Sunday, June 1, 2014

X-Men Days of Future Past - 4 1/2 Stars

SPOILER ALERT!! DON'T READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM! THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

So I finally saw X-Men Days of Future Past! WOW! What an action packed adventure!

I'm not the biggest X-Men nerd and haven't read all the comics or know every single thing about the folklore but I know enough that I can get excited anytime a new X-Men film is announced.

When this film was announced I was super excited because I felt like the previous one, X-Men First Class brought back that X-Men feel to me. X-Men The Last Stand and Wolverine Origins were some of the worst X-Men movies ever made! I was really worried after those. However X-Men First Class and The Wolverine brought it back to it's core. While I was very excited for this film, I was trying my hardest to not get spoiled or watch too much promotion. There were a few things that I saw in the trailers (Halle Berry dying and Quicksilver's action scene) that I hoped that I hadn't but it still didn't take anything away.

Ok. Bryan Singer was the perfect director choice for this film! In my opinion, X-2 is the best in the entire franchise so when I heard he was directing this one, I was totally on board! And he didn't disappoint! Every thing from the emotional charges he was able to draw out of each character to the action sequences were great! The fact that you can take that many characters and make sure that each one has a very important role and share the screen flawlessly for the most part is a feat in and of itself. Much like in X-Men First Class, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are perfectly casted as young Professor X/Charles and Magneto/Erik. They bring so much gravitas to those characters and when paralleled with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen it is unbeatable. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine doesn't disappoint ever! I'd love it if he stays Wolverine forever but I know he will retire at sometime. I've heard soon. Nicholas Hoult's Beast character was a huge draw for me as well. The transformation sequences with him changing from Hank to Beast were amazing. And Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique...WOW! She carried this film just as much as Wolverine did for me. I thought she was good as Mystique in First Class but it was hard for me to forget about Rebecca Roman Stamos' version from previous. But then when I saw her progression in this film, it totally sold it for me! She had so much depth and "mystery" to her character. It was great! Peter Dinglage was in this film as Dr. Bolivar Trask was good but nothing special for me. Sad to say it but I kept thinking of Tyrion from Game of Thrones. He will always be Tyrion to me. Now Quicksilver. He was so powerful! From all the comments and reviews that I've heard, everyone is saying that he stole the show. I on the other hand don't think so. His performance was great and I loved what they did with him however I felt like I wanted more! As much as I heard about him, I expected more! But the scene with him in the Pentagon was the best scene in the film besides the very last with Wolverine when we see all the characters back. I could go on and on about each character.

The visuals were amazing! The action sequences were massive, engaging and choreographed seamlessly.  Everything from the opening scene in the future with the Sentinels battling Colossus, Iceman, Blink, Bishop, Sunspot, etc to the climatic battle scene at the end in front of the White House. Still I think the Pentagon scene is my favorite. It was visually stunning and funny at the same time. You really get to see what type of character Quicksilver really is. He is so fast that he is even bored because he is making fun of the fact that he can beat these guys up so quickly. The score that went along with that scene was perfect. The fact that Wolverine never uses his adamantium claws like we know him to use them in this film, is brilliant. He uses them for a short while but not the way we are used to him using them. He does just fine with his bone claws. Pretty cool! 

I felt like it had a great screenplay as well. The fact that they used Wolverine to go back to the past to correct everything was perfect because he doesn't age and if he was to get hurt during the time travel he can heal again. The plot and story were very easy to follow if anything they made it easier by repeating themselves a few times. That could be a bad thing for some. It didn't really bother me. I loved how there were 3 villians in the this film (Dr. Trask, Mystique & Magneto) but they all shared the screen time and screenplay equally. As a matter of fact because I had seen the previous movies, it was hard for me to remember/feel good or bad for Mystique and Magneto. You like them and then you remember oh yeah they are the bad guys. It was brilliant that way. I also loved that at the end of the film when Wolverine comes back to the future, it erases all the bad things about the older X-Men films. If you didn't like that Cyclops and Jean Gray were killed, you don't have to worry about it. They are back. It's like it never even happened. If you didn't like that Storm was killed in this film, it doesn't matter. It didn't happen. The moment that Wolverine sees Jean Gray and goes to her in the doorway to touch her face, I was thinking "Is Cyclops there?" He grabs Wolverine's hand and says "whoa, back off." I was tapping my wife's arm with giddiness!! It was great! I loved Cyclops' character and hoped that he would come back. Plus in the previous films, we never saw him die so there you go. The question is where do they go from here?

The end credits scene. OMG!! EN SABAH NUR!! APOCALYPSE!! The next movie is going to be so crazy! I had heard that Apocalypse was going to be the next movie and that he was in the end credits but I didn't know that they were going to show him in his backstory ancient Egypt younger form. Are they going to tell his backstory that way? Not sure but I love that it is the way that they introduced him to us. For some of you, it probably didn't mean anything. If anything it just confused you even more. Either way it is exciting!

Overall, this film was great! It was better than Amazing Spiderman 2 and Godzilla. It still isn't my favorite comic book movie ever or better than Captain America 2 for this year but it was a very close second. I recommend it. The flaw that I had was the Peter Dinglage character and more Quicksilver. That is why this review is 4 1/2 stars.


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