Jay Reviews Bryan Singer's "X-Men: Days of Future Past"

Jay here.

Fans of the popular Marvel series rejoiced when Matthew Vaughn rode in on a white horse in 2011 and delivered X-Men: First Class, a movie that strove to creatively reboot the franchise without actually rebooting it. It's 60's era setting and style, combined with how it played coyly with America's Cold War history, was a breath of fresh air. To be honest, I would have been happy to see Vaughn continue to shepherd 20th Century Fox's flagship comic series. When I heard Bryan Singer would be returning to the franchise he started I was both excited and disappointed at the same time. You see, X2: X-Men United is, for me, one of the very best comic book movies of all time. I find little to no fault with it. Singer did a superb job with his sequel and then decided to leave the third entry to Brad Ratner, he of Rush Hour fame.

While X2 represented for me how good a movie about my favorite mutant superheroes could be, Ratner's X-Men: The Last Stand was the polar opposite. I don't even know where to begin with what a pile of crap that movie was. Taking one of the most beloved storylines in the comic, the "Dark Phoenix Saga", and abandoning most of original story, the folks behind this garbage then decided to kill off the leader of the X-Men, Cyclops (James Marsden) at the hand of his girlfriend, Jean Grey (Famke Jansen). To fans of the series, like me, this was the proverbial straw. I am usually understanding when changes must be made from the source material, but this was a left turn that went against the very essence of Jean's character. In the original story, Jean actually kills herself rather than murder Cyclops. It was a horrible choice that nearly single-handedly killed any enthusiasm for the franchise for many fans.

A recreation of the original cover of the famous comic storyline.

Vaughn's X-Men: First Class erased most of that bad will, injecting some much needed fun back into things. Singer, meanwhile had several disappointing pictures come out - Superman Returns (2006) Valkyrie (2008) and Jack the Giant Slayer (2013). He decided it was time to return to doing something he had done well, and so he settled on bringing one of the most celebrated stories of the X-Men to the screen - Days of Future Past.

Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) tracks down the younger versions of Professor X (James McAvoy) and Beast (Nicholas Hoult) and enlists their help in changing the future.

Well, I'm happy to say that this latest installment is pretty darn good. Not quite as good as First Class or, of course, X2, but a big step in the right direction in getting things back on track. And that's what this is really all about. Singer has come back to erase the numerous missteps of The Last Stand, and he pretty much succeeds. Days of Future Past is a thrilling and entertaining ride that sets things up for the forthcoming, anticipated next movie - X-Men: Apocalypse.

The movie starts in the future. We meet some of the newest members of the X-Men - Bishop (Omar Sy), Blink (Bingbing Fan), Sunspot (Adan Canto) and Warpath (Booboo Stewart) - along with the familiar faces of Colossus (Daniel Cudmore), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) and Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page). In this era, mutants have become hunted by giant robots called Sentinels. These metal menaces have the ability to develop a counter attack to any mutant power that attacks them. In short, they are pretty much unstoppable.

In order to counter the threat of the Sentinels and give the world's mutant population a brighter future Kitty sends Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back in time to 1973. His mission is to find the young Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and convince him to break the criminal Magneto (Michael Fassbender) out of his prison at the Pentagon. Then together they must find Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and stop her from assassinating the inventor of the Sentinels, Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage). Killing him sets off a chain of events which leads to her capture and the use of her DNA to invent the killer machines' abilities to mimic mutant powers and thus creates the dystopian future they are trying to avoid.

The bulk of the movie takes place in the 70's and that's a good thing because it is here where the movie shines. It borrows from First Class, how it melded real history with the story of our hero's quest to alter the future. Jackman proves he has still got it. His Wolverine remains one of the best casting decisions in the history of comic book movies. Michael Fassbender's Magneto is also a standout. He brings a gravitas to the role that is necessary for one of pop culture's greatest villains. Another big highlight is the introduction of Evan Peters as young mutant, Quicksilver, who helps the X-Men spring Magneto from his prison. The scene where he uses his ability to run at supersonic speeds to take down a room full of guards is probably the best in the movie. One sticking point for me was the use of Peter Dinklage as Trask. In my opinion, a talented actor was given little to work with in a villain that didn't have a lot of depth or character development.



Quicksilver (Evan Peters) does what he does best in one of the best scenes of the X-Men: Days of Future Past.

The movie takes a lot of liberties from the original source material. On the page it is actually Kitty Pryde who travels back in time to stop the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly. It's obvious that Singer and the producers of the film couldn't envision an entire movie with her character at the center of the plot instead of a tried and true money-maker like Wolverine. It would have been a daring choice to stick with it, though, and I am certain Ellen Page is talented enough to pull it off, Oh well . . . it doesn't detract from the overall point of the story.

X-Men: Days of Future Past is a fun, exciting continuation of a return to form for the series. By the end, many of the errors of past entries has been erased and now new movies can go forward in a way more in line with fan expectation. It did not have the wow-factor of Captain America: The Winter Soldier for me, but it was a fun ride. And, as someone who grew up reading the comic pretty religiously I was happy to see the things put to right.