This X-Men prequel-sequel to Matthew Vaughn’s 2011 film X-Men: First Class is a tale of
time-travel and apparent alternate universes. Director Bryan Singer(who helmed the best of the previous X-Men movies) and screenwriters Jane Goldman, Simon Kinberg and Matthew Vaughn all bring a sense
of substance and vibrancy to what could’ve been just another superhero franchise movie.
The film opens in a dark apocalyptic vision of the future
where an ongoing war between mutants and humans has led to widespread destruction. State-of-the-art robots
called Sentinels have succeeded in wiping out most of mutant-kind, but on a remote
outpost, Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto,(Ian Mckellen) plan to send Wolverine’s consciousness back in time to 1973. They intend to stop a
train of events involving Mystique(Jennifer Lawrence) and Dr Trask,(Peter Dinklage) a government
scientist who pioneered the Sentinal technology and used Mystique’s shape-shifting mutant
abilities to refine the efficiency of these killing machines. Once you get over the clunky Terminator/The Matrix inspired tech-enslaving-futuristic-robot-time-travel-exposition-set-up,
the experience is infinitely more enjoyable.
Wolverine(Hugh Jackman) wakes up in the 1970’s with the
mission of convincing the younger Professor Xavier(James McAvoy) and
Magneto(Michael Fassbender) of the dark future that will incur unless they try
and rewrite their present. The 70’s period setting is not only appealingly evoked but it seems to have been chosen so
we can have fun watching the X-Men strutting around with dodgy sideburns, brown leather jackets and bad
shirts – in much the same way that American
Hustle or even Anchorman: The Legend
of Ron Burgundy derived its humour from that era – and it does provide a certain levity and charm to what is a rather straight-faced movie.
Singer is sure to utilize the hallmarks of the previous X-Men movies, but whereas before the creative licence taken on the political/historical backdrop has conveyed mutant activity amidst The Holocaust and the Cuban missile crisis, Days of Future Past references the Vietnam war and links Magneto’s metal manipulation abilities to the swerving bullet of the Kennedy assassination – crass, indeed, but it just about gets away with it.
Singer is sure to utilize the hallmarks of the previous X-Men movies, but whereas before the creative licence taken on the political/historical backdrop has conveyed mutant activity amidst The Holocaust and the Cuban missile crisis, Days of Future Past references the Vietnam war and links Magneto’s metal manipulation abilities to the swerving bullet of the Kennedy assassination – crass, indeed, but it just about gets away with it.
Although the third act is a mandatory CGI setpiece, the most
interesting stuff is all to do with the characters and the dialogue, which really is testament to how effectively the actors portray them and how
substantially fleshed out the characters are in the script. James McAvoy is compelling as
a jaded, disillusioned Xavier and Michael Fassbender is icily charismatic and
perfidious as Magneto. As Wolverine begins to assemble his X-Men team there are
some truly great moments, particularly when Professor X, Wolverine and
Quicksilver try to bust Magneto out of a high security prison cell and
Quicksilver, with the aid of his mutant ability to stall time, moves around
bullets with his hands in a slow-motion The Matrix-esque gunfight to the sound of Jim Croce
singing “If I could save time in a bottle…”
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