Oh, how wrong we were.
To this very day, the midnight showing of X-Men: The Last Stand stands as one of the most appalling, spirit-crushing moviegoing experiences of my entire life. I watched in horror as the franchise director Bryan Singer had so meticulously set up in X-Men (2000) and its superior sequel X2: X-Men United (2003) came crashing down in the worst possible way. Gone was any emotional subtext, character development or anything remotely meaningful. In its place were God-awful special effects, horrendous dialogue, dreadful characterizations and, well, it was just an all-around piece of garbage. Sure, I’ve seen worse films, but in terms of sheer awfulness and disappointment few movies come close to X-Men: The Last Stand. It was the most viscerally negative reaction I’ve ever had to a movie in all my life. That's right, even more so than the dreadful Star Wars prequels.
When the movie ended, my friends and I had a long discussion about whether or not it was worse than the Godfather of awful superhero films: Batman & Robin.
“You expected Batman & Robin to be bad after Batman Forever,” I said. “X-Men 3 is almost worse considering what came before it.”
“But,” my ever-optimistic friend Richie interjected, “What if Bryan Singer could come back? What if he could fix everything X-Men 3 did so horribly wrong and set the franchise right again?”
I told Richie it would never happen.
I am so happy that I was completely wrong.
Eight years after the travesty that was X-Men: The Last Stand, Bryan Singer has returned to revitalize the franchise he so expertly began. And what a revival it is. Watching X-Men: Days of Future Past feels like waking up after an eight-year nightmare. It brings the series back to the former glory of its first two entries and is a spectacular summer blockbuster.
In the ‘not too distant future,’ the earth is a vapid wasteland. Sentinels roam the streets, hunting down and exterminating all of mutant kind. The surviving X-Men are planning a last-ditch effort to save human and mutant-kind alike: travel into the past to change the future. For some odd reason, Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) is now capable of phasing people into their past bodies, even though it doesn’t quite fall in line with her mutant abilities. But, who cares?? It’s fun, just go with it. Naturally, Wolverine is the only one who can survive being sent all the way back to his younger body in the seventies, due to his regenerative abilities and the film producers’ inability to make an X-Men movie that DOESN’T star Wolverine. Once there, he joins up with the younger Charles Xavier aka Professor X (James McAvoy), Erik Lehnsherr aka Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and Hank McCoy aka Beast (Nicholas Hoult) who aid him in his quest to set things right and save the world!
As far as plotting goes, Days of Future Past is a bit convoluted. There are lots of characters, lots of settings and lots and lots of happenings, some of which don't make a lick of sense when logic is applied to them. But, these things are expertly balanced by Singer’s deft hand and an excellent screenplay by Simon Kinberg. (This guy wrote X-Men: The Last Stand too?? How is that possible???) The cast is wonderful. Hugh Jackman leads the way, continuing to play Wolverine as if his whole purpose in life is to do so. James McAvoy reprises his role of Charles Xavier from X-Men: First Class, giving a much deeper, more emotionally satisfying performance than he did in First Class. Michael Fassbender is a marvel to behold - as always - and his take on mutant baddie Magneto continues to be one of the highlights of this franchise. Of course, the true standout performance is Evan Peters as Quicksilver. He’s brilliant beyond all reason and I really wish he’d been able to play a larger part in the film. Maybe next time? Please? Peter Dinklage is also pretty great as Sentinel creator Bolivar Trask, even though his character isn’t given much subtext beyond his primary motivation to develop the mechanical behemoths.
Surprisingly, the weakest link in this strongest of strong ensembles is Jennifer Lawrence. Lawrence, who is unquestionably one of the finest young actors working today, phones in her performance, giving dry, emotionless deliveries of all her lines. Somehow, she isn’t even capable of exuding the sexiness that is inherent to the character of Mystique. Hopefully she’ll get her act together by the time the inevitable sequel comes around.
The action sequences in Days of Future Past are astonishing. (Especially the one starring Peters’ Quicksilver) Singer captures the excitement with zest and, most importantly, clarity. I really would have loved to see all our favorite X-Men team up to do battle in the film’s climax as opposed to just a select few. I suppose in the age of Joss Whedon's The Avengers it’s natural to be a bit disappointed when a film like this doesn’t end with an all-out, character-driven explosion fest. I also miss the more subtle character development of the first two X-Men flicks. It feels like in the chaos of the action and the attempt to juggle the ensemble cast, smaller moments are a bit harder to come by. When they do, though, they're pretty great - especially the scene in which McAvoy's Xavier meets his older self. (Played to perfection by Patrick Stewart, another actor born for the part)
And can I just throw in a random aside and mention how thrilled I am that John Ottman returned to score Days of Future Past, utilizing his superb theme from X2: X-Men United? Seriously, I'm 5 minutes into the movie and I'm already squealing in my seat like a Twilight fangirl.
At the end of the day, despite whatever personal qualms I may have, I couldn’t be happier with X-Men: Days of Future Past. It completely washes away the bad taste of X-Men: The Last Stand and sets the whole franchise back on course in the most splendid fashion. With Singer set to return for the sequel, my hopes for this franchise’s future are at an all-time high!!
FINAL RATING: 4.5/5
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