X-Men: Days of Future Past Review

 

Shadow’s Rating: 10/10–One of the better X-Men, and comic book movies, out there today.

Shadow’s Theater Rating: 10/10
Shadow’s Rewatchability Rating: 10/10

Worth: Theater ($10) + Blu Ray ($20) = $30

Rotten Tomatoe’s Rating: 91%, 7.6/10
Audience: 95%, 9/10

5 Other Reviews:
Best/Worst Movie Ever
Rorr, ComicBookMovie
SchmoesKnow 
DanTheMan
ScreenRant

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Plot in a Nut Shell: The X-Men that are still alive in a world dominated by unstoppable Sentinels send Wolverine’s mind back in time to bring young Xavier out of hiding to stop Mystique from killing Boliver Trask which leads to the horrible future they are in (whew). Unfortunately for everyone, nothing is ever easy when it involves the government, Magneto, Xavier, Mystique, and Wolverine.

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Spoiler-Free Thoughts…

– My new order for the X-Men movies: X2, DoFP, First Class, The Wolverine (unrated), X-Men, Origins, The Last Stand. This movie is definitely in that upper class of X-Men movies.

– This was one of the better time traveling movies out there. Easily. The time travel stuff was really really easy to understand. There were not any time paradoxes ala Terminator which makes your brain hurt thinking about it. It didn’t take a masters in calculus to understand. It was simple, they got it across in 60 seconds, and it didn’t bother you the rest of the movie. Well done.

– Focusing on the First Class cast was the right way to go. They essentially focused on First Class but added Wolverine and better action to it. Nicely done.

– While this movie was about saving the future, they decided to make it more personal by really making it about saving Mystique’s/Raven’s soul and bring Xavier back to the Xavier we all know. Which added a whole lot more emotion in the movie instead of simply “stop bad guy Trask.”

– Young Xavier and Magneto were just played so well once again. They add so much emotion to the roles it is just epic to see.

– Wolverine had a MUCH different role in this movie. Instead of being a ball of rage with knives stuck in his hands, he is a mentor and the force that gets Xavier to become Xavier again. And the explanation to why he had to be sent back in time and not someone else was perfect. Plus, once again, somehow Hugh got even more jacked. Good lord, is he hanging out with Stallone?

– Let us talk about the future X-men a bit. I think the new future guys said about 10 words combined lol. They were put into the movie to show off powers and add some action sequences to the movie. The REAL bulk of the movie focuses on young Xavier, young Magneto, young Mystique, Wolverine, and Beast. The future was around just to show off some cool X-men powers and to show how shitty things have gone for everyone because the Sentinels are unstoppable.

– Blink’s powers were SUPER cool on screen. Bishop’s were pretty cool too but Blink definitely stole the show for the new X-men in the future. Warpath was a huge disappointed and Sunspot was essentially Human Torch.

– Like everyone else, I was wrong about Quicksilver. Yes, his costume was dumb as fuck but wow, he stole the show when he was in the movie. That was a very cool way to show off super speed. The Avengers’ version better take some notes because that was awesome.

– The action parts were above average in this movie. Most of the “cool” action scenes were set in the future as those mutants have much more colorful powers than Wolverine, Xavier, Beast, and Mystique. The Quicksilver scene was of course a plus. But, other than Quicksilver, this movie lacked memorable moments action wise. It isn’t like say… Avengers where I could name 5 memorable action scenes in a heartbeat or X2 where the mansion and White House scenes were beyond epic.

– This movie definitely does NOT explain a lot of the continuity issues. For example, explaining how Xavier is back in his body and how Wolverine has adamantium claws. In fact, it even adds some things that could be seen as issues. But, overall, it isn’t distracting and it doesn’t take away from the movie. Fox surely learned its lesson and will stop fucking up stuff now.

– The end credit scene is worth staying for if you were a fan of the comics or cartoon. Otherwise, you will have NO idea what the fuck is happening because it really doesn’t have to do with the movie at all. I have already been messaged/texted by people asking me WTF that had to do with anything lol. It was TOO much of a tease because casuals are 100% confused by it.

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Spoiler-Filled Thoughts After the Jump

My 5 Favorite Things In the X-Men Movies

1. Excellent Casting Decisions

The casting choices for both Magnetos, both Xaviers, Wolverine, Stryker, Old Beast, Old Mystique, Wade Wilson (not Deadpool!), and Shaw were excellent in my opinion. Especially Wolverine, Magneto, and Xavier.

2. Certain Changes to the Source Material

Changing comic book source material is tricky… but a few of the things Fox changed were actually pretty damn cool. This includes…

– Magneto’s origin
– Magneto being a Nazi Hunter
– Xavier’s origin
– Wolverine and Sabertooth being half brothers
– Phoenix being a personality trait, but a weird cosmic bird of fire thing that really makes no sense
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3. These Memorable Action Sequences and Moments

– Nightcrawler at the White House
– Wolverine in the Mansion
– The Wolverine Bullet Train Scene
– Magneto Hunting Nazis in Brazil
– Magneto and Shaw

4. The Wolverine, First Class, and X2

Seriously, these movies are absolutely fantastic. People tend to focus too much on the negatives of X-men without remembering they produced 3 EXCELLENT movies and one other (X-Men) that was pretty damn good too. For all the hate Fox gets, it only produced two “bad” movies, and both of those were at least fun as well. There are no Spider-Man 3, Ghost Rider, Elektra, or Daredevil in this group of movies in my opinion.

5. The Potential For So Much More

There is a reason Fox bought the X-Men and it is the fact there is SO MUCH excellent source material there. So many great characters. So many great villains.

And while we have gotten 6 movies, so much has been left untouched. And with Days of Future Past coming and the fact the rest of the world saw how much money the Avengers made with a REAL comic book movie…

There is so much potential with X-Men. We are finally getting Sentinels after years and years of being confused as why they haven’t been put on screen. Apocalypse is coming soon, hopefully with ArchAngel and the Horseman. X-Force, which in the comics has always been one of my favorite books, is coming soon. Channing Tatum just signed to be Gambit, which means my favorite mutant will be getting a movie soon-ish (whether I like Tatum or not… it can’t be any worse than the Origins version right?). Wolverine 3 is coming down he pipeline.

With DoFP seemingly fixing everything nad officially rebooting the franchise, you also have the possibility of a real Iceman, Cyclops, and Angel. Mr. Sinister has still never been on screen. Onslaught. Omega Red. Mojo. Shi’ar. Ect ect ect.

Hopefully, DoFP keeps everything moving in a positive direction and lives up to its potential.

 

5 Things That Piss Me Off About the X-Men Films

1. Not Using the Big Villains 

– When I think “X-Men Villains” certain awesomeness pops in my head. One is Magneto and we have seen a ton of him in the 6 movies… and he has been done extremely well. Then I think of villains such as Apocalypse (nothing), Mr. Sinister (nothing), Sentinels (finally happening), Onslaught (nothing), Juggernaut (not done right), Omega Red (nothing), ect. It seems that is slowly changing with Sentinels coming up next and Apocalypse afterwards. But so far, we have gotten Magneto, Stryker, more Magneto, a tiny bit of Dark Phoenix, more Stryker, Viper?, and Shaw.

4 More Reasons After the Jump…

Welcome to X-Men Week!

It seems absolutely weird, but the first X-Men movie started way back in 2000! There have been six movies spanning 14 years with Days of Futures Past making it seven in 14 years. That is… wowza.

It has been a weird ride to get to Days of Future Past. The first X-Men has sometimes been credited for starting the comic book movie trend (that is wrong, it was Blade) and was solid in its own right. X2 was downright fantastic and one of the best comic book movies ever.

White House scene is still one of the GOAT

And then things got bumpy. The Last Stand was a mess all around, with the butchering of the Phoenix story line and apparent deaths of some really key characters (Cyclops, Jean, Xavier). It was like Fox was saying “no mas” and decided to end that part of the franchise. Everyone was still stuck in “trilogy” mode instead of keeping franchises going. Fox decided to continue to ride the back of the most famous X-Man, Wolverine, with X-Men Origins: Wolverine. This was another rough ride. Although fun in a vacuum, it straight up butchered some key characters and for some reason decided to destroy continuity by throwing people such as Xavier into the movie for no reason and having a Sabertooth that was much different from the Sabertooth in X-Men. I enjoy the movie, it was just too… bright and super heroy for a movie focusing on Wolverine dark, brutal past.

That horrible rendition of Gambit deserved this

Four movies in, nobody really knew what was coming next. The last two movies made lots of money (relatively), but were panned by critics and pissed off the comic book fanboys. The nerds at this point were getting pissed at the Wolverine fixing everything focus of the movies. Fox decided to go back and reboot everything with another prequel… X-Men: First Class. Focusing on Xavier building the school and Magneto’s origins, it was supposed to be a new beginning for the X-Men franchise. And then the movie starts with the same beginning as the original X-Men movie (the Magneto in Nazi Germany scene) and once again everyone was confused as fuck. It then continued to completely baffle everyone continuity wise, with the edition of a grown Emma Frost (who was a child in Origins), Xavier becoming paralyzed (he was walking in Origins), and Mystque being best friends with Xavier (wut?) among other things. Luckily however… the movie was fantastic, fresh, and the Magneto/Xavier relationship was beyond epic. Sure, no one knew what the fuck was going on over at Fox but at least the movie was good again.

Then came more Wolverine, this time with The Wolverine. When the movie was being developed, everyone assumed it was going to follow Origins. We were then stunned and punched in the face by Fox when they announced it followed Last Stand. What… wut? Most people assumed that trilogy was over and done with and First Class was a new start. So… why start after the trilogy again? Once again though, continuity aside the movie was fantastic. It was the darker, grittier movie we want with Wolverine and due to the fact it involved no other X-Men characters, continuity didn’t really matter anyway.

and Hugh keeps getting more jacked.

Until… the after credit scene. With a powered up old Magneto (who lost his powers in Last Stand) and a fully powered, telepathic, old Xavier (who was evaporated by Phoenix in Last Stand) showing up to tell Wolverine they need him.

And with that, we have X-Men: Days of Future Past. A time traveling movie that starts in the future with the old X-Men from the first trilogy before sending Wolverine to the past via comic book stuff to be with the X-Men from the First Class movies. So, this movie not only has to not suck, but it has to fix a ton of the continuity errors brought on by a lack of direction by Fox. Oh, and explain how Xavier is alive and in his old body. Lol. God damnit Fox.

So welcome to X-Men week. I have loved the X-Men since the 90’s animated cartoon (like everyone else), like to love all the movies, and also read the comic books. This week, expect posts on…

– Things I Hate About the X-Men Films
– Things I Love About the X-Men Films
– Things to Remember from the X-Men Films
– X-Men: Days of Future Past Preview
– Re-Reviews of All 6 X-Men Movies

It is going to be a busy week for me. Oh and for those keeping score at home, my three favorite X-Men of all time are…

1. Gambit
2. Nightcrawler
3. Wolverine

Top 3 Favorite X-Men Villains…

1. Apocalypse
2. Magneto
3. Mr. Sinister