X-Men: Days of Future Past [Musings]

Credit: E! Online

Bryan Singer, welcome back to the X-Men fold. I enjoyed watching Days of Future Past. The movie, with all its many different plot points, manages to flow along smoothly and I don't think any part of the movie felt dragging. It's about as good as it gets with the usual summer blockbuster fares. If you enjoyed First Class and the Singer's other two X-Men flicks (2000's X-Men and 2003's X2) back then, you'll definitely enjoy Days of Future Past.

Some spoilers below. Just a heads-up.

So what makes the film great? Let's start with the all-star cast. Both Xaviers and both Lensherrs are fantastic. What made First Class so damn good is James McAvoy's (young Xavier) and Michael Fassbender's (young Magneto) interactions with one another. Though the events from First Class doesn't allow for Xavier and Magneto to be as best buds this time around, they play their parts well and you can feel tension stemming from how they want to remain friends even when they differ far apart in ideology. On the flip side, the older versions of Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) has them in lockstep against a common enemy in the Sentinel onslaught that has killed most of their friends and peers. McKellen and Stewart reprise the roles that endeared them to the franchise's fans and plays them admirably as expected of these two fine actors.


Special shout-out to McAvoy because he's absolutely great in portraying a Charles Xavier who lost his own will and drive to make the world more accepting of mutants. Days largely benefits from Xavier's character progression in this film, going from a disillusioned, drug-addled person who willingly wants to shut off his powers to eventually learning to be the powerful mentor fans know and love. Days gives Xavier's character a whole lot more gravitas than what First Class allowed for, seeing Xavier in times when he was most vulnerable and rising to the challenge later on.

McAvoy loses none of the charm from First Class and adds on gravitas to Xavier's character. (Credit: Monsters & Critics)

Also, by showing a vulnerable Xavier, the storyline also allows for the absolutely electric scene where the future Xavier (Patrick Stewart) talks to his younger self and helps show him the right path. I didn't take notes on the exact conversation they had, but there are some nice quotes to be had there. Great scene.

One of the movie's many high points. (Credit: Movie Fanatic)

As always, Hugh Jackman can be reliably counted on to play Wolverine superbly. To Jackman's credit, even when given terrible scripts, he never once mailed in a performance as Wolverine. He holds much of the story together and he shows a different side of him in this film, too, showing that he's not just all brawn and rage. He shows that he's the best at what he does (wink, wink), even if what he does entails a lot of talking sense into his future mentor.

Wolverine pre-Weapon X. Jackman also conveniently doubles as eye candy for the ladies. (Credit: Daily Mail)

J-Law looks good as Mystique once again, but the script doesn't allow her to show much in the way of acting (of which Lawrence is immensely talented in). As a mutant with a serious vendetta against the inventor of mutant-bashing-Sentinels, Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), most of her screen time is devoted to showing her in action, trying to get close to Trask to finish him off. It's no knock on the script, though. I would rather have a tight script instead of forcing in some uninteresting, unnecessary scenes as a showcase for Lawrence's talent. No doubt future installments of the X-Men franchise (and there will be, to be sure - the post-credits scene shows as much) will have Mystique (the character itself figures prominently in X-Men comics), so J-Law will have more chances to show her acting chops there.

One of the few times Mystique presents herself as Raven. (Credit: Geeks of Doom)

Speaking of Trask, Dinklage locks in a fine performance as well. I'm actively avoiding watching Game of Thrones for now (waiting for more seasons to finish so I could marathon), so I have no idea how good he is there, but regardless, he works well for me as Trask. I like the way he carries himself as someone who's both fearful and respectful of mutants, while politicking his way to a fat government payday by selling his Sentinel program. I suspect he's also great in Thrones.

Underestimate him at your own risk. (Credit: Digital Spy)

The rest of the cast play their roles equally well, if underused in some cases. Again, I prefer a tight script than an overwrought mess just to let everyone have a spotlight. Nicholas Hoult's Beast carries over nicely from First Class. Quicksilver (Evan Peters) carries one scene particularly well, and provides solid humor during the time he was onscreen. Bishop (Omar Sy), Warpath (Booboo Stewart), Colossus (Daniel Cudmore), Blink (Bingbing Fan), and the returning Storm (Halle Berry), Shadowcat (Ellen Page), and Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) put in short, but decent performances, mostly in action scenes, but if I had to guess, Fox is prepping the stage for their inclusion in future X-Men flicks, so their relatively short scenes here wouldn't probably be their last ones in the franchise.

Watch for this scene. It's highly enjoyable. (Credit: Entertainment Weekly)

The visuals are also on point. The camera work is excellent and they took the yellow-tinted approach from First Class over to Days to help further differentiate the past scenes from the untinted future scenes. A nice touch. Gorgeous computer-generated graphics can be expected from AAA films at this point (which makes 2011's Green Lantern even harder to swallow), and Days has it in spades. The set pieces and action sequences are also great, and it puts pressure on future superhero flicks to deliver the same quality of goods moving forward.

Bane, Magneto sees your stadium scene and does it one better. (Credit: Giant Freakin Robot)

The story itself takes the form of Chris Claremont's comic book of the same name for the most part, and then takes some liberties on the source material. Purists might find themselves turned off, but I do think the changes work very well, and helps to bring the story tighter around the main characters in the story, without needing to introduce more characters which would need back stories on their own that an ongoing comic series could provide but a time-limited flick couldn't allow for. Just consider Fox's Marvel comics universe separate from comics canon (and possibly from Disney/Marvel's own movie comic universe) and you're golden.


Of course, the hidden genius in all of this is that the story as presented allows Fox to retcon the events of the much-maligned Last Stand and allow them to continue the series from wherever they choose to (this means not-dead Cyclops and Jean Grey). By moving the series forward from the altered history in Days, they can go anywhere from there. Again, genius move. I have to wonder if this means this is the last we'll see of McAvoy and Fassbender in this franchise for some time, though, since I'm assuming Fox will have the next movie start with all the X-Men already in place and ready to hit their next adventure.

Never happened. Like Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. (Credit: Comic Vine)

Some Niggles and Comparisons to the Comic Book Source

So here are some of the things I noticed as I watched the film. They're not really complaints on my end save for a few, and even then, those are very minor niggles and doesn't detract from the film at all.

Off the top of my head, I recall hearing from younger Magneto that the government killed Emma Frost in this universe (along with many of Magneto's other associates from First Class). As one of the comic book series' central figures (she even heads the X-Men later on and becomes Cyclops' wife), I dunno, I kinda figured that Fox may have use for her character down the line. Of course, they can always resurrect her or write some explanation for her not actually being dead later on (even the comic books do that), but as it stands, Frost is currently dead, along with Magneto's other associates in First Class.

Not in the film. Sadly. (Credit: Digital Spy)

When younger Magneto is said to have been locked in an all-concrete cell in the Pentagon that was built during World War 2 when metal was in short supply and used for the war effort, when he was being sprung later on by Quicksilver, some of the mechanisms shown (moving huge wall slabs) in getting to that cell would probably have metals used to move those, since I don't think the US government would have built a complex cell with many moving parts with just concrete alone even with the war going on. It's not impossible, just improbable.

A central part of the story, in the future, Sentinels were improved enough to be adaptable to withstand whatever mutant power is used against them, which is why future mutants found themselves decimated greatly and desperate enough to send Wolverine back in time in the hope that the future would be changed by altering Mystique's actions in the past. Supposedly the Sentinels gained that capability by successful extraction and use of Mystique's mutation onto the Sentinels themselves. While there is no doubt that Mystique is able to change her form, she doesn't gain the abilities of any mutant she does copy. So even if she turned into Colossus, for example, her skin is still vulnerable to bullets and such. A Sentinel using her extracted powers could change its looks, but not its defense against specific mutant powers. I'm guessing this is a liberty taken so that the story can be more tightly woven around Mystique.

This is why Mystique uses the old punch-and-kick method instead of just changing into Magneto and wreaking havoc as she pleases. (Credit: Live for Films)

Shadowcat also got herself some additional powers in this film. While her powers are originally limited to just being able to phase into and out of existence, in Days she gains the ability to fully transfer consciousness across time. Again, this is probably a liberty taken so as not to have to introduce Cyclops' daughter Rachel Summers (a telepath like her mom Jean Grey) into the picture. In the comics, Shadowcat was the one who makes the trip back into time, but Wolverine was tapped in the movie probably partly due to movie fan service, and also partly because the X-Men were currently non-existent/disbanded in the movie's version of the past (another liberty taken that I liked - see McAvoy shout-out above) where it was up and functioning in the comic books' version of the past.

Kitty Pryde (aka Shadowcat) doing more than just phasing things into and out of existence. (Credit: Screenrant)

Another of the liberties taken by the film is making Trask Mystique's target instead of the mutant-hating Senator Robert Kelly in the comics. This could be a good move by the movie's writer, Simon Kinberg, making Trask a bigger figure in the franchise and leaving the option to use him and his Sentinel program as a major adversary in later movies. This might also be because the franchise has already used Kelly's character back in 2000.

It might also be of note that the Kinberg chose to have Mystique work alone in her assassination attempt. In the comics, she formed a supervillain group (once headed by Magneto) to help assist her in killing Kelly. When I saw one of the teaser trailers, I thought that when Mystique helped spring Havok, Toad, and Quill from the American camp in Vietnam, she'd use them as members of the eventual supervillain group to help her out. Apparently not, but the film doesn't suffer from it, and Fox probably has plans for those mutants in later films.


While the Sentinel designs were cool, I was hoping they'd be bigger and more imposing. Especially the ones in the future, they're supposed to be super-duper-hyper-powered Omega Sentinels. But like I said, minor niggles. :P

My preferred scale for Sentinels. (Credit: Comiclash)

The fate of the bleak future in the comics is left as an open question, as it allows for a reading where there is an alternate future that is charted from changing the past, but the bleak future where the decision to try to change the past remains the same. In the movie, the mutants just disappear from existence in the bleak future, definitively saying that that specific future now doesn't exist. It's probably a concession to have a conclusive happy ending for regular movie-goers, but I actually like the vaguer ending to the comic book version - it makes for interesting thinking.
Blink's abilities are absolutely nuts. I can't possibly be the only one who got a "Thinking with portals!" feel to her action scenes, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the combat moves she did were inspired by people playing with Valve's Portal games.

Portals! (Credit: Screenrant)

It also bothers me that for showing up in a few seconds of screen time (ten seconds?), Anna Paquin got higher billing status over Ellen Page and even Peter Dinklage, who pulls his fair share of scenes in the movie. Yeah, this is as minor as it goes, but I just feel that both Page and Dinklage should at least have higher billing in the film, as they did more work.

I know Paquin won an Oscar and all, but come on. (Credit: IMDB)

Lastly, when Quicksilver was being recruited by Wolverine and company to help spring young Magneto, he's first shown to be playing table tennis by himself and then later shown to be playing Pong at a high speed with himself. The first is fine, Quicksilver is that fast. The other one is suspect, though. While one can move the paddles around in the video game as fast as one wants, the ball itself is computer-controlled, so there's really no way Quicksilver can get the ball to move as fast as he wants to. Like I said, minor, but something I noticed because I'm a gamer. :D


But yeah, like I said, these are very minor things. As it is, Days of Future Past is a great movie to watch, and it's an easy recommendation for me.

As for the post credits scene (standard for Marvel films at this point regardless of studio of origin), if it's all Greek to you (or Egyptian), this is what you're looking at. The scene itself isn't all that clear unless you know who En Sabah Nur is, so it's more of fan service to the comic book crowd. But even to the casual fan, at least, it signals Fox's intent to keep the series going.

What that means in the bigger picture of having universe-wide comic-book events is a bigger question mark, though, if Fox and Sony are intent on keeping their franchise licensing intact. Here's hoping Fox, Sony, and Disney come to some agreement, if only because Marvel already has some fantastic events in the books, literally.

P.S. For the Stan Lee cameo fans out there, he doesn't appear onscreen here. Chris Claremont plays a senator in the film, though. It's a nice show of respect to the longtime writer who practically provided the backbone for the film's storyline (and title!).