Movie Review: ‘X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST’

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X-Men: Days of Future Past uses the iconic 1981 comic of the same name as a basis to merge together two interpretations of a franchise (for all you purists out there, I know all the films are supposed to exist under the same universe but, here me out). The future is not good for mutants or mankind. Trask Industries has created sentinels that were initially designed to find mutants and eliminate them. However, in the barren wasteland of the future, it has done this to the human race as well as they get put into concentration camps. Luckily, Professor X, Magneto, Storm, Kitty Pride, Wolverine and some other second rate mutants including Bishop are still around and haven’t been captured/eliminated. Kitty Pride has the ability to teleport minds back a few days. Someone poses the idea of if Kitty can send someone back to when a particular event happened that seemed to set this all in motion. Since Wolvy has healing powers that would protect him from brain rippage, they decide to send him back to stop a mutant from starting the chain reaction.

From there, we get sent alone with Logan to 1973 and he meets up with Professor X who is an addict to a serum that Hank McCoy made for him that would enable him to walk but would take all of his powers away. Magneto, Erik, is jailed (wait until you hear the reason) but Logan, Charles and Hank know they need him. Logan thinks of someone he may know to help him which introduces the audience to Quicksilver (played by Evan Peters). Quicksilver is a definite highlight at a welcome time when all this set up and explanation is a bit convoluted. Also, not everything is explained right off the bat so many will be questioning the sequence of events in respect the past films but it gets explained (except for why Kitty Pride couldn’t have avoided the stuff that happened in X-Men: The Last Stand).

Director Bryan Singer returns to the franchise that he left with X-Men 2 almost 11 years ago and it seems like there was no trouble in the transition. The X-Men franchise was going downhill and fast until X-Men: First Class came along and gave it the breath of fresh air that was needed (Honestly, it might be my favorite of the franchise but I need to go back and watch X-Men & X-Men 2) and reboot and reinvigorate the franchise. While the film mainly stays in the past, it will show scenes of the future where the impending sentinel mutant apocalypse is about to go down that will remind you of the end scene in The Matrix. Now, I’m not saying that I don’t like the older generation of X-Men, the generation that Singer brought to us. However, it felt like the story dragged and you don’t feel as emotionally invested in the older generation during these scenes. You really just want to get back to 1973 and follow how that story plays out.

Yes, there are logic flaws to the film and some continuity issues when you look at how this film fits in the franchise as a whole, regardless, X-Men: Days of Future Past is entertaining and recommended for those that enjoyed X-Men: First Class or any of the franchise – with exception of The Last Stand, you actually get a better movie here.