X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) (1 Viewer)

I just saw it Thursday night. Quite a treat to see an X-Men movie again with some of the old cast. Really good film with tension mounting towards the end. There is a scene post credits so stick around!

[DaveF]

X-Menays of the Future is kinda the Star Trek:Generations of X Men movies. Solid movie with an acceptable time-travel aspect. But a little torn between old cast and new cast. I enjoyed it, but that spark of amazing-ness in X Men 1 & 2 and First Class wasn't there for me. It didn't engage me emotionallyThe ending was thrilling. But overall, I felt it was too much "Wolverine IV". It needed more action, more mutants, and less Logan.

 

[Johnny Angell]

The last Xmen movie I remember watching was

Spoiler

The one in which Xavier was killed. He just sort of burst into millions of pieces. How did he get reborn?

 

[DaveF]

The last Xmen movie I remember watching was

Spoiler

The one in which Xavier was killed. He just sort of burst into millions of pieces. How did he get reborn?

X-Men 3? I think that was purged from this new storyline. Mostly, since it was visually referenced during Wolverines flashbacks. So, I'm confused too by how these new movies relate to the previous ones.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Because of the changes wrought by this film, the only other film that's canon now is "X-Men: First Class". Everything after Wolverine waking up in 1973 is potentially different, since his intervention changed the direction of so many key players.With regard to how Xavier made it to the Sentinel future in the original timeline, I believe that his resurrection was strongly hinted at in a post credits scene for X-Men 3.

 

[DaveF]

The reset at the end was clear to me. But at the start of this movie (or the previous one), I wasn't sure if the previous three X-Men were part of this universe or it's a reboot a la Spiderman or the various Hulks.

 

[Sean Bryan]

The last Xmen movie I remember watching was

Spoiler

The one in which Xavier was killed. He just sort of burst into millions of pieces. How did he get reborn?

No need for spoiler since it's a plot point from X3: The Last Stand. The explanation for Xavier being alive was included in the the same movie in which he died (X3). They planted the seed for it earlier in the movie when Xavier was having a discussion with his students about the moral implications of someone transferring his mind into a brain dead (or something along those lines) individual. Then the post credit scene showed what appeared to be a comatose patient waking up and speaking in Xavier's voice. The implication most take away from this is that he had a brain dead/comatose twin brother and Xavier transferred his consciousness into him at the moment of his "death". And then in the mid credit scene of 'The Wolverine' when Logan asks "How are you alive?" Xavier says something like "As I've told you before, you're not the only one with gifts".

 

[Sean Bryan]

The reset at the end was clear to me. But at the start of this movie (or the previous one), I wasn't sure if the previous three X-Men were part of this universe or it's a reboot a la Spiderman or the various Hulks.

No reboot. It's all the same series. All films leading up to Days of Future Past "happened". Actually, Days of Future Past could not have happened if it wasn't for all the previous films. They all lead up to it, or back to it. I'm surprised some seem to be confused about that since within this very movie they show clips from all previous films (mostly from the perspective of Logan's memory). Of course, after altering the past in this film a new timeline was created leading to a future where some of the events of the original timeline (previous movies) happened differently or didn't happen at all. SPOILER WARNING!!!!!!!!!***But LOGAN STILL HAS HIS MEMORIES OF THE ORIGINAL TIMELINE. So of course it's all part of one film series continuity. The original three movies had to have happened first in order to give significance to waking up in a changed future where Jean and Scott are still alive. Sure, in the altered timeline the events of X3 didn't happen (and the events of the other films likely didn't happen exactly the same either). But they still had to "happen" first in order to lead up the the future where Logan traveled back and then changed history so that they "didn't happen".Before doing the film Bryan Singer said his plan was to use the time travel story to fix some of the bigger story mis-steps and continuity errors throughout the series. There would be no continuity fixing necessary if they were just going for a straight up reboot. The biggest continuity blunders were:- Xavier walking in his cameo in Origins Wolverine and the opening scene flashback in X3 while being paralyzed at the End of First Class (much earlier than those films indicated).The introduction of the treatment with a trade off of his telepathy gives an explanation for that. It may be something that he continued to use on occasion for various reasons. - A Human looking Hank McCoy interviewed on television in X2 while developing his fury blue characteristics in First Class. Again, his treatment to suppress the physical manifestation of his mutation gives explanation for this. It's still a bit shaky when you consider his reaction to seeing his human looking hand when in the presence of the "mutation suppressing child" in X3, but its less messy now. - Mystique being a cold blooded killer in X1, 2 & 3 that didn't seem to care about Xavier, while in First Class we are introduced to her as good person who grew up with Xavier. Her joining up with Eric at the end of First Class at least gave some suggestion that she'd be going down a darker path that could line up with her portrayal some 4 decades later. In DoFP they further explain the path she took that got her there in the original timeline. Her taking a life (Trask's) really sent her down a dark path, and her being captured, tortured, and experimented on pushed her even further along that path. Interestingly, they were able to prevent those things from happening, so the Mystique in the future of the new timeline is likely to be quite different from her character in the original timeline. But of course the biggest "fix" wasn't a continuity issue as much as a poor story issue. Scott being unceremoniously killed off screen was a bad choice. And the whole Dark Phoenix story was tragically mishandled, basically making it a B-story to the main story of "the cure". At least The Wolverine managed to take that and do something good with it (Logan's guilt and isolation after killing Jean, and his "conversations" with her). But DoFP did even better by saying it didn't happen. Well, it didn't happen for everyone but Logan. He still experienced it and remembers it.

 

[Tino]

Thanks Sean. Very helpful.

 

[Brian Dobbs]

8/10

As good or better than X2.

But post-Avengers, it's going to take a lot to give us the same thrill. Consider me spoiled by Joss Whedon and Marvel Studios.

Even Captain America: Winter Soldier was more enjoyable than this.

Quicksilver stole the show. Hands down.

The opening action sequence was incredible! The Quicksilver sequence matched its intensity, but there really wasn't enough action throughout the rest of the movie.

Wolverine had nothing to do. It's a shame, because Hugh Jackman got ripped for this movie! A few funny lines though.

This movie was elevated by the top-notch acting by everyone involved, and the pace of the storytelling and editing.

How was this the most-expensive movie? Because of the cast salaries? Or the CG integration? Everything looked pretty real, as opposed to Green Lantern. So maybe that's why.

The futuristic Sentinals were perfect. Finally, we could actually feel that the superhero protagonists could be put in real danger. I hope they make a return and that the X-Men put up a real fight.

Happy to see who made an appearance at the end.

Spoiler

Cyclops!

 

[DaveF]

No reboot. It's all the same series. All films leading up to Days of Future Past "happened". Actually, Days of Future Past could not have happened if it wasn't for all the previous films. They all lead up to it, or back to it.I'm surprised some seem to be confused about that since within this very movie they show clips from all previous films (mostly from the perspective of Logan's memory).

Thanks for the recap. Seven movies and 15 years on, I'm don't recall the details of how they all interplay. Particularly, I thought X3 had everyone die except Wolverine. So I didn't understand how it would fit with this future X-Men. Wolverine's flashbacks further confused me, because I didn't know what they were trying to do with continuity across all these movies.

The other details...I try not to get hung up on continuity details over this kind of loose movie sequence.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

X-Men DOFP was pretty good but hobbled by timey-wimey nothing matters reset button = no real tension. First Class is still first place.

[color=rgb(41,47,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif;background-color:rgb(245,248,250);]And it totally ignores Xavier's death from X3. Sorry the inference that has to be made from the X3 post credit scene is baloney. Something that important has to be properly explained. DOFP did an end run around it.[/color]

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Continuing my rewatch of various movies in the Fox/X-Men universe following X-Men Origins: Wolverine Sunday night, the first two X-Men movies last night, and The Wolverine earlier tonight.

This is probably my favorite of all of the X-Men movies; X2 and First Class are the only two that really give it a run for its money. It works as both a semi-faithful adaptation of John Byrne's "Days of Future Past" storyline (albeit with Logan rather than Kitty Pryde as the main protagonist) and as a really effective melding of the two different casts, and leveraging the differences between them in really effective ways.

It's also the only Simon Kinberg screenplay that I find to be entirely effective.

Not a knock against the movie but for it to have cost $225 million, some of the actors must be getting massive paychecks. It's not like it isn't a big movie but it doesn't seem like one of the biggest movies ever made either.

It's an absolutely massive cast, even accounting for the fact that many of them were probably on the hook for multi-picture deals. Period pieces are expensive as well, and this had a lot of heavily CG environments in the dystopian future. Another factor: the notoriously cheap Tom Rothman was no longer the head at Fox.

The ending was pretty perfect.

One of the things that I love about this movie is that the fate of the world ultimately comes down to Mystique making a choice about what kind of person she wants to be. If she murders Trask, the world ends. If she listens to Charles's appeal to the better angels of her nature, the world is saved.

This X-Men stayed completely focused on the menace of the sentinels, and how they stop them. This made all of the interactions of all of the characters have real impact on the final goal, which they kept going back to. This allowed characters to change their narrative, to alter their behavior, to be good guys or bad guys but in the end they all had the purpose of serving the larger story.

Another thing I really love about this movie is the way it inverts the relationship between Logan and Xavier. In the earlier movies, it was Logan who was lost and needed to find his way, and it was Professor X who helped him do it. Here, it's Xavier who is lost and needs to find his way, and it's Wolverine who helps him do it. Jackman's performance is so pitch perfect here, and it sells the arc Wolverine has gone on over the course of his movies so far.

Oddly enough, the Quicksilver segment was the most entertaining segment to me, and since it shows up in the first half, it almost had that same effect of when Superman saves the airplane in "Superman Returns", where the rest of the film never quite gets as exhilarating as that bit.

Evan Peters as Quicksilver is the clear highlight of this movie, and his version of the character really sells how dirty Whedon did the MCU version of the character in Age of Ultron.

I thought McAvoy was the best thing in the movie - his character showed real growth, through struggle and sacrifice. His scene with Patrick Stewart (which almost strained credibility) was wonderful.

I really love how all of the younger versions of the characters are shown as being works in progress. Charles and Raven both feel a lot younger than the Stewart and Romjin versions of those characters.

Fassbender was great too; he has such a presence in these films that they'd be crazy not to resurrect that dormant Magneto film.

The difference between McKellan's version of Magneto and Fassbender's version of Magneto is subtle but so impactful. The best way I can articulate it is that McKellan's version of Magneto is fueled by ice cold rage, while Fassbender's version of Magneto is fueled by fiery hot rage.

Lawrence was also really fun to watch - she was on the same kind of mission Magneto was in First Class and was just as intense.

And she has to convey Mystique's uncertainty. Magneto was who he was, and Xavier is who he is. But Mystique at this point in the timeline is poised on a knife's edge.

I guess they had to stretch Kitty's powers to give Ellen Page something to do; I don't ever recall that character with those abilities.

I think it was a nod to to the fact that it was Kitty that was sent back in the original comics. The downside of using Kitty in such a prominent role is that you put a spotlight on a character that has had three very different portrayals by three different performers in the earlier movies.

But the best thing was how the movie erased all the stuff that left a bad taste in our mouths from previous entries. The closing scenes in the mansion were joyful. Logan's journey through heartbreak and suffering was apparent, as was his relief when he saw everyone he saw. He succeeded.

And his happy ending felt earned, because he had to go through the ringer to get it.

That was obviously Raven masquerading as Stryker at the end. Does she set about transforming Logan to the adamantium-laced character we know? Or does the Wolverine at the end of the movie still have bone claws?

I'm thinking Raven-as-Stryker lets Logan go, and he wanders off feeling like he's just come off a multi-day bender, and then then intervening years play out much as they otherwise would have for him, until he meets the X-Men.

The movie was good, but frankly, Magneto's power as shown is so great, there's no way that a prison cell, even one such as the one shown in the movie could have held him.

Spoiler

Lifting an entire stadium into the air and dropping it onto (around) the White House? Um, ok, such a person could rule the world in short order if he was so inclined.

This is always the problem with the Omega-level mutants; their powers are limited (or not) by what the plot and story demand.

Wolverine's bone claws were kinda creepy looking, tbh...

They basically kept the look from X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It made sense to go with the bone claws version of the character both based on where we are in the timeline and so that Magneto wouldn't be able to easily disable him when they had opposing agendas.

The difference is that Logan wakes up in the body that presumably lived the entirety of the altered timeline, so there's no particular reason why he wouldn't still have those memories. But maybe they're still in there, somewhat repressed.

The memories from the new timeline should still be "recorded" on Logan's brain. The new Logan might just need Professor X to connect his new consciousness to the old consciousness's thoughts.

There's a confidence with the balancing here, and a real heart centered around Xavier and Mystique that totally works, which is bizarre, because they're two characters that have absolutely nothing to do with each other in the comics, but I'm sold now.

Mystique in these prequels is basically like a human chess piece, with Professor X and Magneto grappling for her soul.

I appreciated that the two major points of payoff with his storyline, Stryker and Jean, are aspects of his past that he accepts as unchangeable (he never tries to leave a note for himself to avoid Weapon X, and he doesn't tell Xavier to save Jean, but simply to meet her), so when they do prove changed, it's a nice, big hug for a character who's put in his time.

Yes, Stryker caused Logan a lot of pain, but he also set in motion the chain of events that led Logan to the X-Men. So it makes sense that he wouldn't want to rattle that particular apple cart.

1. Storm had two lines. LMAO

These movies have never known what to do with Storm.

2. I love Peter Dinklage in anything.

I'm sure he was cast because he's Peter Dinklage, not because he's a little person. But there's something compelling about the idea that a little person would make these humanoid robots that are so out of normal scale.

Finally -- a proper Ice Man!

Yes, it was nice to see Bobby finally go full ice.

But he's so ridiculously powerful, the fact he wasn't used at the climax against the equally god-like Magneto seems like -- I don't know -- superhero malpractice, or something. Quick, kid, snatch his helmet! It's not all that big a deal, but it is something that occurred to me during the White House-sequence.

One of the fun things about this iteration of Quicksilver is that he's incredibly powerful, but also incredibly fickle. He did the Pentagon break-in because he wanted to see if he could. What happened on the White House lawn would require a different skill set entirely.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

This is probably my favorite of all of the X-Men movies

I really wanted it to be, and it just didn’t deliver at quite that level for me, unfortunately. I think it’s well done for what it is, but that the Simon Kinberg script is rather paint by numbers and uninspired, and Singer’s direction is more labored and less kinetic than what Matthew Vaughn brought to First Class. I wanted more Vaughn-led films in the First Class continuity and I think they rushed to make this film sooner than they should have.

It’s hard for me to pin down exactly what falls flat for me; it’s more of a feeling and a vibe than a specific plot point or character development. There are some outstanding moments in the film (having both Professor Xs together for a moment is one of them) but there’s a lot of stuff in it that feels very meh to me too. Perhaps the way to say it is that it’s a film that’s not greater than the sum of its parts, which is what I think most truly outstanding films wind up being.

And because they let Vaughn walk, the First Class cast never got another great or even another good film after this. It’s really a shame that that whole thing came crashing down. In theory, this film gave the opportunity to tell all new X-Men stories that didn’t have to serve as prequels to the original cast films, and despite that freedom and the great younger cast they had, they were never able to pull something decent together again. If Singer’s direction here feels more paint by numbers, Apocalypse is him on autopilot, and not in a good way. Dark Phoenix is even worse. But I think all of the signs that the X-Men resurgence was over first started appearing in Days of Future Past.

I have not yet seen the extended version of the film but will probably give that one a try next time I see it.