X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) Review

     X-Men: Days of Future Past was released on May 23rd, 2014. It is directed by Brian Singer and written by Simon Kinberg from a story by Kinberg, Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman. A loose adaptation of the "Days of Future Past" story-line from Uncanny X-Men #141–142, it sees Hugh Jackman's Wolverine sent back in time from a post-apocalyptic future to warn a young Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr about an impending threat that will lead to destruction both of humans and mutants.

     After more then ten years, Brian Singer finally returned to the X-Men franchise with Days of Future Past. As such it is a return to the franchise's roots with its combination of social commentary, slick action, and soap opera storytelling. Uniting the casts of the original films with those of First Class, this film attempts to streamline the continuity which was derailed by The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and First Class all of which contained contradictory origins for various characters. It is only partially successful in this. X-Men Origins is essentially ignored and implicitly retconned, getting rid of the discrepancies that existed between that film's depiction of countless characters, including Xavier, Sabretooth, and Emma Frost. The conflicts between First Class and the Singer films remain, but this film, at least, makes things easier for future installments by creating an alternate timeline.

     Days of Future Past is easily my favorite film in the franchise other then X2. This is largely because of my fondness for the first two films. This film, while mainly functioning as a sequel to First Class, is also a send-off for the original cast and it's great to see to see them together one last time. I also love that Xavier is really the central character here. In the first few films he was a mentor figure for Wolverine and the other X-Men but here the roles are reversed, and Logan has to be a mentor for him.

     This film also continues to explore the relationship between Charles and Erik in a really compelling way. At the beginning of the film Xavier has given up on his dream of peaceful coexistence between human and mutant-kind. In First Class his beliefs were shown to be somewhat naive and we see the natural consequence of that here when he loses most of his students to Vietnam and does not have Raven or Moira MacTaggert to fall back on, so he falls into depression and drug addiction (cleverly symbolized by his use of the drug that suppresses his powers). It's only when he communicates with his future self that he is able to face the future with some measure of hope, albeit a more realistic one.

     Magneto meanwhile, in finding out about the apocalyptic future caused by a human scientist's attempt to build a robot capable of defeating them, becomes more convinced of his viewpoint (that mutants should dominate mankind) then ever. Rogue, once again, is caught between the two men. Since the end of First Class she has separated from Erik, who has been imprisoned, and began trying to protect her mutant brothers and sisters from the U.S. Government and particularly scientist Bolivar Trask, who has cruelly experimented on them to create his sentinels. When Magneto learns that her powers are what leads Trask to perfecting his program, he tries to kill her. Unlike Erik, Rogue is not so assured in her beliefs as to be able to commit such unthinkable acts, but she is obsessed with getting revenge on Trask. In the end, Charles helps her to see a better way and she spares his life. This is the moment that he really becomes the Professor from the first three movies, a man capable of inspiring others through his conviction and sheer force of personality.

     I also enjoy the way Days of Future Past plays with historical events. Magneto was imprisoned because he was implicated in the JFK assassination but, as we learn, he was actually trying to save the President (who was also a mutant!) by using his powers to defect the bullet. Richard Nixon, meanwhile, is shown to be the one who approves the sentinel program. First Class reimagined a historical event (the Cuban missile crisis) as a central part of its plot and it's great to see this film continue that trend.

     It is far from a perfect film and continues to suffer from continuity problems. The time-travel logic is confusing in many ways. For one thing, how do Kitty Pryde's phasing powers allow her to send other mutants through time? For another how does Wolverine remember anything from this time, as he hasn't yet got his adamantium claws and had his memories erased through the Weapon X program? Another problem is the idea that Mystique is the key to the sentinel program. We are told that, because of Mystique's shape shifting powers, Trask is able to program his sentinels to adapt mutant powers but Rogue's powers allow her to change her appearance, not to take other mutant powers. The Rogue Cut does alleviate this problem to some degree by revealing that Rogue, who can assume other mutant powers, was also experimented on, but the central premise, that Raven was the "key" to perfecting the sentinels, is still confusing.

     John Ottman returns to do the score for Days of Future Past and it's a welcome one. He provides another stirring score and gives the film a greater emotional connection to the earlier ones. With the exception of some questionable green-screen here and there the film has solid visual effects and once again Singer delivers some great action scenes. The breakout from the Pentagon, where we see Quicksilver save everyone in slow motion, is of course a standout, as is the sentinel attack that closes the film, which features some of the most creative use of superpowers I have seen in an action setpiece. The new additions to the cast are great especially Evan Peters as Quicksilver. Peter Dinklage also does a fine job as Bolivar Trask.

     X-Men: Days of Future Past is both a great political thriller and a clever science fiction film. It succeeds both in continuing the story that began with X-Men: First Class and as a heartfelt epilogue for the original cast. It's one of the best X-Men films and one of my favorite superhero movies of the past decade.


Score: 9/10