X MEN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

There is some irony in the fact that the film to get the X-Men franchise back on track after the mistakes of X-Men 3 involves time travel to change the mistakes of the past. On paper it seems like a tall order for director Bryan Singer to not only fix the flawed and patchy plot from Last Stand but also to weave in the plot from X-Men First Class. In such a case picking a story involving time travel was actually a fairy shrewd move. It allows the filmmakers to integrate the storylines of the younger and older cast in a smoother fashion. Of course all of this would be completely meaningless were the core plot of the movie not up to scratch. Happily the film does not disappoint in this department. What we get is the culmination of a strand that has been running through all the X-Men movies (even Last Stand) - the battle of ideas between Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart/James McAvoy ) who urges a toleration between humans and mutants, and Eric Lehnsherr aka Magneto (Michael Fassbender/Ian Mckellen ) who wants a war based on survival of the fittest. These two duelling philosophies are what the conflict on the film really boils down to, not fighting robots and explosions (though there are a satisfying amount of these as well). The nightmarish scenes in the future give a vivid picture of what is at stake should the violence of Magneto win out. Though the film is very well made there are a few weak points, the original cast in the future don’t really have much to do except wait for the inevitable ‘doom’ which makes it appear as if they have been wasted a bit. The initial set up feels a tad rushed with the introduction of time travel feeling more than a little random- not to mention the fact the one character is only alive thanks to a pre credit sequence in the much maligned third film. Once it gets going though days of future past skilfully mixes in the drama and action and leaves its audience very much wanting more. FINAL VERDICT 8/10

Read More

Unknown 02:35  No comment