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X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
Daniel's Review
One word.
X-traordinary!
‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ is the newest instalment in the popular ‘X-Men’ franchise, which sets up as sequel to ‘X-Men: First Class’, my favourite in the franchise, and sequel to ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’.
‘Days of Future Past’ is an incredible blockbuster film that works in both story and action.
The film has incredibly sharp writing and the story was complex, but yet, still easy to follow, even for a fan of ‘X-Men’ who hasn’t seen ‘The Last Stand’ nor ‘Origins: Wolverine’.
The film incorporates time travel to engage with two different time zones from two different movies of the ‘X-Men’ franchise as the whole time travel aspect of the film made it more unique and tense, and dare I say it, I was even getting very emotional. That’s all I can say.
It was a lot of fun and was a welcoming return seeing both the originals and the prequel characters returning all in the one movie and it works really well, it doesn’t feel like there is too much heroes in the film as they interact with each other.
Bryan Singer, director, did a nice job balancing this film with all of these characters.
The movie has incredible visual effects and the action sequences, mind bogglingly awesome.
The acting is excellent, the story is excellent, and the whole movie just works as a fun winter blockbuster with your favourite mutants back again on the big screen.
It doesn’t get any cooler than that, as ‘Days of Future Past’ speeds up for an action film like no other.
Score: 10/10
Published: May 26th, 2014
Details
Review
Release Date: May 22nd, 2014
Studio: 20th Century Fox, Marvel
Runtime: 131 mins
Rated: M
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Nic's Review
What? Woah...what's this?
An X-men movie that's better than almost all of Marvel Studios films?
How is this possible?
Yet that is what 'Days of Future Past' is.
Little over a month after championing 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' as the definitive example of the superhero genre, Bryan Singer's return to the mutant franchise that started it all marks the second phenomenal showing for comic book movies this year. No joke: two of my three favourite superhero movies of all time are now from this year. 'Days of Future Past' is one of them.
So what does it get so right?
The answer is simple: the characters. Wolverine, Magneto, Professor X, Mystique are all extremely well-balanced and fully characterised in this film. Of course it helps when you have such phenomenal actors in the fold; the chemistry between James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Hugh Jackman is worth the price of admission. It's energetic and exciting to watch them interact and each is given several memorable lines. Quicksilver also surprises and almost steals his scenes. No one leaves shortchanged of their moment here. The future cast (this instalment sees those from the original trilogy return in an alternate timeline) is also solid, especially in the opening action scene. New mutant Blink stands out most of all in these with an awesome power that demonstrates just how far special effects have improved since the first 'X-Men'. Of course it's great to see Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen return to their iconic roles, and they each have a moment to shine. But 'Days of Future Past' is a sequel to 'First Class' at its heart and it's the 1973 cast that is the most compelling.
Damn, there are some great action scenes too, especially that climax. Woah. It's amazing how Singer has managed to take the strengths of his two films- the action- and fuse it with the character studies of 'First Class'. The film really does feel like a missing link between those films, both narratively and stylistically. And of course, it ends with a major twist that changes everything that came before it, mostly righting the faults of Brett Ratner's 'X-Men: The Last Stand'. But that's not the reason this movie exists, just a convenient bonus.
'Days of Future Past' exists to show that the X-Men can be as great as the Avengers. Indeed it is to the X-Men franchise what 'The Avengers' was to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. What Singer has achieved is to produce a modern superhero classic which, much like 'Winter Soldier', shows that these films can be great. These movies are made to be rewatched and enjoyed for decades to come. And best of all, I now have full confidence in the vision for the X-Men franchise.
This is how blockbusters are meant to be. Bring on 'Apocalypse'!
Score: 9.5/10