X-Men: Days of Future Past
The X-Men are back and in the future facing a threat that has them and their fellow mutants on the brink of extinction as well as humanity. Having tried every means to stop this threat, they are left with only one option. They need to send someone back in time to stop the event that lead to this outcome before it ever happens and give them all a better future that they can not only fight for but live in. Wolverine becomes the obvious volunteer due to his mutant ability. Not only does he have the task of stopping the event, but he has to help Charles Xavier find the man that Charles once was and become the man that Wolverine knows. Oh, Wolverine also has to convince both Xavier and Magneto to play nice, so that they can both help Wolverine fix the future. That shouldn’t be too hard.
I wouldn’t be the first to admit that I had reservations for this movie as the release date began to creep closer and closer. Fox’s record hasn’t been exactly solid since X-Men: Last Stand. The third installment fell victim to entirely way too much going on. The movie would have probably been pretty decent if they had focused on either the mutant cure plot or the Phoenix plot separately. Unfortunately, just like Spider-Man 3, there were too many faces thrown at the audience without a whole lot of reasoning of why they were there except to fill seats of eager fans to see them. If this was the purpose, Fox, you could have at least stayed decently true to the character, *coughs* Psylocke *coughs*. Why have them in there at all if you are going to butcher them? The Phoenix storyline was clearly the B storyline, but took up most of the movie to explain and make believable, while the A storyline quickly went from the humans are utilizing the cure as a weapon to war at factory to save all mutant kind.
So that movie left a bad taste in the mouths of fans, and it was believed that a new X-Men movie would never happen. We were only to look forward to some Wolverine movies maybe. Then along came X-Men: First Class. It actually took me awhile to fully appreciate this movie. I was very excited to see a new X-Men movie and knew the concept would be very interesting. I just had too many issues with continuity littered all over the film. I’m not even talking about in comparison to the comics. I expect that. This film did not entirely fit into the established timeline of film franchise. After watching it a few more times, I accepted it as a reboot in a way and its own timeline. I became very okay with the concept and thoroughly enjoyed it as well as some of the fantastic acting they managed to snag for the film. Michael Fassbender is inspiring as Magneto.
Then Fox announced that not only were they going to do another Wolverine movie, but they were going to take on one of the biggest storylines in the X-Men comic history, and pull the cast from the original movies and First Class to make it. Now Fox was going to merge the two worlds. The not so awesome reception of the third X-Men movie and either two Wolverine movies was proof enough that Fox had the high probability of screwing this bad boy up.
I am thankful to report that the movie was actually pretty good. As much as it was fantastic seeing Ian McKellon and Patrick Stewart acting as our favorite professor and villain, there is just this amazing quality that James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender bring to Professor X and Magneto that is just a true joy to witness. It was awesome seeing some old faces and new ones and having them blend together as a whole. I saw that some other fan blog reported this film being the apology for the third X-Men movie, and I’m going to have to agree. It was really fun and engaging, until the end where it got slightly iffy.
The end left us with a lot to think about, because we are shown with the ending that the past definitely changed…a lot. I wasn’t looking to be baby fed the missing fifty years, but a couple of things would have at least established whether or not key points were changed, especially when we as the audience were given certain tidbits. If this was to be the last ever X-Men franchise movie to ever be made concerning this film universe, I would have no problem with how it ended. We would then simply be given the happy ending with no need to explain, because there won’t be another movie. Unfortunately, since it has already been announced that more will be made, I have a problem. My biggest is with the effect that this film has on Wolverine’s origin story and what has made him his character. They don’t tell us whether Logan continues his years in the same manner before. It wouldn’t have necessarily been too much of an issue, if they hadn’t chosen to end the film with the scene that they did.
I still had a great time and fully recommend the movie if you are only a fan of the movies or a fan of the comics as well. It is a still a fun ride. I really only had these issues, because I am a fan of the comics and am a firm believer in continuity. If you are not, you will probably not have too many problems. The nice part about them choosing not to answer those questions that the ending left is that they still can. I just hope that they make sense and they are careful.