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X-Men: Days of Future Past
One of the challenges in review X-Men: Days of Future Past is a knowledge of both the storyline from the comic book and animated features using the story arc previously as well as the knowledge that Bryan Singer has assembled at least another 30 minutes of completed film that lies on the cutting room floor waiting for a Director's Extended Edition. I kept wondering whether scenes that seemed a little stuttery or not quite right were the result of either preconceived notions.
Simon Kinberg's daunting task of assembling storylines from multiple eras with such a large ensemble cast is achieved within the film fairly well. We are introduced to the team of surviving mutants, a team lead by Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) in the ruins of Moscow. The mutants are being hunted by a computer/robotic/cyborg program gone horribly wrong called the Sentinels. Kitty's team of mutant survives because she has the power to send the consciousness of another back in time to warn the group of what's coming. A short term Ground Hog's Day affect. The process is extremely difficult and beyond painful to the individual whose consciousness is sent back, sending an individual too far back could kill the individual.
The team moves from Moscow to China where it is determined that an attempt must be made to send someone back to the beginning. Only one mutant has the ability to withstand that much pain, James "Logan" Hewett, aka Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and he must go back to 1973 and stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from killing Dr. Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklidge), creator of the Sentinels, at the Paris Peace Accords.
In 1973 Wolverine must assemble a team of mutants, the younger versions of many of those surviving the dystopian nightmare of the future, however they are very, very different people. Charles Xavier, Professor X, (James McAvoy) is battling alcoholism and depression and is actively taking a serum developed by Hank McCoy, the Beast, (Nicholas Hoult) that allows him to walk while suppressing his mental powers. Erik Lansherr, Magento, (Michael Fassbender) has been imprisoned for life for the assassination of John F. Kennedy (Hey it's more plausible than many other theories). To get Magento out of prison the trio recruits Peter Maximoff, aka Quicksilver (Evan Peters) whose power is lightning speed.
At the Paris Peace Accords the group of Professor X, Wolverine, the Beast and Magento stop the assassination but its effects the timeline very little. Separated the team returns to the United States and contemplates the next move while Trask works with President Nixon (people are still blaming Nixon) to get the Sentinel program restarted.
The final climatic battle is interwoven between the two time sequences to great effect of blending the story together.
Veteran cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel has carefully selected color palettes to allow viewers to better keep track of where they are in the time streams, the muted colors of the dystopian future or the bright color of a hopeful past. The cinematography of this film is good but not great, it lacked the range of camera motion that is becoming more common in highly successful dramas. A number of critics have commented that the dull future palette only served to "cheapen" the visuals. You cannot help but wonder if some of the choices for Framing and Lens Selection was overly cautious because Sigel and Singer weren't 100% positive of what would work with modern/current CGI techniques.
John Ottman performs double duty here as both the composer of the score and the editor. The score lacked the same emotional pull that appeared in X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: First Class. It's a clear attempt by the film makers to create the tension and emotion the old fashion way by the actors and the script, but in those moments of spectacle it was missing. This in my eyes is the reverse problem from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 where the score was at many points the only emotion the audience was feeling.
In terms of the editing of the film for the most part had a much cleaner flow than many super-hero/sci-fi/fantasy movies of late, but that doesn't mean the film doesn't become stuttery or lack fluid motion on occasion.
X-Men: Days of Future Past suffers from a similar issue that has plagued the X-Men franchise since almost its inception; the audience clearly focuses on a different story arc of the film than the film makers had originally intended. In X-Men: First Class the movie is supposed to the origin story of Magento using the friendship of Xavier and Erik as the back drop. X-Men: Days of Future Past is supposed to be the redemption of Professor X as told through the eyes of Logan/Wolverine. The audience never fully feels the need for Professor X has to be saved, thus the story theme is pushed from their mind. That central theme is lost in the film and the tension and drama that supposed to come from that concept is never captured.
X-Men: Days of Future Past is a good movie that borders on exceptional. It is hard to put your finger on what Bryan Singer and others could have done better but it lacks that something that puts it over the top. In the pantheon of Marvel films this is clearly one of the better installments, it has the most challenging and intriguing storyline, the visual effects are stunning, the acting is very good, and sets stunning.
Personal Note: I am going to acknowledge right off the bat that I am pretty big fan (cough fanboi cough) when it comes the X-Men. I have been reading the comic since the early 80's, and the TV shows, and saw first showing locally of the X-Men when it was released back in 2000. To help prepare for this movie I watched the X-Men franchise, including the two we should forget about, twice, the entirety of the X-Men Evolution, Wolverine and the X-Men, the X-Men the 1992 TV Series, and than watched the first Trilogy of X-Men movies followed by multiple viewing of The Wolverine. So I am going to admit right from the get go I am biased.
With all that said, this was the most difficult review I have ever written. For every other film I have ever reviewed words easily appeared on the screen, I knew what I wanted to talk about, what I liked and disliked. And for those that don't know me, I am a verbose windbag to the Nth degree. So this was indeed a struggle for me.
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