by Cookie N Screen and Robbie Jones
It’s 2023. The human and mutants are living on the brink of being obsolete. Robotic assassins named Sentinels are unstoppable, able to wipe out the race of mutants and those who will soon give birth to them. The few mutants left, Xavier and the crew, are fighting a losing battle that will end in the death of everyone. Their only hope is to send Wolverine back in time to prevent the war ever happening. However, when he is sent back in time, he finds that bringing Xavier and Magneto together is a harder task than he first thought.
It's now out on DVD, but is it any good? Cookie and Robbie fight it out!
It’s 2023. The human and mutants are living on the brink of being obsolete. Robotic assassins named Sentinels are unstoppable, able to wipe out the race of mutants and those who will soon give birth to them. The few mutants left, Xavier and the crew, are fighting a losing battle that will end in the death of everyone. Their only hope is to send Wolverine back in time to prevent the war ever happening. However, when he is sent back in time, he finds that bringing Xavier and Magneto together is a harder task than he first thought.
It's now out on DVD, but is it any good? Cookie and Robbie fight it out!
For...
by Robbie Jones
It’s getting easier and easier to forget these days that comic book movies even exist outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We get 1 or 2 of them every year, and will do so for a long, long time. Not only do they make more money than other studio’s outputs but get much better reviews and overshadow any other comic releases of the year. However, despite the excellence of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy (Both arguably better than this one), it was hard to not notice the presence of X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Fox have been churning out X-Men films since 2000, with the release of Bryan Singer’s first film. Carrying on with a great sequel, a horrendous threequel, a somewhat decent but on the whole disappointing Origins story, a fantastic prequel and an entire film dedicated to the Wolverine (Because it’s not like he was the main focus of every X-Men film bar First Class), we have come to Days of Future Past, an adaptation of one of the most well-loved and critically acclaimed comic storylines.
It’s getting easier and easier to forget these days that comic book movies even exist outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We get 1 or 2 of them every year, and will do so for a long, long time. Not only do they make more money than other studio’s outputs but get much better reviews and overshadow any other comic releases of the year. However, despite the excellence of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy (Both arguably better than this one), it was hard to not notice the presence of X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Fox have been churning out X-Men films since 2000, with the release of Bryan Singer’s first film. Carrying on with a great sequel, a horrendous threequel, a somewhat decent but on the whole disappointing Origins story, a fantastic prequel and an entire film dedicated to the Wolverine (Because it’s not like he was the main focus of every X-Men film bar First Class), we have come to Days of Future Past, an adaptation of one of the most well-loved and critically acclaimed comic storylines.
With such a complex plot and big cast, you’d imagine that the film would have several issues in its pacing and sharing of screen time; however, it somehow manages to pack it all in nicely. Nobody feels underused, and despite him stealing every scene in the previous films, Wolverine doesn’t feel like the central focus of the film for once. If anything, the film is dominated by Jennifer Lawrence with another exceptional performance as Mystique. However, if we’re going to talk performances, we must throw praise atJames McAvoy who does what he does best: Blow audiences away, this time with his stunning portrayal of a broken Xavier very unlike how we met him in First Class. He has perfect chemistry with everyone he speaks to, especially with future-self Patrick Stewart, in perhaps one of the best and most chilling scenes of the film. The cast is probably the strongest thing about the film, with Fassbender, McKellen, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, Peter Dinklage, and several others delivering terrific performances.
What’s also great about Days of Future Past is the plot’s uncertainty. It’s nowhere near predictable, and at times quite scary. Obviously fans of the comic know what’s going on (And maybe pleasantly/horrible surprised by some changes) but for us blissfully unaware movie goers, it’s an absolute ride. Sure, it does get confusing if you try to work out the order of the timeline, but with such fantastic cinematography and writing (Both of which used tremendously in Quicksilver’s big part), you forget about it after a while.
X-Men: Days of Future Past might not rival any of Marvel’s products, but it’s the best in the X-Men series, and is a fantastic experience with a great cast, stunning visuals and immense plot.
What’s also great about Days of Future Past is the plot’s uncertainty. It’s nowhere near predictable, and at times quite scary. Obviously fans of the comic know what’s going on (And maybe pleasantly/horrible surprised by some changes) but for us blissfully unaware movie goers, it’s an absolute ride. Sure, it does get confusing if you try to work out the order of the timeline, but with such fantastic cinematography and writing (Both of which used tremendously in Quicksilver’s big part), you forget about it after a while.
X-Men: Days of Future Past might not rival any of Marvel’s products, but it’s the best in the X-Men series, and is a fantastic experience with a great cast, stunning visuals and immense plot.
... Against
by Cookie N Screen
I’m not going to lie. I was so excited for this film. So excited. That kind of cinematic buzz that wets the lining of your pants with the very first trailer. After all, I had loved First Classso intently that it’s one of the few blockbuster movies that I could watched repeatedly. And I was excited for that cast to collide with the initial series' cast in an explosive action-packed mutant-based film. It all titillated with all this promise. Not to mention I have a small penchant for everything James McAvoy is in and when you put him opposite Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence... what could go wrong?
Well, actually, quite a bit as Bryan Singer failed to grab hold of the initial excellence that he started with in X-Men and X-2.
X-Men: Days of Future Past has quite a lot going for it and strains under the different plot points, time streams and an abundance of characters we now have to care about. It’s not to say that this isn’t at all possible to include this elements and to have it all fit (X-2 is a perfect example of giving us new characters to empathise with whilst concentrating on the continuation of previous storylines). But X-Men: Days of Future past flits through many time streams and expositions without any forethought on how to explore them. Part of it is down to the large time lapse between X-Men: First Class and the 1970s that the youthful mutants are encompassing. So, there are a lot of explanations. A lot. A lot a lot a lot. We need to know why Xavier can walk, what happened to the missing mutants who were cast away, why Mystique is working alone, why Magneto is in prison and what Trask is doing. Not to mention you’ve got all the future stuff to concentrate on, too: Why are there sentinels? Why are they killing mutants? Why are Charles and Magneto working together? Who are these new mutants? Why have they got new powers? Why does Wolverine have to go back in time?
I’m not going to lie. I was so excited for this film. So excited. That kind of cinematic buzz that wets the lining of your pants with the very first trailer. After all, I had loved First Classso intently that it’s one of the few blockbuster movies that I could watched repeatedly. And I was excited for that cast to collide with the initial series' cast in an explosive action-packed mutant-based film. It all titillated with all this promise. Not to mention I have a small penchant for everything James McAvoy is in and when you put him opposite Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence... what could go wrong?
Well, actually, quite a bit as Bryan Singer failed to grab hold of the initial excellence that he started with in X-Men and X-2.
X-Men: Days of Future Past has quite a lot going for it and strains under the different plot points, time streams and an abundance of characters we now have to care about. It’s not to say that this isn’t at all possible to include this elements and to have it all fit (X-2 is a perfect example of giving us new characters to empathise with whilst concentrating on the continuation of previous storylines). But X-Men: Days of Future past flits through many time streams and expositions without any forethought on how to explore them. Part of it is down to the large time lapse between X-Men: First Class and the 1970s that the youthful mutants are encompassing. So, there are a lot of explanations. A lot. A lot a lot a lot. We need to know why Xavier can walk, what happened to the missing mutants who were cast away, why Mystique is working alone, why Magneto is in prison and what Trask is doing. Not to mention you’ve got all the future stuff to concentrate on, too: Why are there sentinels? Why are they killing mutants? Why are Charles and Magneto working together? Who are these new mutants? Why have they got new powers? Why does Wolverine have to go back in time?
If you heard that in the voice of someone close to you who constantly asks for questions throughout a movie, then you’ll realise how irritating that these all appear in quick succession and are flimsy at exploring it with proper depth. It’s more like “here it is” and then onto the next one because it’s trying too hard to be clever, unable to explore these thread points with the astuteness they require. It falls flat. It’s extremely dull and very convoluted, leaving you rather disappointed and less fulfilled.
True, there are good points and the acting is incredible (it’s McAvoy, he’s important to the world), the comedy works great (with Evan Peters as Quicksilver really stealing every scene that he is in) and the Sentinels are truly creepy. But it is marred by its overbearing plot that hampers the greatness of it. What probably would have worked better was to sow the seeds of this plot into that of the last one – having a continuous story arc than delving head first into the complexities. Oh, and then putting on mutton chopped-Wolverine at the front of this film (who we’re so incredibly fed up with) really pushes it past tedium.
X-Men: Days of Future Past? More like X-Men: Days of Future Farce!!
True, there are good points and the acting is incredible (it’s McAvoy, he’s important to the world), the comedy works great (with Evan Peters as Quicksilver really stealing every scene that he is in) and the Sentinels are truly creepy. But it is marred by its overbearing plot that hampers the greatness of it. What probably would have worked better was to sow the seeds of this plot into that of the last one – having a continuous story arc than delving head first into the complexities. Oh, and then putting on mutton chopped-Wolverine at the front of this film (who we’re so incredibly fed up with) really pushes it past tedium.
X-Men: Days of Future Past? More like X-Men: Days of Future Farce!!
What Do You Think?
Do you really enjoy the movie?
Or do you think it falls flat?
Let us know in the comments below!
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