X-Men: Days of Future Past

 At this point in time, you may have worked out that on top of my book and film obsession, I'm a (bit of a) nerd when it comes to comic books and the movies though I think I've hidden it well.  I love all the Marvel Cinematic Universe and X-Men films that have come out recently so I specifically asked my family to come with me to see X-Men: Days of Future Past as I wanted to see how the entire production team was going to combine the old cast with the new.

X-Men: Days of Future Past is the 2014 comic book action film from Bryan Singer, a X-Men veteran, having directed X-Men and X2 before going onto direct Superman Returns; this is the seventh X-Men film in the series, acting as a sequel to both X-Men: Last Stand and X-Men: First Class.  This film joins the two casts and sees the return of some old favourites, Hugh Jackman (Les Misérables), James McAvoy (Atonement), Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds), Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games series), Halle Berry (Cloud Atlas), Anna Paquin (True Blood), Ellen Page (Juno), Nicholas Hoult (Jack the Giant Slayer), Shawn Ashmore (The Following), Daniel Cudmore (The Twilight Saga), Sir Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings series), and Sir Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation), while bringing in some new additions, Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), Omar Sy (The Untouchables), Booboo Stewart (The Twilight Saga), and Fan Bingbing (Princess Pearl).

Rating: 10

Recommended To: Marvel fans; anyone

Favourite Characters: Bobby "Iceman" Drake; Logan "Wolverine"

Favourite Part: Professor Xavier: Hello old friend

Good Points: Wolverine and Professor Xavier's relationship; story developed well - especially past; melding of the two casts; Quicksilver

Bad Points: Wolverine's claws

X-Men: Days of Future Past picks up in a future, apocalyptic world where Sentinels are tracking and killing every mutant in the world along with humans who carry the mutant gene or help mutants in any way.  Under the leadership of Bobby "Iceman" Drake (Ashmore) and Kitty "Shadowcat" Pryde (Page) - the latter is now able to project another's consciousness into the past to deliver warnings so to save their lives in the present, a group of mutants who are linked with the older X-Men are currently fighting the Sentinels and only survive when Kitty projects fellow mutant, Bishop's (Sy), consciousness back so they can evade the Sentinels.  Safe for the moment in China, Bobby and Kitty's group meet up with Professor Xavier (P. Stewart), Magneto (McKellen), Storm (Berry), and Wolverine (Jackman) to discuss how this world came about - in 1973 Mystique (Lawrence) assassinated a powerful man, Bolivar Trask (Dinklage) who was building the predecessors to the Sentinels at the time but unfortunately Mystique was captured and her DNA was used to create the current Sentinels - and how they can possibly prevent it.  Kitty then says she can send someone back to stop Mystique; unfortunately, this happened 50 years prior to the future setting and the only person who could survive the trip is Wolverine due to his mutation so Magento and Xavier advise him to find their younger selves (Fassbender and McAvoy respectively) and convince them to work together and stop Mystique.  With Kitty's help, Wolverine goes back to the 70s and that's where all the fun begins.

A fantastic part of this film was how the Professor Xavier and Wolverine's relationship was explored in both timelines and a role reversal was added, bringing a new dimension to the relationship.  For me, it showed how significant Xavier and Wolverine are for each other because they have this student/teacher relationship that has grown for years and with that, comes the trust that both men need.  Even when Xavier is in the student position, he trusts Wolverine because the latter expresses this loyalty in him much like how Hank (Hoult) did even though Xavier knows nothing about Wolverine.  The trip to the past, for me, made this relationship stronger because Wolverine was able to get an insight into Xavier that he couldn't have gained without being there and discover what the man he looks up to was like before was actually the great Professor Xavier.

The story was better developed in this film than in some previous X-Men films and, I personally believe, is finally living up to its potential.  There seemed to have been a lot of thought put into this one as there is an exploration into the various relationships in this series, especially Xavier's with Wolverine as well as Magento - enemies in the past but allies in the future.  It's always interesting to see how a relationship was formed, particularly a tentative friendship that has lasted as long as Xavier and Magneto's.  Developing the story in the past timeline gave an insight into the backbone of the X-Men and the driving force behind Xavier's decisions that made him the man that he is in the future setting as well as how Magneto became who he is which in turn made the film interesting as the audience is able to build up a better image of the characters they are given with each new piece of information.

I loved how they were able to meld the cast from the original series and the cast of X-Men: First Class into one film with Wolverine as the connection while also developing each of the characters from their last appearance; it brings back that we all loved from the original series with a few new ones who show the great power that mutants can possess even in this dark time as they fight great evil that has befallen the world while giving an insight into past, showing how Xavier's and Magento's actions affected the future for mutants and humans alike and the relationship between the species.  For me, each actor was able to play their characters to a great standard even if the film primarily focussed on Wolverine, Magneto, and Xavier.  Kitty and Bobby were shown to have advanced greatly since X-Men: The Last Stand, signifying their transition from students to leaders is complete which I loved because they weren't relying on their elders anymore, implying that they have the capability to take over the helm of the X-Men if something were to happen to Xavier, Wolverine, or Storm and continue to do the good work the X-Men do.

Every review I've read has said this but I have to agree, Quicksilver (Evan Peters, American Horror Story) definitely stole the show with his high speed scene in which he saved the lives of Wolverine, Magneto, and Xavier as well as the previous jailbreak scene where Quicksilver shows off his cheeky personality.  It was a shame he wasn't in the film for very long because he has such potential as a character and could have been explored a bit more.  However, I do understand why he wasn't featured too much as he could have drawn attention away from the main story and to save time, he can be brought back for further sequels to further develop his character and his story.

It took me a while to work out which characters were my favourite because I loved all of the X-Men, past and future, as they were all well portrayed so I limited myself to a couple of my old favourites.  I've always loved Bobby Drake's character in this franchise because we've seen him grow up and seen his powers develop over the years to the capacity of his comic book counterpart; he was such a sweet character when he was introduced, welcoming Rogue (Paquin) to Xavier's School for the Young and Gifted and it was heart-breaking to see his family turn their backs on him just because he was a mutant but that's what made him so kind, he was willing to accept anyone and help them because of what his family did to him.  In X-Men: Days of Future Past, he makes a great leader to the new generation of mutants, allowing them to fight but also trying to protect them as his mentors did when he was a student.  It is implied, at least from where I was sat, that he could have been a great combat instructor if the school was still around and he is therefore a credit to Storm and Wolverine as well as Professor Xavier, even if his family believe him to be a monster.

I dare anyone to say that they don't love Wolverine and Jackman as Wolverine; granted his spinoffs weren't great successes but they allowed his past to be explored more and have made him an even more iconic character in the X-Men franchise.  Even if Jackman isn't the right build for the comic book version of Wolverine (seeing as he is nearly a foot taller) but he's made it his own and now I can't picture anyone else being Wolverine because he has the personality and the attitude down to a T.

There was only one thing that confused me and became a bad point, from my perspective, in this film and that was Wolverine's claws in the future part.  They were metal, like you'd expect, but in this continuity, Wolverine lost his metal claws during The Wolverine that returned as his original bone claws.  Granted there has been a number of years that have passed between The Wolverine and X-Men: Days of Future Past so he could have got them back somehow, maybe with Magneto's help, but it is not explained at all how they returned which irritated me.  All I needed was some kind of explanation because I was pleased they were back but it was confusing how he had them; or are we supposed to disregard The Wolverine.

Professor Xavier: Hello old friend

This line was such a simple yet powerful line from my point of view because it signifies that Xavier has been waiting for day for a long time, waiting for the old Wolverine to return and question what has happened - as Wolverine only knows the original timeline which resulted in the apocalyptic future - while Wolverine goes to the only person he can truly trust in this strange new world where mutants are happy, alive, and safe; it shows how great the bond between Wolverine and Xavier is.  The smile on Xavier's face says it all too because he's known for years that the present day Wolverine will eventually become the alternative Wolverine and it just makes me love Patrick Stewart and his acting even more because it's the way he delivers a line that makes him such a great actor and iconic as Professor Xavier.

I may be a big comic book (film) nerd but this was a definite improvement from previous X-Men films and I am thrilled that Bryan Singer is back at the helm of the franchise, taking over this film and the next (X-Men: Apocalypse) because I loved how he directed this film as well as the first two of the series.  The actors were great, especially Jackman, McAvoy, Stewart, and McKellen as I found their performances to be outstanding because they've become comfortable with their roles and this was definitely Jackman's best outing as Wolverine.  Evan Peters stole the show as Quicksilver and I hope he comes back in later films because I enjoyed his portrayal and while there is probably going to be some comparison to Peters' portrayal and Aaron Taylor-Johnson's in Avengers: Age of Ultron next year, I feel they are going to completely different, apart from the name and ability; though Taylor-Johnson may have his work cut out after Peters' performance.  This film is accessible to die-hard fans and newbies and everyone in between as it is simple to catch on who everyone is and old favourites return for those who know.  Again, there is an end credit scene and for those who are Marvel nerds (such as myself), you will know what is going on roughly, alluding to the next film but it isn't really worth it if you don't know your X-Men comic book plots, though it is clear what is going on and who certain characters are.

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