For the majority of people the first two X-Men movies are gold while the third one is a pile of dung. X-Men Origins: Wolverine fell flat on its face to the general audience. After that movie came out it had seemed people had lost their faith in the X-Men movie franchise. But with X-Men First Class that all changed as the majority of people enjoyed it.
So is X-Men: Days of Future Past a worthy follow up?
The basic premise of the movie is Logan/Wolverine is sent back in time to prevent Mystique from killing Trask since it is Trask’s death that caused the Sentinel program to come into being. What’s so bad about that? The Sentinel program was created to kill mutants and eventually lead to the apoclaypse,- really long story short. SkyNet anyone?
Everything in the movie seems to revolve around Charles Xavier. Xavier was supposed to go back in time but he wouldn’t be able to make the trip so Wolverine went in his place. Xavier’s relationship to Mystique is very integral to this film. Magneto gets involved in the film because Charles needs him to convince Mystique to not murder Trask.
This isn’t to say the other characters don’t play a part in the film, however.
Wolverine has to deal with convincing Young Xavier to do what needs to be done. That is much easier said than done. Magneto also learns information and has to decide how to act on it. Mystique, played by the talented Jennifer Lawerence, turns out to be acting on her own as she explores how best to help the mutant cause.
Of course this review would be wasted if I didn’t mention Quicksilver. He was, by far, the most amusing character of the film. The ‘Time in a Bottle’ scene was one of the best scenes in the movie. He had a lot of good energy and I can’t wait to see him in the sequel.
Peter Dinklage, who most of you will know from Game of Thrones, does a wonderful job playing Dr. Bolivar Trask. Every scene he was in was a joy to watch.
A big part of this movie is time travel. While I adore a good time travel story, they can be hard to do. The way time travel functions in this movie is that the mind is transferred to a younger self, by way of Kitty Pryde (played by Ellen Page) and when the mind comes back to its original body only that person will remember the way things used to be. While everyone else won’t be aware that a change in time has occurred.
Bryan Singer made up his version of time travel with the help of James Cameron. Yes, the same James Cameron that started the Terminator series. Singer’s discussion with Cameron took around two hours. The outcome of the discussion was a version of time travel that works and makes sense for the story.
This movie was good and I wouldn’t mind seeing it in theaters again to pick up on anything I missed. The graphics, acting, and story were very enjoyable to watch. There is also a Post-Credits scene that non-comic book fans, like myself, will have to look up to understand. The Post-Credits scene hints towards the next X-Men movie.
I give this movie a 4.5 out of 5