X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST review by Mark Walters – Bryan Singer re-directs the franchise he created

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST review by Mark Walters – Bryan Singer re-directs the franchise he created

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In the year 2000, director Bryan Singer introduced moviegoers to the popular Marvel mutant superhero team with the wildly popular live action X-MEN movie. That film also made a star out of the then unknown Hugh Jackman, who has now played “Wolverine” in three X-movies and two solo outings. Singer did the first and (in many minds the superior) second X-MEN movie, but handed over the reigns to Brett Ratner for the third outing, which a lot of folks found to be a misguided entry in the franchise. And the solo Wolverine movies, while financially successful, never seemed to capture the magic of Singer’s first two X-outings. In 2011, Matthew Vaughn succcessfully rebooted the mutant franchise with a step back in time in X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, a story that explored how Professor X (played by James McAvoy) met his friend and would-be nemesis Magneto (Michael Fassbender). That film also re-cast Mystique, originally played by Rebecca Romijn but played now as a younger mutant by Jennifer Lawrence. Set in the 1960’s, FIRST CLASS also brought in characters we hadn’t seen big screen versions of yet, and set up a universe that was ripe to continue in future outings, set… uh, in the past. Well now Bryan Singer is back in the director chair for X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. Drawing from one of the most popular comic storylines of all time, this tale follows the X-Men of the future finding it necessary to send one of their own back in time to stop a disaster from taking place. In the comics it was Kitty Pryde (played here by Ellen Page), but in the movies it is (of course) Wolverine. This clever framing device allows Singer to bring back all of the actors he originally used in the original X-trilogy, and still move forward with the FIRST CLASS cast… it is quite simply a genius move, but does it work?

Hardcore fans of the franchise will notice right away the film is a throwback to Singer’s X-days, as the narration by Patrick Stewart leads into a title sequence very similar to the original films, and even sees the return of John Ottman’s theme from the early outings. A Singer film without Ottman music wouldn’t feel right anyway. We see many of the original team members in the near future, a dark time where all mutants (and those with the potential to birth mutants) being hunted and killed by seemingly indestructible and adaptive robots called “Sentinels.” Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) has the ability to send a mutant’s conscience back in time to prevent inevitable peril, but her subject can only go back so far. Realizing the Sentinels will eventually destroy them all, the older Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) recruit Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), who has a rather resilient healing power, to go much further back in time to prevent The Sentinels from ever being created, as it’s their only hope for survival. Kitty does her thing, and Wolverine is sent back to the 1970s, where he’s tasked with finding a young Professor X and convincing him to track down the shape-shifting Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) with his psychic powers, as it’s Mystique who sets off a chain reaction of events that ultimately lead to the creation of The Sentinels. After finding Beast (Nicholas Hoult) and the Charles Xavier/Professor X (James McAvoy) in the run down X-mansion, Logan begins his quest, which also leads him and the others to break Magneto (Michael Fassbender) out of a high security prison. They enlist the help of the lightning fast mutant Quicksilver (Evan Peters) to accomplish this job, while Dr. Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) tries to convince the U.S. government that mutants are a serious threat and need to be dealt with. Though it’s in their best interest to work together, Professor X and Magneto have some unresolved demons haunting them, and Magneto especially still has his own agenda for the mutants of the world.

There are parts of X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST that are really amazing, and for comic book aficionados will be a real treat. One thing Bryan Singer gives us at multiple moments in the story is great glory moments for each character, something he excelled at in his previous X-movies. But this is a complicated tale, utilizing time travel and asking the audience to keep up with a lot, and the end result is at times a bit convoluted. The first half of the film is quite solid, doing a great job of introducing the story and key players, and bringing back together the characters who were separated after FIRST CLASS. Singer handles the complicated friendship of Charles Xavier/Professor X and Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto in superb fashion, and even works in a new mutant in Quicksilver, giving him one of the standout moments of the film. There is some glossed over history here, but it feels acceptable considering the circumstances. Mystique, as a character, suffers a bit in the script as Jennifer Lawrence is reduced to just beating guys up to achieve her goal. In the first movie there was strong character interaction with her and the other key players, but here she’s just sort of the mutant on a mission to kill, and a lot of the humanity behind the role is stripped away. The second half of the story is where things get a bit messy. Magneto reveals his own agenda in a clunky fashion, and there’s no real “team” aspect to the film anymore, which sort of takes away from the concept of an X-MEN movie. One of the biggest problems in the early X-MEN movies was everything revolving around Wolverine, as the character (and Hugh Jackman as an actor) had become so popular the studio likely insisted on it. Here, Wolverine is the element that takes us back in time, but outside of that he almost feels misplaced and lost in the story. I think Singer realized Professor X and Magneto are the driving force now, and switched the focus more on them rather than Wolverine, but as a result Wolverine is now just in the way.

Hugh Jackman does the best with what he’s given here, and is still likable after all these years as Logan. James McAvoy has fun exploring a darker side to Charles Xavier, and the Simon Kinberg script creatively finds a way to have him out of the wheelchair for a bulk of the story. Michael Fassbender is always great, but only gets momentary bits to shine in the story, likely due to all the complicated elements happening around him. In X-MEN: FIRST CLASS he stood out and showed how powerful he can play the role of a villain, but here he just feels like he’s going through the motions. It was great seeing some of the old guard back on the big screen, particularly Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, though the latter of the two has little to do here. Halle Berry, who returns briefly as Storm, has almost no dialogue. I can’t help but wonder how much was cut with the original actors, as it seems they wouldn’t have taken the job had they known the end result would be merely a cameo. There’s also strange moments that feel unresolved, such as Havok (Lucas Till) being freed from military hold by Mystique, then just disappearing from the rest of the story. Perhaps the nicest aspect of this film is it inadvertently fixes a lot of the problems X-MEN: THE LAST STAND caused for the franchise, working two-fold as a way of bringing back the actors we miss in these roles, but also righting the wrongs we last left them with.

I have a feeling X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST will be one of those comic book movies fans will embrace heavily upon its release, but over time will pick apart. There’s so much going on here, and so many cool little moments throughout, it’s easy to overlook what doesn’t work. Thankfully the special effects are top notch, something some folks criticized about FIRST CLASS, and every penny is clearly on the screen. I’m happy to see Singer back in the director chair for a franchise he gave birth to, but I also wonder if this story may have been a little too ambitious, even for him. If you can look past the shortcomings, this is a welcome entry in the pantheon of Marvel mutant movies, but also a glossy reminder of how cohesive those first couple of films were by comparison.

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST opens May 23, 2014

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About the Author

Born and raised in Dallas, Mark has been a movie critic since 1994, with reviews featured in print, radio and National TV. In 2001 he started the Entertainment section of the Herorealm website, where he contributed film reviews and celebrity interviews until 2004. After three years of service there, he started Bigfanboy.com, which has become one of the Dallas film community's leading information websites. Bigfanboy hosts several movie screenings in the Texas area, and works closely with film and TV studios and promotional partners to host exciting events and contests. The site also features a variety of rare celebrity and filmmaker interviews, and Bigfanboy.com regularly covers the film festival circuit as well. In addition to Hollywood reporting, Mark has worked for many years as an advertising and sci-fi/comic book artist. Clients have included Lucasfilm Ltd., Topps Trading Cards, The Dallas Mavericks and The Dallas Stars. From 2002 until 2015 he managed the Dallas Comic Con, Sci-Fi Expo and Fan Days events in the DFW area. He currently catalogs rare comic books and movie memorabilia for Heritage Auctions, and runs the Dallas Comic Show conventions, but remains an avid moviegoer and cinema buff.