"X-Men: Days of Future Past" Review

X-Men: Days of Future Past

5 out of 5 stars

Family appropriate rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Rated PG-13
-Quite a bit of brutal violence including stabbings, but nothing gory.
-Two instances of sexual content.
-One instance of backside male nudity.
-Moderate language including one f-word.






"X-Men: Days of Future Past" utilizes a unique, comic booky plot to beautifully continue the character arcs that left off in both "The Wolverine" and "X-Men: First Class."

Humans and mutants are at war. The mutants are losing because of the Sentinels, machines built by the government that have the ability to track down and kill them. Furthermore, these machines have the ability to mock mutant powers, which is why they are so successful.

They were designed by a scientist named Dr. Trask (Peter Dinklage) in the 1970s. Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), angry at what he was doing, assassinated him and was captured on the spot. This gave humans even more motivation to get rid of the mutants, and they studied Mystique's body. It was through this that they were able to give the Sentinels the ability to mock mutant powers.

In the present, there are only few X-Men left, and they want to stop this war, reversing the devastation that has been happening. The way to do this is to stop Mystique from killing Trask. Kitty Pride (Ellen Page) has the power to send a person's consciousness back in time to his or her past self. Because it is so difficult for someone to go that far back without being killed, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) — being invincible — volunteers to go.

In the past, he must utilize both past Professor Xavior (James McAvoy) and past Magneto (Michael Fassbender) to stop Mystique. Of course, things are a lot more complicated than that, which is what makes this film great. There is non-stop conflict that is believable given where the characters have left off.

This continues the events from "X-Men: First Class," in which several of Xavior's friends have left him to join Magneto. He is in a very confused state-of-mind, and he is very different from present Xavior (Patrick Stewart), a Gandalf-like man with a lot of wisdom to offer. Past Magneto is just as extreme as ever in his worldview, and there are parts where Xavior seems to agree with him.

At the end of "The Wolverine," the title character finally accepts the fact that he needed to kill Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) in order to save the world. Not only does "Days of Future Past" address this, it continues his character. He is now charged with the responsibility to be the mentor rather than the mentored. Every performance in this film is believable enough to carry on all of these established character arcs.

The plot is simple enough to follow but complex enough to keep the audience involved. Without overcomplicating things with useless subplots, it is very straightforward with a ton of twists and turns that makes it hard to predict what will happen in the end. It goes above and beyond the conventional super hero flick with an overarching theme of redemption and change that is beautifully placed rather than forced in.

This film has just the right amount of high-energy action to keep it fun. There is not too much — like the "Transformers" movies — but it is not bogged down by too much dialogue. Every action scene is well-choreographed and helps move the story forward. The best sequence involves a new character named Quicksilver (Evan Peters) and his mutant power of super speed.

At first, I had a problem with the way the movie ends. It is believable enough given the rest of the storyline, but it fails to explain how everything works. However, this is actually a good thing. It does not give all of the answers. It forces the audience to really think about what happened, and it gives another reason to anticipate what is next for the franchise.

Specific thoughts on the ending (spoilers): After having taken part in changing history, Wolverine wakes up in the mutant academy. He goes to Xavior's office, who finds out that his past consciousness has finally caught up to himself in the present. The professor welcomes him and says they have a lot of catching up to do. There are also characters who died in previous installments who are presently in the mutant academy, which suggests that the entire timeline has been altered.

This raises a few questions: why does his consciousness come back to the present? How does he still make it to the mutant academy even though the timeline should be very different? Does everyone else involved in protecting Wolverine and Kitty Pride remember everything? If not, why is Wolverine the only one who does remember it?

I have some tentative answers to these questions. A lot of it is he is the only one whose consciousness is in a different place from his present body. Since the timeline is altered, which causes Kitty Pride to let go, his consciousness has to come back to himself in the current present. I do not think everyone else remembers everything because Bobby (Shawn Ashmore) seems to be dating Kitty Pride at the beginning, but when Wolverine comes to the alternate timeline, he is dating Rogue (Anna Paquin) again. Professor Xavior only knows about the mission Wolverine is back from because he remembers the events of the altered timeline.

What do you think of the ending? Do agree with my thoughts on it? Go ahead and comment what you think. Just be sure to warn other readers of spoilers.