Author's Note: To give context to my full experience of this film I am going to start this review with a history of the X-men film Franchise leading up to X-Men: Days of Future Past. If you are uninterested and just want to get to the review, I have divided the review into subheadings for easier organization. Needless to say, Spoilers ahead.
HISTORY
In July of 2000 the first X-men film hit theaters and ushered in a golden age of superhero cinema that we are still enjoying today. Without X-Men, we would not have had the Sam Raimi Spider-man trilogy, Nolan's exceptional Dark Knight Trilogy, or even The Avengers and the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). While Richard Donner's Superman, the Donner/Lester hybrid of Superman II and Burton's Batman came before X-Men, they were films that were stood alone. These previous films were about characters that were already American icons (Superman and Batman respectively) already embedded into our culture through television and merchandising; they had a built in audience. The X-men and their characters not only had very little exposure in the mainstream public, aside from a popular 90's cartoon. Thus, being relatively unknown, and having a lack of public good will, the gamble of producing such a superhero film can not be understated, translating into a modest budget of 75 million dollars. However, the gamble paid off and X-Men's success (to the tune of nearly 300 million) started the first superhero (team) franchise.
Riding on the success of X-Men director Bryan Singer and producers at 20th Century Fox threw caution to the wind and, with a significant increase in budget, gave us the stellar X2: X-Men United in 2003. This film delivered on every level from Nightcrawler's assault on The White House that opened the film, the multiple layers of character development throughout, to a promise (for comic book geeks) of something cosmic at the end. The film was a blockbuster and was (and still is) considered one of the best in the genre.
Even with a proven formula for success, problems plagued the production of X3 (later to be titled X-Men: The Last Stand (ironic)). Bryan Singer left to direct the subdued Superman Returns taking Cyclops (James Marsden) with him (thus shortchanging Scott Summer's story arc). Two director changes ( Brett Ratner hired a month before shooting started), script rewrites and a ridged shooting schedule (a result of 20th Century Fox retaining the rights to X-Men on film) lead to a film that was not well received by critics or by fans. To be blunt, the filmmakers didn't even like this film.
"I realized my mistake before, during and after watching the movie."
Bryan Singer on regretting not directing X-Men: The Last Stand
Due to the travesty that was X-Men: The Last Stand, 20th Century Fox shelved plans for any future X-Men films with the original cast. Instead they began to plan prequel films (ala Star Wars) under the Banner "X-Men Origins" There were plans for films that centered on Professor X, Magneto, and Wolverine...which was the only one produced.
There are few things to like about X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but they need to be mentioned. The opening sequence of young James Howlett and the preceeding credit sequence following Wolverine through the years in all of the different wars was breathtaking and amazing. I wanted that 4 minute sequence to be the entire film. However, it was the relationship between Hugh Jackman's Logan and Liev Schreiber's Creed that kept me invested throughout the film. Their scenes were so captivating that I could ignore (for a little while at least) the memory erasing adamantium bullets, Barraka-pool, and an unnecessary inclusion of young Scott Summers, Gambit and Professor X. Both the producers and Hugh Jackman have publicly stated that not only do they feel that X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a flawed film, but they were under studio pressure to get the character of Wolverine's backstory on film before they could do their labor of love "The Japan story" by Frank Miller and Chris Claremont resulting in The Wolverine in 2013.
With the trend of diminishing box office returns continuing after Origins, 20th Century Fox attempted to course correct yet again. They abandoned the "X-Men Origins" banner but maintained an idea for a more "all inclusive" prequel that would cover the early days of Xavier's school for the Gifted. Finding it difficult to get a lock on the plot, character and story elements from the aforementioned X-Men Origins: Magneto film were added to flesh out the script thereby shifting the focus of the film from Xavier's students to the friendship and eventual antagonism between Charles Xavier ( Professor X) and Erik Lensherr (Magneto). This was X-Men: First Class.
X-Men: First Class marks the beginning of the course correction for the X-Men film Franchise. It sees the return of Bryan Singer ( he gets a story credit and acts as a producer) while having a cast of phenomenal actors to play the young(er) mutants. Most of the credit needs to be given to Michael Fassbender's Nazi killing Magneto and Kevin Bacon's superbly villainous turn as Sebastian Shaw whose introduction reminds the audience of Bacon's talent and range. The inclusion of mutants in major historical events (in this film the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis) was cited as one of the film's flaws, instead, I found this refreshingly captivating regardless of its historical in accuracies. To be fair, the crisis would have turned out differently if mutants had been involved. :)
The Next film in the franchise chronology is the superbly written and well crafted The Wolverine directed by James Mangold in 2013. I have written about this film extensively on this blog here and here. The only other thing that I would add is that the 6 disc blu-ray combo pack has a longer unrated cut that fleshes out the story a bit more while cutting fewer corners as the theatrical cut did.
With the success of First Class there was an uncertainty of the franchise's future among fans. Were they only going to be doing period pieces, moving forward with the new cast until they run into the timeline of the original X-men film cast? How do they account for some of the" retconing" and character misalignments? We get our first glimpse of answers in the mid-credit sequence of The Wolverine: Patrick Stewart's Professor Xavier, thought to be atomized and obliterated by the Phoenix midway through X-Men: The Last Stand, is alive and well, as well as a fully empowered Ian McKellen's Magneto are together to warn/recruit Hugh Jackman's Wolverine to help them in the coming war. This directly ties/leads into X-Men: Days of Future Past.
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST REVIEW
This is the best X-Men film to date. It capitalizes on the course correction of both X-Men: First Class and The Wolverine giving us a story that is not only respectfully embracing one of the most beloved X-men storylines from the comics (something that only lasted two issues in the 1980's), but respects most of the films that have come before. While there are a few geek knit picks here and there Overall this is the much needed success both critically and commercially that has revitalized the X-men film franchise moving forward.
PLOT
2023, (ten years since the end of The Wolverine) a dystopian earth. New York is ravaged by war. Mutants are rounded up by hunter/killer robots called "Sentinels". Those that are captured are lead to mutant extermination/"concentration" camps. Mutants are forced to wear collars to suppress the Mutant X-gene and are systematically eliminated. They are on the brink of extinction. The few survivors include The original X-men team last seen in X-Men: The Last Stand (Storm, Wolverine, Iceman, Shadowcat, and Colossus) along with Professor X, Magneto and four new allies: Warpath, Blink Sunspot and Bishop. Reveling that Shadowcat/Kitty Pryde has the secondary mutation to phase a person's consciousness through time, the remaining X-men devise a plan to stop this war before it begins by stopping the catalytic event that causes it. In this case it is the murder of scientist Bolivar Trask by Mystique in 1973 (10 years after the events of First Class), as well as her subsequent capture and torture that leads to the development of advanced "Sentinel" robots that can adapt to any adversary. Wolverine's healing factor and ageless appearance makes him a prime candidate to make the trip back. He is charged with finding both Xavier and Magneto bringing them together to help stop Mystique and saving the future.
TIME TRAVEL AND CONTINUTITY
In a film genre that is heavily relied on rebooting their characters in recent years (Spider-man, Hulk, Batman, and Superman) X-Men: Days of Future Past, through the plot device of time travel, embraces and preserves a lot of the original film continuity while allowing both the younger versions (First Class cast) as well as the original cast to have the possibility of more adventures (ala Star Trek (2009)).
Secondly, It is explained early on that as the time travel is taking place both realities are happening at once. This is used to build tension throughout the film especially in the film's climax that alternates frequently between the time periods showing both Magneto's attack on DC in 1973 while the X-Men are entrenched fighting a horde of future Sentinels in 2023.
Thirdly, this acceptance and realignment of continuity not only makes all the films in the franchise that much better it allows to alter story mistakes and missteps. The last moments of the 1973 timeline along with the now altered 2023 timeline erases the majority of the events in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and all of X-Men: The Last Stand. I find this ironic and poignant considering that these are the only two films that Bryan Singer has little to no involvement with. This secures the X-men film franchise as his vision, and his version of the X-men.
CHARACTERS
One legitimate criticism that has been levied against all of the X-men films has been that it has been all about Wolverine. Due to fan popularity and Hugh Jackman's relentless loyalty to the character (and the franchise), it is no wonder why so many of the X-men films have been Logan/Wolverine centric. This criticism was brought up, yet again before the films release when it was announced that he would be the time traveler rather than Kitty Pryde (as it was in the comics). However, in X-Men Days of Future Past (DOFP) I think this works on several levels: 1) How they establish time travel sets up that only Wolverine can make the trip, and more importantly 2) This is a great role reversal with Wolverine having to be the patient mentor to Xavier allowing for some great character development that is more inline with his current comic incarnation.
As I eluded to above, this is the first X-Men film that actually feels like an X-men comic, about a lot of X-men characters (other than Wolverine). The three central characters in DOFP are James McAvoy's Xavier, Michael Fassbender's Magneto, and Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique.
In 1973, McAvoy's Xavier is a broken man. Much like Bruce Wayne at the beginning of The Dark Knight Rises, Charles has lost everything. He was abandoned by Erik and Raven, once the war in Vietnam got worse a lot of his students were drafted and the school shut down. Losing his hope and his faith in people has caused him to lose control of his powers. Feeling overwhelmed by his abilities he becomes addicted to a drug that suppresses them. It is only through a conversation with his older self in in 2023 does Xavier learn to hope again, taking a large step towards becoming the Professor Xavier that we all know and love played by Patrick Stewart.
In the 10 years since the events in First Class Magneto has been locked up; wrongfully imprisoned for the assassination of President Kennedy ( the curved bullet theory was because of Magneto). Upon release, and finding about the future, Magneto sets out to find the most direct ( and violent) solution to the problem at hand; leading to him turning the tables on his "enemies" at the end of the film. Fassbender's portrayal of Magneto illustrates for the audience his rage warped by the horrors experienced by the Third Reich and determination to "protect" his people. It is from this determination that Erik feels betrayed by Charles, who gave up his powers and hid from the world while mutants were dying. Unlike McAvoy and Stewart, Fassbender's Magneto is moving further away from Ian McKellen's older more remorseful, and Gallantly Noble Magneto.
"All those years wasted fighting each other Charles, to have a precious few of them back has been an honor."
Ian McKellen as Magneto
Raven Darkhome/ Mystique is the middle ground between Charles and Erik in this film. She has love and compassion for others as Charles does but does not abhor violence like him. She, is a pragmatist in the film that has very clear, rational and understandable goals that make sense given the context of the film. While the end of the film does not see her redeemed she is pulled back from the brink and may have been the catalyst for positive mutant sentiment in the future.
There were however three characters that I felt were misused in this film; all for different reasons. The first, for nostalgia, is Kitty Pryde. She is one of my favorite characters in the X-Men especially in the current run by Brian Wood. She is a Samurai, has a pet dragon, is a powerful courageous leader (being president of the United States at some point) and is the heart and soul of the X-Men. While I understand why she wasn't the time traveler and I enjoyed how she was the vehicle that made the time travel possible, I wanted to see more of her, more of her range skills and interactions with others.
Secondly, I thought Bishop was underused. I thought that the character of Bishop was only there because he is a time traveler in the comics and he was in an episode of the the X-men Cartoon series titled "Days of Future Past". Most mainstream audiences don't even get that his presence in 2023 in the film is because he physically time traveled back from 2055 to stop the annihilation of the X-men. His existence in this film however foreshadows sequel events for X-Men: Apocalypse.
Lastly, I do not know why Quicksilver/ "Peter" Maximoff is in this film. I understand his parentage and his importance to Magneto and the X-men, but since his involvement didn't lead to any big revelations or have consequences for the film, ( even though there was room to allow those revelations/consequences to take place) his character could have been exchanged very easily by someone else. Even though I really enjoyed the Quicksilver showcase in the pentagon kitchen ( especially the way it was shot) it seem unnecessary and did not serve the plot. It just seemed superfluous.
EFFECTS AND ACTION SET PIECES
I was completely blown away by how visually stunning this film is. While not on the same level as Christopher Nolan or Wally Pfister, this is a very good looking film. I was most impressed by the future scenes of the X-men battling the Sentinels you clearly get a sense of threat and danger as they begin to engage. During their final engagement with the Future sentinels as each X-men begins to fall I was riveted, at the edge of my seat. I would have liked to see that carried over into the battle with the 1973 sentinels ( mark 1 version). We get a glimpse of this when Beast starts to tear the head off one Sentinel but that was about it. There were few action pieces in 1973 and none that were as captivating as the Future Sentinel assault.
As I mentioned earlier I enjoyed the kitchen Quicksilver scene, the effects were brilliant and well shot ( I read that Bryan Singer shot Evan Peters at a different frame rate to achieve the look of super speed). It really gives you a perspective on what it must be like to move that fast.
I am looking forward to what they bring to X-Men: Apocalypse as it has been described as a disaster film set in the 1980's.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This is by far the best X-Men film to date. I am leaving this open ended for several reasons: 1) I am not sure if I count The Wolverine as an X-men film as it has no other X-men (until the mid credits scene) and I like the Japan Story...a lot. 2) All the buzz that I am hearing about X-Men: Apocalypse is that it will be epic (with Bryan Singer back to direct with the New and original cast coming back in varying capacities) possibly spinning off into a X-Force film featuring Cable. 3) Three words: Old. Man. Logan. the possible storyline for Hugh Jackman's swan song as Wolverine. In the end, there is much to be happy about thanks to DOFP a lot to look forward to in this revitalized franchise. Let us hope the moment continues.
