X-Men: Days of Future Past

[Blaze]

I'm just coming back from the theatre and thought we'd discuss the movie here. Obviously SPOILER ALERT (I tried putting it in the title and completely failed, sorry!) For those who have not seen the movie, do not read on!

Overall thoughts, probably my favorite X-Men movie so far. Never been big on superheroes, but I've always loved the X-Men, and I've been waiting years for them to do Days of Future Past (one of my favorite comic story), so I was really hyped for this.

The good:
-Quicksilver was a lot cooler than what I thought he would be. He seemed campy in the trailers, but I ended up really liking him. I also thought that Magneto wouldn't be his dad in this, but they did make a reference to it!
-Not overly action base, I find many films rely too much on action sequences, this wasn't the case here
-Mystique was kick ass. Jennifer Lawrence did a much better job in this one compared to First Class (still like her in FC though)
-I wasn't sold on Michael Fassbender in FC, but this time around he absolutely convinced me as Magneto. He was probably the biggest surprise here, absolutely loved his performance. James McAvoy was also great.
-All the cameos were great! And there was a lot of them!
-Inclusion of previous time line (mainly Origins, which surprised me), but still manages to reboot the series in a way that makes sense and it did fix a lot of continuity errors
-Sweet after credit scene!

The bad
-Not enough Kitty! She's my favorite character of the X-Men franchise (alongside Rogue), so I was disappointed when they cut down her role to near nothing. Especially when she had such an integral part of the comic. At least she wasn't cut entirely from the movie, which leads me to...
-Rogue. They should have never cut her out of the movie.
-Not enough of the "old" cast. But that's not a real complaint, it's just me being nostalgic
-Could have been slightly more assembled, we essentially get only 4-5 X-Men saving the world. To me X-Men was always such an assembled cast, it would have benefited from having more even screen time. But this really is only a minor complaint.

 

[white avenger]

I just got back from seeing it. I thought that it was a good action movie. Just one little detail, and it might have been that I looked away at the critical moment, but was Stan Lee not in this one? If so, it's the first Marvel movie that I can remember seeing without his cameo shot. Hope he old guy isn't getting sick on us.

 

[Xin Rong]

I enjoyed it, but I am generally opposed to retconning, especially at this massive level, I think i'd have preferred a reboot.

 

[HushSarah]

I just saw it! 🙂

Thoughts:

James was excellent in this movie. He was always a great actor but in this one he owns as Prof. X, that scene where Patrick and he are in each other's heads just made me a mess, Patrick's voice and James' vulnerability made it feel so real
Fassbender convincing as always, he had more layers in this one, but still his pissed off self
I thought Beast was pretty good too, his transformations kind of reminded me of The Hulk
Jennifer was the big part of the movie, especially the final part and she totally killed in her final scene
Quicksilver was funny, it was great to have him in the movie, his one-liners were cool
Trask as the hell bent scientist, perfect casting, Peter can do almost anything, he has such a presence
Storm's scene at the end tore me apart and then the final scene made it all right again
Cameos: Cyclops, Rogue and Jean, it was great to see them...alive, I smiled when I saw Cyclops
Watching this made me think X3 never existed which is a good thing, most of the fandom doesn't like X3 with good reason

It's an interesting take on the comic and it had Bryan Singer written all over it. I'm glad he came back, and it's clear the conversation he had with James Cameron on time travel was good inspiration to pull from.

 

[Fuffy Baith]

I just saw it too! I thought it was really emotional, almost cried. The cast, especially James Mcavoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence, did an excellent job. It was nice to see some of the old cast back again. Although I was waiting for Rogue to pop and she never did except or like a second in the end. Some of the new characters were kind of lame. I guess with some many X-men characters it's hard to fit everyone in while still having the main plot around mystique, prof x, magneto and wolverine. I did like Beast using his powers like the Hulk, cuz I was confused when he opened the door looking normal.

There were so many references and call back to the previous films, it made me have to think to remember a little to much. The ending has changed everything and it's like the first 3 movies and probably origins, never existed. So it's mostly a sequel to First Class, which is cool cuz I like that one. Not as much action as I would have wanted and it was a little slow paced in some scenes especially the end where I was like hurry up already we all know it's going to work out so speed it up a bit cuz the drawn out suspense was not working for me. But overall I enjoyed it and I think a second viewing would make it better.

 

[Blaze]

Some of the new characters were kind of lame.

It`s kind of funny because I thought this movie had the best supporting cast of "new" X-Men. Bishop was slightly disappointing, but Blink was so cool. One of my favourite supporting X-Men in all the movies. Sunspot and Warpath were a bit useless but they looked cool. And well, I already expressed how much I liked Quicksilver.

And we got small roles for Toad and Spyke. Although, maybe I was just happy because my favorite kids' TV show was Evolution.

Overall though, I like this supporting X-Men cast much better than the guys in First Class.

 

[Fuffy Baith]

It`s kind of funny because I thought this movie had the best supporting cast of "new" X-Men. Bishop was slightly disappointing, but Blink was so cool. One of my favourite supporting X-Men in all the movies. Sunspot and Warpath were a bit useless but they looked cool. And well, I already expressed how much I liked Quicksilver.

And we got small roles for Toad and Spyke. Although, maybe I was just happy because my favorite kids' TV show was Evolution.

Overall though, I like this supporting X-Men cast much better than the guys in First Class.

I'm not saying they were bad, they were just given nothing to do really or overlooked. All Warpath seemed to do was alert everyone of the sentinels. I wasn't even clear of his power, if he's a mutant. Sunspot was an improvement over Pyro but he didn't do much cuz the sentinels were so powerful, he was like useless. Toad was weird looking. I wish they would have done something more with him and Havok and those mutants, maybe like a scene where we see them getting roundup or something.

I did really like Blink though she was the most useful. Although I don't know why she didn't use her portals to kill the sentinels, cuz we see that if she closes the portal as they move through it, it cut off the spike thing. Couldn't she just open and close portals on them to tear apart their bodies?

 

[Blaze]

I'm not saying they were bad, they were just given nothing to do really or overlooked. All Warpath seemed to do was alert everyone of the sentinels. I wasn't even clear of his power, if he's a mutant. Sunspot was an improvement over Pyro but he didn't do much cuz the sentinels were so powerful, he was like useless. Toad was weird looking. I wish they would have done something more with him and Havok and those mutants, maybe like a scene where we see them getting roundup or something.

I did really like Blink though she was the most useful. Although I don't know why she didn't use her portals to kill the sentinels, cuz we see that if she closes the portal as they move through it, it cut off the spike thing. Couldn't she just open and close portals on them to tear apart their bodies?

Good point, one of my complaint for this movie is that there was not enough scenes involving the assemble X-Men cast. I love Charles, Magneto, Mystique and Wolverine as much as the next person, but I could have done with an extra 30 minutes of scenes revolving around other mutants. I mean, the least they could have done is shown Warpath's superhuman life abilities, at least ripped through a few sentinels. Overall I think they used the best overall mutant selection from any X-Men movies (I mean side characters only), but it's true that they didn't exploit that to the full potential. Especially with Days of Future Past, which was just a golden opportunity to show off everyone working together.

Good point about Blink's portals. They made her power look way to cool for me to complain though 😛

 

[Xin Rong]

Is anyone else worried about Jean though, yes they retconned it so she never went dark, but she is essentially a ticking time bomb, and will no doubt go bad again at some point?

 

[Blaze]

Is anyone else worried about Jean though, yes they retconned it so she never went dark, but she is essentially a ticking time bomb, and will no doubt go bad again at some point?

I wouldn't mind seeing a well done version of Dark Phoenix. Something better than what we go in X-Men 2/Last Stand. It might be too repetitive though.

 

[Xin Rong]

I wouldn't mind seeing a well done version of Dark Phoenix. Something better than what we go in X-Men 2/Last Stand. It might be too repetitive though.

I agree, a good dark phoenix would be good, but it would be repetitive. However, I think it needs addressing, I don't think they should just ignore Jean's potential for going nuclear.

 

[HushSarah]

If Singer directs the Dark Phoenix Saga, I'm there. I can't wait for her to go dark again, at least maybe now her character and Cyclops can be redeemed.

 

[nightshade]

Just came back from seeing it, got to admit to being a bit confused to the timeline of this one, it's not a sequel to any of previous ones, but still references them.

Overall wasn't that impressed, felt like another Wolverine movie, and while I do like him, I would have preferred to focus on other people more. Would liked to have seen more of the future parts, the other mutants working together and finding out a little about them, they seem barely mentioned, but it was their future that they were trying to change, it was their plan.

I did love Mystique though, thought she could have been a better lead character than Wolverine.

 

[Blaze]

Just came back from seeing it, got to admit to being a bit confused to the timeline of this one, it's not a sequel to any of previous ones, but still references them.

The future part is a sequel to X3, while the past part is a sequel to First Class. They managed to erase the future though, so they erased X1-3 and the future of "Days of Future past". So it would go something like

First Class
DOFP past (modified)
X1 (erased)
X2 (erased)
X3 (erased)
DOFP future (erased)

And now the next movie will be Apocalypse fallowing DOFP (past). The wolverine timeline was also erased.

Overall wasn't that impressed, felt like another Wolverine movie, and while I do like him, I would have preferred to focus on other people more. Would liked to have seen more of the future parts, the other mutants working together and finding out a little about them, they seem barely mentioned, but it was their future that they were trying to change, it was their plan.

I did love Mystique though, thought she could have been a better lead character than Wolverine.

Agreed for Wolverine, I'm a bit sick of him. I think the goal was mainly to say goodbye to the old cast. It's more likely Hugh Jackman second to last movie, and the old actors are getting too old. This felt like a transition movie to the new cast who will take over for Apocalypse. I'm still glad that we saw a lot of Mystique, I thought it was about time they gave her a background.

 

[SiegePerilous02]

Just got back from my screening. Loved it, definitely a breath of fresh air to have Singer back behind the director's chair. Aside from First Class, his absence was really felt throughout the previous films, especially Last Stand.

Wolverine was naturally the main character in this one again, but I liked how he functioned more as an observer as the main drama played out between Charles, Eric and Mystique. Everyone in the cast was great, especially McAvoy, Fassbender and Lawrence. It goes without saying at this point that Jackman owns Wolverine, so he's always worth seeing. And Peter Dinklage was also great. That dude needs to play Dr. Psycho in a Wonder Woman film, NOW.

That final scene choked me up a bit. It was great seeing Jean and Scott again, it was a nice "take that" to the crappy way X3 handled them.

My only real complaint was Kitty getting the out-of-nowhere power to cast minds into the past. Rachel Summers performed that role in the comics, but since the cast was crowded enough as it is, I guess they felt like they needed to condense it down. With Scott and Jean dead in that timeline, Rachel's existence is also impossible anyway.

 

[Xin Rong]

Just got back from my screening. Loved it, definitely a breath of fresh air to have Singer back behind the director's chair. Aside from First Class, his absence was really felt throughout the previous films, especially Last Stand.

Wolverine was naturally the main character in this one again, but I liked how he functioned more as an observer as the main drama played out between Charles, Eric and Mystique. Everyone in the cast was great, especially McAvoy, Fassbender and Lawrence. It goes without saying at this point that Jackman owns Wolverine, so he's always worth seeing. And Peter Dinklage was also great. That dude needs to play Dr. Psycho in a Wonder Woman film, NOW.

That final scene choked me up a bit. It was great seeing Jean and Scott again, it was a nice "take that" to the crappy way X3 handled them.

My only real complaint was Kitty getting the out-of-nowhere power to cast minds into the past. Rachel Summers performed that role in the comics, but since the cast was crowded enough as it is, I guess they felt like they needed to condense it down. With Scott and Jean dead in that timeline, Rachel's existence is also impossible anyway.

Yeah, it would have been so easy to come up with a line like: Kitty's phasing allows her to phase other peoples minds into the past, as in some extension of her phasing power, but they didn't bother to include that, I would have preferred another character rather than changing a current character's powers without explanation

 

[SiegePerilous02]

Yeah, it would have been so easy to come up with a line like: Kitty's phasing allows her to phase other peoples minds into the past, as in some extension of her phasing power, but they didn't bother to include that, I would have preferred another character rather than changing a current character's powers without explanation

I guess they had to have something significant for Kitty to do. She was the protagonist of the classic story, but once again Logan steals the spotlight from someone else, so that was out the window. The only other thing I could see her doing is just join the others in fighting the Sentinels, but they probably wanted to give her something more substantial than that.

You're right, one line would have gone a long way to fix everything up.

 

[HushSarah]

Kitty having that new power sorta threw me off. When did her mutation evolve? That irked me.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

I loved this sooo much. I really thought no other comics movie was going to come close to Captain america.
But this was right up there.

I adore how they just chucked out the first 3 movies! It's always annoying how there are inconsistencies between the first 3.

I love the x-men movies, I even liked Last Stand up till last week when I rewatched it again and finally let myself accept that is was rubbish. I just love the characters so much I was in denile.
I now feel even better about accepting Last Stands crapness now that it doesn't exist, lol!

The only part I didn't like about this one was how it wasn't a continuation for either the First Class era series or the older one, it was more of a fixer between the two that will allow them to continue with both eras aligned?
Like X-men 1 and 2 built up a great verse, Last Stand took a bite out of it but First Class built it up again, and this film kinda took a bite out of First Class. Like why kill off Emma Frost, Banshee and Angel so unnecessarily. More so Emma Frost! One does not kill Emma Frost off screen!!

They could go back and do a proper first class continuation within the 10 years between FC and DoFP but they probably wont.

I also wasn't mad about the amount of screen time Wolverine got. I get that Jackman is awesome, and much as Downey is to Iron Man, Jackman IS Wolverine, but I have never found Wolverine all that interesting. But I did appreciate that he wasn't really put in a leading role, even though the story featured from his point of view, he didn't feel like the star, it felt very much like an ensemble.

I'd much rather see a few more FC type films now with Wolverine in a diminished role, though they've already confirmed him for Apocalypse right?


I can't believe how cool they made Quicksilver. After the promo pics came out I was ready to hate his character, but he was an absolute high-light! His scene where he took out the guards was one of the most awesome scenes I've seen in a film in a long time!

The action in general was fantastic! It wasn't just about destroying a city like Man of Steel, and it wasn't as small and powerful as Captain America, it was clever. I loved watching the group action scenes with Blink, her power made everyone else's powers much cooler!

Her, Sunspot, Warpath and Bishop were used perfectly IMO. I had no need to get to know them, I knew them already from the comics and the movie did a good job and showed you what their powers were if you didn't. The balance between the past characters and future character was done well, we got to see more of the past characters which were the ones I wanted to see, while still getting to see a good chunk of the future cast. It wouldn't have been necessary to see more of the new guys, since they weren't going to exist (as they are now) by the end of the movie.

I did really like Blink though she was the most useful. Although I don't know why she didn't use her portals to kill the sentinels, cuz we see that if she closes the portal as they move through it, it cut off the spike thing. Couldn't she just open and close portals on them to tear apart their bodies?

Didn't it just grow back though? I can't remember now, but It feels like it would have just repaired itself?

Is anyone else worried about Jean though, yes they retconned it so she never went dark, but she is essentially a ticking time bomb, and will no doubt go bad again at some point?

I'm not worried, I really hope they do address it again! For such an awesome story LS just steam rolled through it and completely mucked it up, it would be great to see it done again. Wolverine has memories of the last time, so it would go down in a totally different way, and that has to potential to be interesting.

My only real complaint was Kitty getting the out-of-nowhere power to cast minds into the past. Rachel Summers performed that role in the comics, but since the cast was crowded enough as it is, I guess they felt like they needed to condense it down. With Scott and Jean dead in that timeline, Rachel's existence is also impossible anyway.

Yeah, it would have been so easy to come up with a line like: Kitty's phasing allows her to phase other peoples minds into the past, as in some extension of her phasing power, but they didn't bother to include that, I would have preferred another character rather than changing a current character's powers without explanation

I was kinda thrown, at first I was thinking "this is stupid" but when I thought about there is some logic to that power progression, as you said Xin, her physical phasing evolving into a mental phasing.
And on the flip, if you weren't too up on her power, you don't really think about it.



The after credits was cool, kinda wish we didn't know the title of the next film till after this was shown. There was a big difference in excitement watching Thanos show up in The Avengers vs WAITING for Apocalypse to show up. But thats not really a negative.

Was Apocalypse a women?

---------- Post added at 06:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:38 PM ----------

Oh and the blatant disregard for the fact that the Professors body was ripped into atoms(?) and his mind moved into another character was too hilarious I just didn't care about the lack of continuity.
Like the movie was basically just a F you to LS, "We'll just ignore you, and make you not count at all any more"

 

[Fuffy Baith]

Like why kill off Emma Frost, Banshee and Angel so unnecessarily. More so Emma Frost! One does not kill Emma Frost off screen!!

They could go back and do a proper first class continuation within the 10 years between FC and DoFP but they probably wont.

Her, Sunspot, Warpath and Bishop were used perfectly IMO.

Did they kill off Emma Frost? I didn't catch that one. If they did it's bad continuity again since she was in Origins which takes place after the past 70's timeline. But I'm fine with that, the actress in FC was not good, she was very wooden. But I was sad about killing off Banshee and Angel, I like them. I assume they needed a reason to explain why they weren't going to be in the movie, and since it was so long already and so many scenes had to be cut, thy just didn't have time to place them anywhere, so they just killed them off. Which sucks cuz I liked their powers, and I like seeing different powers other than Wolverine, Prof X, Magneto and Mystique.

I would also like to see what happened in the 10 year gap between FC and DoFP but oh well. They explained enough I guess.

Having not read the comics, I had no idea who Blink, Sunspot, Warpath and Bishop were. I still do not know what Warpath does in the movie, other than warn them about the sentinels. He seemed like a really useless character. With that said, maybe a second viewing would help. Bishop I thought was cool, I didn't understand his powers until the end fight scene though. I would like to see him back again cuz I think they could do cooler stuff with him. Sunspot is like the opposite of Iceman, making Pyro look lame, but I don't think he got any lines, and doesn't do much fighting wise cuz the sentinels are so powerful, so I don't really care about him. Blink's portal powers are still awesome. They should do more with her and Bishop.

And not knowing about the Apocalypse movie, or who he was, the end credit scene got me confused, but now I've read up on him, so I'm excited to see what the next movie is going to be like. As far as the whole old cast vs new cast, I don't really care either way. I do like the new cast, but if they bring in Wolverine or younger versions of the older characters like Storm, Jean and Scott, I'm fine with that. I think they're going to bring back Quicksilver too which is good because I think we all wanted to see more of him. I like that not only is he fast, but he can move so fast to create enough vibrations to shatter glass, making even better use of his power other than just running around.

Yea that's all I could tell his power was, was that he could see really far. I can't wait for the DVD release so I can watch all of the deleted scenes (hopefully they make it to the DVD), some of them might make things make more sense.