X-Men: Days of Future Past

 

• Released Internationally on 22/05/14
• Released in Malta by KRS on 22/05/14

Review (21/05/14)

3-word review: Impressive family reunion. 

 

The X-Men franchise is quite remarkable. Now in it’s seventh film; having had a huge variety of directors, actors, angles of the story and heroic fanfares; it manages to remain hugely entertaining and fresh, mixing a fascinating array of characters with a central theme that is eerily relevant in today’s often xenophobic world. The main risk with this latest film was that too many famous faces and memorable characters would make for a crowded or confusing film, but the end result is in fact great fun and surprisingly coherent, considering the time-travel plot.

Back to the future

The film kicks off in a desolate, dark future, which is unpleasant to watch, let alone live in. After an intense opening sequence we learn that this chaos is the result of a longstanding war against mutants and those who support them, and a war that has got slightly out of hand due to the merciless ‘sentinels’ which enforce it. The cast of the first three X-Men films assemble, along with the ubiquitous Wolverine/Logan (Hugh Jackman, who has appeared in all seven films), whom they agree to send back in time to try and stop this war before it begins. We therefore swiftly jump back to the much more pleasant swinging seventies.

 

Time travel can be fun

Films that dip into the river of time risk opening up huge plot holes and losing the audience, but thankfully the technicalities are made rather simple here. Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) stars as the scientist Dr Trask, who back in the 70s is the mind behind the first set of sentinels, whom he has designed to help target mutants. Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games, Silver Linings Playbook) is out to kill him, but in doing so would be captured, and her DNA used to make the sentinels all the more powerful. So essentially Wolverine has to round up the 70s X-Men and get them to stop her. What makes everything more fun is the playing with history that films like this are allowed. Magneto (Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave) has been imprisoned for the alleged assassination of JFK, the Vietnam war is ending, and Nixon is about to approve the sentinel programme.

Spoilt for choice

Rather than overcrowding the film, the many wonderful characters manage to make the film consistently brilliant, with a good mix of set pieces and character scenes. The main new role, besides Dr Trask, is the mutant Quicksilver (Evan Peters, Kick-Ass), who manages to hold his own amongst all the established names, and completely steals the limelight in the superb, show-stopping (literally) ‘time in a bottle’ sequence. Jim Croce sounds as great here as he did in Django Unchained. The overall feeling is that since all the main characters were so wonderfully built up in the previous films, they can immediately step on stage and make the scene more involving. Storm (Halle Berry) is back after a lengthy absence, and even though the future versions of Magneto and Professor X (Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart) have less action than they are used to, their presence is felt throughout. Jennifer Lawrence manages to shine through her heavy makeup and make Mystique possibly the most intriguing of all of them. It’s great seeing them all on screen together.

 

In the end

Brian Singer has pulled off quite a difficult task – cramming all the X-Men into one film, using time travel, and ending up with an entertaining film rather than a lengthy mess. He also drives forward the central theme of tolerance, and throws in some stunning action and visual effects as icing on the cake. It’s turning out to be a great summer at the movies.

 

p.s. Make sure you stay until the end of the credits, with your 3D glasses on.

 

Trailer: