X-Men: Days of Future Past $$$ 1/2
PG-13
131 Minutes
Starring: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender,
and Jennifer Lawrence.
Director: Bryan
Singer.
The story for this X-Men movie is
based on what is in my opinion the best storyline from any comic. Needless to
say, I was pretty excited about seeing it on the big screen and I wasn’t
disappointed.
In the future, mutant-hunting robots
called Sentinels have declared war on almost all of humanity, mutant and
non-mutant alike. It is a dark and gritty setting not too dissimilar from the
flashback scenes in Terminator. I
love it.
The last of the mutants are one raid
away from total annihilation. Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian
McKellan) devise a plan to save humanity. They plan to use Kitty Pride (Ellen
Page) to send Wolverine’s (Hugh Jackman) consciousness into the past and have
him stop the assassination that led to the activation of the Sentinels. There’s
just one problem. That involves getting the Professor and Magneto to work
together.
How did X-Men: Days of Future Past rate?
1. Fun – I was entertained the
entire time. The battle scenes with the Sentinels at the beginning and the end
of the movie were spectacular. I loved watching these super-hero remnants
working together to stave off the inevitable doom of the Sentinel onslaught.
X-Men:
Days of Future Past gets a full MB for fun.
2. Story – As I stated above, this
is based on the best comic storyline ever; former enemies working together to
avoid mutual destruction. The characters have depth—which is something that is
often missing in movies of this genre. There is plenty of well-developed
tension and suspense. I didn’t find any glaring plot holes in the story, but
then again I may have been enjoying it too much to notice them.
While this is not an Oscar-worthy
storyline it still gets a full MB for story.
3. Technical – Apocalyptic
landscapes, explosions, and super-hero costumes and make-up abound in this
film. All of it at the level of quality that we have come to expect from a
first run film in this genre. No problems there. The scenes set in the past
look like how I remember the 70s.
It looked good. It sounded good. It
gets a full MB for the technical aspects.
4. Acting – This ranged from good to
excellent. A few changes have been made in the cast. Jennifer Lawrence has
taken over the role of Mystique and I whole-heartedly approve. She did an
excellent job. Toad has a new look and a new actor, Evan Jonigkeit, to sport
those warty grimaces.
Hugh Jackman turned in maybe his
best performance as Wolverine. This is a perhaps wiser and less angry Wolverine
that I felt added a lot to the story. I was less impressed with James McAvoy as
the young Charles Xavier and Michael Fassbender as the young Magneto. I just
didn’t feel a connection to either of them and since their characters are the
lynchpin of this story it prevents the movie from getting perfect marks. I
would have rather seen more of Nicholas Hoult as the younger Hank McCoy/Beast
and Evan Peters as Quick Silver.
X-Men:
Days of Future Past gets a half a MB for acting.
With a final total of 3 ½ Movie
Bucks I highly recommend X-Men: Days of
Future Past. You can see it as a matinee, but I don’t think you’ll be
disappointed if you catch it a regular showing. As with most super-hero films,
you will want to see this on the big screen with big sound.
Randy’s
Rating System
$$$$ =
Full Price See this movie right away
and pay full price, it’s worth it.
$$$ =
Matinee Catch this as a matinee or
other discounted showing.
$$ =
Discount Wait until this movie reaches
a discount theater near you.
$ =
Rental Wait until this movie
reaches your local video rental outlet.
0 =
No Sale Don’t
see this movie at any price.
