X-Men: Days of Future Past

The latest X-Men movie left us with mostly positive impressions. Blending together past and present in a massive ensemble cast was quite the challenge and many felt it would either be incredible or a train-wreck, and it seems they got closer to ‘incredible’ then a mess.

Collins appreciates the film in context of the X-Men movie universe.

This movie is going to hinge a lot on whether you like the Original X-men cast. If you’ve never seen the original X-Men trilogy, this might be a difficult movie to follow or care about. Having said that, there are so many things in the movie that work. The fun scenes, the action and the very understandable character motives all make this movie come together. In terms of big action set pieces, this movie fairly mild. There is no sense of any Michael Bay-ing in this movie. It’s very character centered, and given the situations that they are put through, pretty much every main character is believable.

The only main concern is the one I brought up in the beginning, this movie is not for the uninitiated. But if you have watched the previous ones and you like the characters, this movie is totally for you. Rating: 4.0/5.0

Simon feels he got some closure with this film:

I very much enjoyed Days of Future Past. Earlier in the week I had been lamenting the lack of a proper “end” to the X-Men trilogy. While late, DOFP feels like the ending I’ve been waiting for, a conclusion to the story thus far while setting up something potentially bigger to come. It was good enough I can forgive the many lingering questions that remain and the very messed up continuity the X-Men movie universe has. I have high hopes for the future of the franchise now. The movie is a slow burn but when the action picks up things are plenty exciting. X-Men: Days of Future Past is a most excellent boring movie, in the best way possible.

Jun enjoyed the film but found it lacking in key elements:

To be honest, I felt emotionally detached from X-Men: Days of Future Past, which is something no superhero film should ever make me feel. Its setpieces are well choreographed and fun to watch, but I felt that it was a bit too heavy on those than on the characters. The really fast pace doesn’t help matters, and neither do some unpolished characters, particularly Peter Dinklage’s Bolivar Trask. I did appreciate how young Charles Xavier – played by an excellent James McAvoy – was surprisingly the heart of the film, though I wish we saw more of young Magneto. Kudos to Bryan Singer on showcasing a really brutal future, which were often my favorite scenes. If I were to rank the X-Men movies from best to worst, I’d go: X2, First Class, Days of Future Past, X-Men, The Wolverine, X-Men: The Last Stand, and finally, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Rating: 3.0/5.0

Andrew really enjoyed the world of the film, and the film itself:

This has been my favorite movie of the summer so far. I can’t explain why I enjoyed it so much, nor can I tell you any particular area that I wish they did better. I just know I liked it.

The Sentinels of X-Men reminded me very much of the Sentinels in the Matrix. Same running for your life, running out of time feeling. What was striking is how terrifying they made the Sentinels. The coldness in which the machines violently destroyed the X-Men was quite disturbing, in a good way. When Iceman’s head was ripped off and casually smashed, or when Colossus was calmly dismembered and then tossed aside; legitimately horrific. Not something you can easily pull off in a normally feel-good genre.

And that’s probably why I was impressed. The pain of this movie seemed very real to me. The actors and their environments were very engaging.

But seriously, more Ian McKellan.

Chris found it to have ups and downs, but booze was a great equalizer.

I actually have a hard time saying anything bad about this movie with the caveat that there are some trade offs to be had. There were some scenes where I had to be willing to go along for the ride. The upside is that they didn’t disappoint me when it came to entertainment value. I will say that I didn’t care too much about young Prof. Xavier or young Magneto in terms of their characters or personalities. I was, however, strapped in for the ride because the outcome of the disappointing X-Men 2 and 3 movies was rebooted. I personally feel that this is an acceptable trade off and well worth going to the theaters to watch. Additionally I will say that it certainly helped my personal enjoyment that the theater we went to served alcohol, although it became increasingly hard to not dash out to the restroom during the movie.

Editor’s note: I’m not sure we were actually were supposed to take the alcohol into the movie theater itself (shhh).

Austin loved the film, especially in the context of what came before:

This is easily the best X-men movie made to date, but it wouldn’t be without the movies which came before it. Bryan Singer and the screenwriter really pulled out all the stops for X-Men fans. The visuals are outright stunning, the characters are developed and actually important to the plot, and care is taken to not lose the audience in the time travel sequences. The old and new X-Men casts are blended brilliantly. I had high expectations for this movie after what I saw at Comic-Con and I was certainly not disappointed.

Quicksilver’s scenes were probably the best of the movie. I know a movie is good when it gets me to the edge of my seat and I vocally express my awe (“Holy shit!”) at what I’m seeing. The Magneto Pentagon prison break kitchen scene left me stunned. I loved it. I hope we see a lot more of this fantastic character. Jennifer Lawrence gave a great performance as always, although her recent fame may have garnered her too much screen time. I was pleased to hear she was given a suit to wear this time around instead of the seven hour makeup sessions she previously endured to become the femme fatale Mystique. Peter Dinklage, on the other hand, gave a lackluster performance and genuinely seemed disinterested on-screen. Perhaps I expected Tyrion Lannister and was disappointed I got something else.

Jong finds he loves the film the more he thinks about it:

The original X-Men movie was one of the first to usher in what I like to call the Superhero Cinematic Renaissance that continues to this day. It wasn’t a stellar film, but it gave us a glimpse of where superhero movies can go, and what has ensued has been a hit-and-miss formula of movies that echoes my love for another geek property, Star Trek, in which every other movie is a good one. Take a look:

X-Men – OK
X2 – Awesome
X-Men: The Last Stand – Suck
X-Men Origins: Wolverine – Suck
X-Men: First Class – Awesome
The Wolverine – Suck
X-Men: Days of Future Past – Awesome

It doesn’t fit the formula to a tee, but you get the picture.

Again, comparing things to Star Trek and its more recent reboot, this latest film deals with time travel and alternate timelines that essentially reboot the franchise and open the doors to a variety of possibilities.

Days of Future Past is a slow burn of a movie for me, one that I have increasing affection for the more I think about it. At the end of my first viewing, the thought that came to mind was that this was a movie where the parts were greater than the whole. In fact there were a few occasions when I could say that the movie was a bit boring, but several key scenes elevated the entire experience for me. I won’t detail them here in the interest of avoiding spoilers, but these were the scenes that hit all the right emotional buttons for me.

But the more I think about the movie, the more I love it as a whole. In the context of the franchise, this movie did everything it was supposed to do. It’s fitting that the point of the movie is to prevent a dark future from becoming a reality, because that’s exactly what this movie does for me; it gives me a sincere sense of optimism for the future of the X-Men.