Monday, December 1, 2014

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - 10 stars out of 10

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - 10 stars out of 10

“X-Men: Days of Future Past” lives up to the high expectation set by “X-Men: First Class.”  This series, a prequel to the trilogy that was made from 2000-2006, explores the origins of the characters and the challenges faced at Charles Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters.  However, it is clear that this is more than a stand-alone trilogy.  “Days of Future Past” has creatively connected the dots between the old trilogy and the new trilogy, something that I am not sure has ever been done.  Bryan Singer has somehow found a way to meld the young X-Men into a plot with their elder alter-egos, which could technically make this film a fourth installment in the original trilogy rather than a second installment in the prequel trilogy.  More importantly for X-men fans, this could even explain away the highly controversial main character killing spree in “X-Men: The Last Stand” (2006).  I couldn’t help but walk away from this film thinking about how the connection between trilogies is genius (and how the confusing title is actually a perfect description of the film).  The story itself is really interesting too, using knowledge of future events to help Charles pull his life together and to show the duality of Magneto and Charles being friends and foes.  All of the acting is well executed from James McAvoy and Jennifer Lawrence to Patrick Stewart and Ellen Page.  I think that everybody will fall in love with Quicksilver’s powers as they provide comedy while being integral to the plot and really cool.  His orchestrated escape from the Pentagon is one of the greatest sequences of special effects that I have ever seen.  That will always be the iconic scene of this movie.  I also appreciate that all loose ends were taken care of, particularly the explanation that the altered history’s effects on the future aren’t applied until Wolverine wakes up, and the fact that Hugh Jackman is the only actor to cross over between trilogies since Wolverine ages at such a slow rate.  “X-Men: Days of Future Past” is basically flawless but will be very confusing if you do not have any knowledge of the original trilogy.

[Pictured: One of the best scenes from the entire X-Men franchise]

No comments:

Post a Comment