Hello :-)
X-men stands alone in the Superhero
movie arena as a bit of an oddity. The franchise has been going continuously
since its debut film 14 years ago (oh god… that makes me feel so OLD) where it
can be credited with kicking off the genre’s renaissance. They’ve managed to
simultaneously prequel, spin-off and continue the series without completely
dispensing of the core cast. Where Spider-man, Superman and Batman have all
been recast over the last decade and a half, Huge Action is still there,
wielding his adamantium claws. The latest from the franchise is the trickily
titled ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ (I can’t be arsed with that so lets just
say DOFP) and I was there on release day.
This review contains SPOILERS for
‘X-Men: Last Stand’ and ‘The Wolverine’.
‘DOFP’ endeavours to bring together
the original X-cast and the more recent X-men Babies cast. We begin in a
Matrix-like future where mutants and humans alike are rounded up and killed by
nigh on indestructible machines called sentinels. A last bastion of hope comes
in the form of some of our favourites Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Professor X
(Patrick Stewart), Magneto (Ian McKellen), Storm (Halle Berry), Shadowcat
(Ellen Page), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) and Colossus (Daniel Cudmore) amongst some
less familiar faces. The team decide the only way to survive is to go back in
time, change events and prevent the sentinels ever coming to fruition. Through
some Shadowcat related jiggery pokery Wolverine heads back to the 70’s to try
and reconcile young Xavier (James McAvoy) and young Magneto (Michael
Fassbender) to bring down the sentinels before they take hold.
Firstly, there is no way you could
go into this film without existing knowledge of the X-universe and fully
understand it. In a similar way to the latter films in the Harry Potter
franchise, I think you could go in as an outsider and enjoy it, but when you
have a well-established world such as this it’s just impossible to bring
everyone up to speed. Not that I think that’s a problem; I think when you’ve
reached the 7th instalment of your franchise you’ve earned the
right to do away with recaps.
‘DOFP’ is an impressive feat and I
think that bears a direct correlation to the return of Bryan Singer. If I was
in charge of 20th Century Fox I would be crawling on my belly,
giving that man every penny he wanted to make him stay. He just ‘gets’ it.
There is a lot more to the plot that what I’ve ham-fistedly described above and
it’s to Singer’s credit that he manages to hold it all down and channel it into
a cohesive story.
The key to ‘DOFP’ is marrying
together the ‘future’ and ‘past’ of the ridiculous title which I think is done
well. The opening scenes set up the future aspects nicely and as we’re plunged
back into the world of ‘X-men: First Class’ we begin to see how events are
going to come full circle.
The downside of this
labyrinthine plot is that some of the characters (mainly the unestablished
‘future’ characters) fall by the wayside. Aside from his Michael Stipe eye
stripe I’m not really sure what Warpath (real name Booboo Stewart… WHAT. A.
NAME.) was all about. Blink (again, real name Fan Bingbing… AMAZING!) is a
mutant who can create portals, which pays off beautifully in the fight scenes
but other than that she merely acts as another barrier between the bad guys and
our original X-cast, the ones we actually care about.
One new member of the cast that
doesn’t let us forget him is Evan Peters as Quicksilver, a mutant with the
ability to move and think at super-speed; he’s basically Dash from ‘The
Incredibles’ but with kleptomania. I loved him :-) His ‘Time in a Bottle’
sequence was a personal highlight and I think it’s a shame he isn’t in it
longer. You may be aware that this isn’t the only incarnation of Quicksilver
hitting our screens. As teased in the mid-credits of ‘Captain America 2’
Peters’ ‘Kick Ass’ co-star Aaron Taylor-Johnson will be playing the character
in ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’ and he’s going to have to go some to out-do
Peters.
Being typically awesome is Peter
Dinklage as Bolivar Trask. It’s super fun to see Dinklage play such an out and
out bad guy and getting his teeth into some serious fear mongering.
Aside from that the core cast
of ‘future’ and ‘past’ are back and firing on all cylinders. There’s reduced
screen time for Michael Fassbender but what he does with the time he’s given is
great (I love his explanation as to why he’s being held captive under the
pentagon). Also, James McAvoy is such a charismatic screen presence, every
moment with him is a joy. I really like how he humanises the previously beyond
reproach X-Patriarch.
However, if ‘X-men: First Class’ was
a Magneto origins story, ‘DOFP’ belongs to Mystique. Adding to the
ever-mounting pile of fantastic things about her, Jennifer Lawrence nails it as
Mystique. Having distanced herself from Xavier and Magneto, Mystique goes off
on her own to protect mutants and seek retribution for the wrongs done to her
own kind. It’s great to see her getting some amazing fight scenes and I’m
intrigued to see where the character goes next.
Much like Singer’s first two
X-films, the action scenes in ‘DOFP’ are really balanced and don’t overpower
the narrative. Don’t get me wrong there are some stunning set pieces; the
opening scene is a fight between the ‘Future’ characters and a gang of sentinels
and it had me bouncing up and down in my seat with excitement. The sparing use
of these scenes however, is refreshing and acts as a way to keep the story our
primary focus.
There are a few plot problems,
namely the fact that this movie tries to ignore some elements of the previous
films. ‘DOFP’ seems perfectly happy to remind us that in ‘X-Men: Last Stand’
Wolverine killed the woman he loved but it doesn’t want to explain how the hell
Professor X un-vaporised himself following the events of the same film. It
would be a lie to say that this spoilt my enjoyment of the film and there is a
certain element of ‘well the continuity’s shot to shit whatever we do so fuck
it!’, still, a touch of explanation wouldn’t have gone amiss.
The boldest move the movie makes is
its final twist. I won’t spoil anything but it’s a hugely gutsy move that makes
an impact on the entire X-universe. Bryan Singer’s willingness to make massive
changes to this world is encouraging and it’s one of the reasons I’m so pleased
he’s back in the X-driving seat.
‘DOFP’ is an undeniably impressive,
adventurous, slightly flawed Superhero blockbuster. Although it’s blighted by a
couple of continuity errors you can’t stay mad at it because it’s great fun.
It’s lovely to see Bryan Singer holding the reins again and I hope that’s where
he stays.
So, how about some…
Reasons to be Cheerful
1. All the fun stuff happens in
London which annoys me no end but I must admit this is pretty cool. The entire town of Hill Valley looks like
it’s going to be recreated by the wizards over at Secret Cinema for a screening
of ‘Back to the Future’. The wonderful Shiznit have covered a couple of their events before and by all accounts it seems
like an excellent idea albeit with a few problems and a slightly pretentious mission statement.
2. Fancy being written into a Game
of Thrones book and having your fictional self killed off in a typically grim
Westerosi fashion? Then you’re in luck! The wonderful George RR Martin is helping to raise money for The Food Depot
and Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary charities
in New Mexico by offering the chance to appear in his ‘Song of Ice and Fire’
series. Unfortunately you do have to donate the hefty sum of $20,000 to have the chance to appear in the
books but if you donate any money via Martin’s prizeo page you could be in with a chance of
winning a trip to New Mexico where you can meet the author and ask him anything
you like!
That’s all for today!
Goodbye till next time :-)
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