds up as one of the better entries in the saga.
As I stated earlier, the movie was helmed by Bryan Singer, whose last directorial effort in the franchise was all the way back in 2002 with X2. His name in the credits alone is a welcome sight, but having him at the reins of Days of Future Past actually helps make the movie better. Singer brings an energy and tension to the movie, making it feel like everything is important and that everything matters. The movie stays intense throughout, even as Singer gives us the occasional lighthearted moment to take some of the edge off. (The sequence that sees the super-fast Quicksilver knocking out prison guards while listening to Jim Croce's "Time in a Bottle" is the movie's funniest moment and perhaps its biggest highlight.)
Singer also successfully blends the futuristic tone of his prior efforts in the franchise with the retro feel Matthew Vaughn brought to First Class, surely aiming to please fans of both. And it never feels choppy or inconsistent or jarring, the two styles coming together in a way that feels organic.
Singer makes good use of the movie's conversion into 3D as well. The movie didn't need to be in 3D (does any movie?), but Days of Future Past looks good in the format. It's honestly one of the better 2D-to-3D conversions I've seen in a while, truthfully. A number of elements ― the "Time in a Bottle" sequence, Blink's usage of her portal-generating power against the Sentinels, Magneto picking up a baseball stadium and dropping it over the White House ― look particularly cool. I haven't seen the 2D version and I'm sure it's still visually stunning that way, but I definitely enjoyed the 3D experience for sure.
While Singer's direction puts the movie on solid footing, Simon Kinberg's screenplay is a bit shaky. The story remains faithful to the original comic while still forging its own path and conforming to the realm of the movies. Kinberg does an admirable job adapting the story, making it feel epic while also moving things along at light speed so that it never allows for anything to feel dull or boring.
But that's not to say there aren't any problems with the script. Much like the other X-Men movies, we're overloaded with characters. It seems like every movie in this franchise introduces a bunch of characters from the comics only to bolster the number of people involved in the fight scenes or have someone to kill other than the primary characters, and Days of Future Past is no different. I mean, unless you're a fan of the comics, are you going to recognize Bishop, Blink, Sunspot, or Warpath? This is their first appearance in the movies, and all they do is engage in some action scenes and that's it. I don't think they even mentioned Blink, Sunspot, or Warpath's names outside of the end credits.
I also thought the dialogue was a bit clunky at times, and there's not really a lot of character development. Instead of really building the characters, someone just gives the occasional motivational speech before we move along. Some of the characters are also wasted, especially Quicksilver. I get why they wouldn't want to keep Quicksilver around for long, since, as many other reviews I've seen have pointed out, his powers could have allowed him to solve nearly every problem in no time and the movie would have been an hour long at best. But after that awesome "Time in a Bottle" scene, I wanted to see more of him. Then again, with Marvel Studios able to insert their own take on Quicksilver into next year's Avengers: Age of Ultron thanks to a legal technicality, we won't have to wait long before he turns up again. Though whether or not their version is anything like this one remains to be seen...
But those flaws are all relatively minor in the movie's grand scheme, and could be easily overlooked depending on how into the movie you are. It helps that they've assembled a great cast, though more is asked of the stunt people than the actors. Leading the way is Hugh Jackman, who once again hands in an enthusiastic performance as Wolverine. He obviously loves playing the character no matter how good or bad the movies might be, and that affection makes him a ton of fun to watch. I can understand why people might be getting a little tired of seeing him, considering he's either been the main focus or a crucial part of six of the seven X-Men movies (and his cameo in First Class stole that one). A little Wolverine burnout is understandable. But Jackman gives it 110% here, and it's hard to really dislike him.
James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender handle the rest of the movie's heavy lifting with their strong turns on Professor Xavier and Magneto. While I still don't think they have quite the same chemistry as Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen (whose appearances in this movie are welcomed despite their unfortunate underutilization), but both McAfoy and Fassbender bring plenty of emotion to their characters and once again make them their own.
Jennifer Lawrence, meanwhile, seems hampered by a bit of lukewarm writing. She's an immensely talented actress, but Mystique's struggle, her inner debate between being redeemed in the eyes of those who care about her or fully turning to the dark side by killing Trask, doesn't feel like it was written very strongly. It comes off a little flat, though Lawrence does her absolute best with it regardless. Also contributing his best was the actor playing Mystique's target, Peter Dinklage as Bolivar Trask. Dinklage isn't given a tremendous lot to do, but he's still very impressive. He never goes over the top or overly malicious to the point of being cartoony. Dinklage plays Trask not as a crazed mad scientist, but with a cold edge, almost detached from it all, and makes for a fine villain when it's all said and done.
Much like how Professor Xavier continues to have hope for Mystique and refuses to believe that she is too far gone to be redeemed, X-Men: Days of Future Past continues the spark lit by First Class and pushes the franchise back towards greatness. It isn't a perfect movie, but it's a satisfying one, and it leaves me looking forward to seeing where the franchise goes from here. And if the post-credits stinger, one that hints towards the next sequel, is any indication, there are bigger things ahead. As far as Days of Future Past goes, it's a big help in restoring my faith in the franchise. And assuming things go well in 2016 when X-Men: Apocalypse hits theaters, The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine will be all but a faint memory.
Final Rating: ***½
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