The Buzz: X-Men Days of Future Past
June 5, 2014
To say that I acted like a giddy school girl when I first heard of the synopsis of “X-Men: Days of Future Past” would be a colossal understatement. Combining the cast of “X-Men: First Class” with the original X-Men series using an incongruous time traveling concept was almost too much for my geeky, comic-loving heart to handle. Despite the occasionally befuddling timeline, the film managed to keep me on the edge of my seat.
The plot commences with Professor Xavier, Wolverine, Magneto, Storm, Bobby and Kitty Pryde trying to fight off these seemingly indestructible robots known as Sentinels. It is then revealed that Kitty can send a person’s consciousness back in time to change the future. The group plans to send Wolverine back in time to prevent Mystique from killing Bolivar Trask, an anti-mutant scientist. This assassination would lead to the creation of Sentinels. Wolverine proceeds to race against the clock to convince young Xavier and Magneto to help him stop Mystique, all to save the mutant race.
The biggest downside to this film was the lack of clarification in the beginning of the plot. I was rather bewildered when the small girl who could walk through walls in “X-Men: The Last Stand” suddenly obtained this immensely powerful ability to virtually send people back in time. She has gotten to Charles Xavier level. Speaking of Professor X, I could not believe my eyes when I saw him on the big screen alive and well when he seemed to have been obliterated in the third film. I understand that there was a post-credits scene that implied his survival but I felt that this was too pivotal to just leave a post-credit scene to explain. There were also some minor paradoxes of the convoluted timeline that left me confused.
However, despite the inevitable paradoxes of such an intricate time-traveling plot, director Bryan Singer created a film that captivated my attention. The graphic effects never fell short. Even when the mutant race is on the brink of extinction, the mutants’ witty humor and historical allusions amused me. Every returning character was just as loveable—or unlikeable—as before with the exception of an additional character Peter Maximoff, a comical mutant with superhuman speed who made me laugh so hard I almost couldn’t breathe.
“X-Men: Days of Future Past” had some trivial pitfalls but for the most part, is an impressive installment to the franchise. As a sequel to “X-Men: First Class” and “X-Men: The Last Stand,” this film blows both out of the water (although the latter had little to blow away). This action-packed movie leads to an epic plot twist that will make any X-Men fan hysterical.
