X-Men: Days Of Future Pastby Wilson Morales
Counting the stand-alone Wolverine films, ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ marks the seventh film in the ‘X-Men’ franchise and with Bryan Singer back at the director’s chair after doing the first two, it’s safe to say that this film by far as good as the first one. Although the film boasts as many characters that ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ had, the screenplay written by Simon Kinberg from a story by Kinberg, Matthew Vaughn, and Jane Goldman manages to place each of them in better scenes and something to add to the story than just being props. Singer not only elevates the action to delight the fans and newcomers but he delivers a fast-paced emotional storyline that blends in all of the previous films without confusing anyone. Certainly a first rate entertainment among the Marvel films to date.
With returning cast members from original X-Men as well as X-Men: First Classs (Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Ellen Page, Nicholas Hoult, Daniel Cudmore and Shawn Ashmore), the story is set in both the future (2013) and past (1973) where the upgraded Sentinels in the future are threatening the existence of every mutant alive. Within the opening scenes, mutants are being hunted and killed with only a handful escaping, through the help of Kitty Pryde (Page). Since she can teleport anyone to the both the past and the future, through Bishop (Sy), she knows the outcome of everyone’s fate. With doom lying ahead, once foes-now-allies in the future Professor X (Stewart) and Magneto (McKellan), hiding away in an ancient castle overseas, must find a way to change the past for a different outcome to place than what Kitty has envisioned.
This entails going back to 1973, the root to when the Sentinels were created by Bolivar Trask (Dinklage). With his ability to regenerate physically, Wolverine volunteers to travel back in time and help persuade the younger Charles Xavier/ Prof. X (McAvoy) to work with his nemesis Magneto (Fassbender) in stopping Raven/ Mystique (Lawrence) from setting the motions that began the war against all mutants.
Without giving away so much of the plot, let’s just say that there are plenty of reasons to see and love this film. First of all, a lot of credit goes to Kinberg because as the film shifts back and forth from the future to the past and vice-versa, the story remains cohesive with the actions and dialogue. There’s never a sense of confusion as we see both versions of Professor X and Magneto and what led to their rivalry. With some unexpected humor coming from Mark Camacho’s Richard Nixon, this is a serious drama dealing with humanity and whether the world and its different leader can live in a world with people who are “different.”
With John Ottman serving as the composer and editor, it’s also nice to hear some 70s tune, including Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” which goes well with the scene it’s placed in.
As for the actors and characters, with the exception of the main cast, including McAvoy, Fassbender and Lawrence, who bring in excitement and balance, the rest do well in their cameos. There was an initial sense that with too many characters, there wouldn’t enough enough scene for each to stand out, but with Omar Sy (Bishop), Fan Bingbing (Blink), Adam Canto (Sunspot), and Booboo Stewart (Warpath) making their mark in the future, and Evan Jonigkeit as Toad, Lucas Till (Havok) and Gregg Lowe (Ink) in the past, their presence and abilities come in hand when engaged in battle. In his role as Quicksilver, Evan Peters provides probably the best entrance for a newcomer in the franchise. He brings in a kinetic and refreshing attitude to the cast. In all of the previous films, the villains were never as threatening as The Sentinels. From the beginning to the end, their scenes are an edge-of-your-seat thrill. Leave it to Singer to make this 7th film fun, dazzling and certainly one of the best Marvel films to date.
