How can a movie bursting with so much thesping talent – nay,
thesping ROYALTY! – be bad?
Well, actually, Patrick Stewart and best pal Ian McKellan
return as frenemies Professor X and Magneto, with Huge Jackedman back as
Wolverine, Ellen Page as Shadowcat, Anna Paquin as Rogue (she gets higher
billing that Page, though she is there for about 2 seconds of screentime
compared to Page’s 10 minutes… well, True Blood will do that to you), Halle
Berry as Storm (who must get her non geometric cape from the same place Magento
goes) and a few others (no spoilers here!) have managed to make a bad film
before (X-Men Last Stand anyone?). But if you combine their acting powers with
those of James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as Professor X and Magneto, the so
hot right now Jennifer Lawrence as the so hot always Raven/Mystique and the
incandescent Peter Dinklage as Trask… well, surely that will guarantee boffo box
office and cinematic success?
And it looks like X-Men: Days of Future Past has! Not that
the screening I was in was particularly full (being a rather pointless 3D
session at a rather early time just after a long weekend), but it has got
generally good reviews and is seen in some circles as the best X-Men film
yet.
Its starts off in the future for a little while for a lot of
slam bang wallop, and then goes back to the past for a bit of a slow down, where
the X-Men: First Class cast take over. While Hugh Jackman gets to show off his
well developed abs and butt, James McAvoy really takes over the proceedings,
grounding and driving the film along. Along the way, he is outshone by Evan Peters
from American Horror Story as Peter/Quicksilver (who steals every scene he is
in, and possibly is the best character in the movie), Lawrence and Dinklage too,
but then, he is only human. In the end though, he is the focus and, as a McAvoy
fan, I was not unpleased about that.
I won’t go into the plot too much, but it is basically that
an evil scientist creates evil robots that destroy mutants in the future so
mutants go back to the past to stop him. There are lots of unexplained bits and
pieces (where did future Professor X come from again? And time travel is always
a little dodgy a device) amongst all the little jokes about 70s events and the
fashion of the time (looked very comfortable!), and it all moves along at a
fantastically brisk pace as there is quite a bit to get through. Quite why
Magneto is so important to the story is never really made clear, and the extent
of his powers is both awesome and annoying at the same time – mainly annoying,
especially come the final (well one of the final) showdown(s).
And the Sentinels… well, they look rather dumb, the future
versions looking very Thor-robot like and the older versions looking… not
terribly 70s. Ah well.
So… that’s about all I can go into really as I don’t want to
give away too much (besides the after the credits trailer which is all about
Apocalypse though its rather pointless for all that hype), save to say that the
3D was utterly pointless even though the visuals were spectacular.
Verdict: X-Men: Days of Future Past is more X-Men: First
Class than X-Men: Last Stand, and thank Xavier for that! Fast, witty, action
packed, and all those great actors! Definitely worth the entry fee, if not the
extra from the 3D. 9 X marks the spot out of 10.
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