Guilty Pleasures #27 - X-men Month - X-men: Days of Future Past

We’ve reached the conclusion of Hugh Jackm… I mean X-men month with the most recent X-men movie on DVD, it’s X-men: Days of Future Past. And helping things along is the return of Bryan Singer as director, his last X-men film was the best of the ones so far, being X-men 2.

I must admit, like the other X-men movies, I didn’t see this in the cinema, seeing a teaser for it as a mid-credits scene in the Amazing Spider-man 2 (Mark Webb was under contract with Fox at the time, but was allowed to work on this film in exchange for that) kinda rubbed me the wrong way at the time, instead I waited until it was out on DVD.

In terms of audience reaction, it’s probably got the best up there with 91% on Rotten Tomatoes (at time of writing matching Captain America: Civil war and up there with the Dark Knight and the Avengers, 2 of my absolute favourite movies. Oh and also Iron Man, which was good… I need to do a Marvel theme month, I mean actual Marvel, not Fox or Sony Marvel.

Anyway, it’s also the most successful of the X-men movies, earning $750m at the box office on a $200m budget.

But let’s take a look at the movie itself and see how it holds up. For the record I’m not using the extended version because I don’t have that DVD.

We open in the dystopian New York city of… I have no idea when, the world it at war with both mutants and humans are both under the subjugation of robots known as the sentinels. After a lengthy opening we cut to Moscow, where 2 sentinel ships are floating around, they begin dropping sentinels into the city.

A resistance group realises they’ve been discovered: the group consists of Shadowcat, Iceman, Colossus, Bishop, Warpath, Blink and Sunspot. The sentinels burst in and the group use a clever application of their powers to try and fight them off but the sentinels seem capable of adapting to their attacks. Kitty and Bishop retreat into a safe as the sentinels finish the others off. Kitty uses her ability to send someone’s consciousness back in time (which she's never demonstrated before so go figure) to warn them in advance so they can escape before the sentinels arrive.

Charles is listening through cerebro as the world is subjugated, cerebro is now in their not-Blackbird ship. They head to china to meet with Bishop, carrying Storm, Wolverine and Magneto in tow. Xavier explains that a guy named Trask was the initial instigator of the sentinel programme. He was conducting experiments on mutants and came across Mystique. She killed Trask, persuading the governments of the need for his programme and she ended up captured the and the secret of her transformations reverse-engineered so the sentinels can adapt to any mutant powers (blending in and adaptation are not the same thing, Mystique is not immune to fire or claws or a mutant cure so I’m not sure how this works) anyway, it took 50 years and her capture was in the 1973, which makes this the 2020s, assuming the modern day X-men films run in real time, Wolverine was confronted by Charles in 2015, this is 7 years later, explaining why the adamantium might’ve restructured around his bones (perhaps Magneto helped)

Charles wants to be sent back but Shadowcat warns that a journey that far would rip them apart, so there’s only one man for the job then. Hello, Wolverine, nice to see you as the star in your 6^th movie. You know there are other cool x-men besides Wolverine. And I don’t mean the loser squad you had in First Class.

Anyway, locked in the Chinese Temple with the X-men minus Shadowcat, Magneto, Wolverine and Xavier standing guard. Xavier tells Wolverine that he did not have his powers in 1973 but doesn’t explain why, only that he’ll need to put him right before they can proceed. They’ll also need to find Magneto, since Mystique was with him at this point. Again, no mention of where to find him.

Kitty also warns that if he gets agitated it may be difficult to hold him in the past. She also warns that he won’t have much time, the sentinels will find them and this time they’ll have no means of running.

We cut to a lava lamp and Wolverine awakens looking at it with a girl on his arm. He was assigned guard duty for a mob daughter or some sh*t, when the heck did this happen? He has bone claws again, which should hardly be a new experience for him since he did at the end of the Wolverine too. He takes the goons out and steals one of their cars.

At congress, in Washington, Doctor Trask tries to convince them of the need for the sentinels but currently they do not see it, there’s not been a mutant incident since Cuba, which given the threads set up in that movie seems slightly unlikely.

We cut to Saigon where a Colonel requests access to a group of mutants… yeah, he’s Mystique in disguise. They’re about to be transferred to Trask industries but Mystique takes out their would-be captors with the help of the mutant captives.

She sends them off by military plane but is not done yet and heads off on her own. Logan arrives at the Xavier institute. He forces his way in, but Beast attacks him, throwing him across the room. Charles interrupts him, miraculously able to use his legs, with long hair and a depression beard. Wolverine tells Charles that he was sent by his future self and of course it’s met with laughter and disbelief and such. He tries to convince Charles that he is from the future and piques his interest but upon mentioning Raven’s name.

He then tells the whole story but upon mentioning the need for Magneto as well, Charles decides to use Wolverine’s old words against him and tells him to f*ck off. That would’ve worked but Wolverine actually said ‘go f*ck yourselves’ seems Charles memory is also lapsing a bit. Could be the alcohol. Wolverine asks beast what happened, after losing everything in Cuba he tries to move on but the War in Vietnam meant many of the students were drafted (as we saw in the earlier scene) and he couldn’t keep going. Beast designed the serum to heal his legs (because you can just do that) which in turn shuts down his mutant powers. WAIT WHAT?! How does a serum to repair the spine shut down the x-gene? Charles’ telepathy has nothing to do with his spine! Oh and it’s the same formula that allows Beast to turn back into Doctor Jekyll because why not.

Xavier remembers his first encounter with Raven all those years ago. And eventually decides to help. They reveal that Magneto is being held in a secure cell in the pentagon, created when they didn’t have the metal to construct it that way. A prison that, incidentally sounds much more secure than the one in X-men 2, 30 years in the future. Oh and the reason he’s there, he shot JFK, yeah… of course he did.

They justify it by explaining the bullet magically curved, making it sound plausible until you stop to think about it. Why would Magneto need to curve a bullet? He can aim a gun directly at him using his magnetism, he could kill him with metal shrapnel, he could fire 17 guns at once to assure success, one bullet would not really be his style.  

Wolverine knows someone who might be able to help, but he doesn’t know where to find him, but they use the phone book to look him up. Trask enters his building and 3, 2, 1, it’s Mystique in disguise, in what’s ultimately a copy of her scene in X-men 2 she begins looking through his files, entering the secret room. Of course this time the files are all hard copies. That’s a lot of dead mutants, including most of the First Class cast (except one who appeared with the military prisoners)

Wolverine finds his helper. Peter (ok…, I suppose that’s because Marvel took Pietro) aka Quicksilver. They arrive at his house and his mother believes he’s stolen something, not a surprise since it looks like he has half of Walmart in his room. Anyway, they convince him to help them.

Tell, me what’s the most cliché way of infiltrating an installation. Splitting off from a guide tour: we must be in the 70s. Beast uses a thing to hack the cameras as Quicksilver abducts a guard who conveniently has clothes the right size for him so he can put them on and pass for a guard. He enters Magneto’s cell roof and drops food to it. This damn well is more secure than the prison from X-men 2. Peter vibrates the glass enough to shatter it, setting off the alarm, Beast sets off the sprinklers because reasons.

Peter and Magneto are confronted by guards by he quickly passes them by without incident. Wolverine and Charles enter the now soaking kitchen using an excuse so feeble of course it doesn’t work. Fortunately, Wolverine tries to more direct approach. Quicksilver makes an interesting remarking about his mother knowing a guy who could control metal, yeah, they’re going the traditional route of making him Magneto’s son although it makes not a lot of sense given this continuity.

Guards confront them but Quicksilver uses the power of being pretty damn amazing to take them all out in a relative two seconds. So… where was he during the last 3 X-men movies? He might’ve been useful, to either side. They thank Pietro and decide to head off without him despite the fact he could end this movie in 3 seconds flat.

They head to Paris, where Trask is intending to propose the sentinel programme to communist nations instead. In the flight Magneto and Charles get into an argument and we hear that Emma is among the dead. So you remember all those plot points set up in First Class, you can ignore them entirely, they’re all dead and I doubt we’re getting another prequel.

The worst part is, Magneto really does have a point, Charles did abandon the mutants to die. We cut to Paris where a Vietnamese general falls under the sway of Mystique, hope he didn’t end up like that last guy, at least we get to the hotel this time. She goes just shy of killing him but knocks him out long enough to take his place. Erik admits he was trying to save the President, who was a mutant (then why not stop the bullet in mid-air instead of curving it). And they begin to sorta reconcile over a game of chess.

In Paris, a meeting to signify the ending of American involvement in Vietnam, Trask approaches the Vietnamese generals with his sentinel proposals. Trask unveils the tech to target the x-gene and in the process discovers Mystique, everything’s about to go as prophesied by Charles, Erik and the team burst in. Wolverine spots Stryker and begins getting agitated. Magneto uses that exact moment to draw his gun on Mystique, intending to kill her, without Charles’ powers to stop him she has to run. Magneto manages to curve the bullet into her leg.

In the future, Shadowcat remarks that he’s slipping back under the agitation and we see Wolverine does indeed have metal claws in this one (I remarked it in passing in my The Wolverine review but I’d forgotten so I’m mentioning it again now) in the past Mystique reveals herself as a shapeshifter to the public and Magneto publicly demonstrates his powers.

Wolverine’s personality from 50 years ago returns and has no clue who he’s supposed to be. Beast takes on Magneto, Charles tries to convince him he’s hallucinating as the battle outside escalates. Mystique manages to make her escape as Beast manages to confine Magneto.  and it’s all caught on camera, sparking fear of mutants.Wolverine manages to stab Kitty in the future, but it seems to be only a flesh wound because the original point was cut out.

Wolverine is put back under and Charles brings him back up to speed. President Nixon is convinced to order to order the creation of the sentinels. Raven is comforted/patronised by a nurse healing her bullet wound. Magneto sees plans for the sentinels which he acquired somehow as begins thinking. He walks down a subway, and is confronted by Mystique. They have some of her blood from the fight, they need to strike now but Mystique is only interested in Trask and she does not want a war.

Charles collapses upon entering the mansion, he’s able to sense Wolverine’s belief that it may be too late. Wolverine remarks that they have no means of finding Raven now without his powers. Hank arrives with the drug but Charles eventually decides not to take it. Meanwhile, Stryker and Trask continue talking, 

Trask has ideas from Mystique’s blood but needs more if he’s to be able to make the modifications. The fact that she ever survived any of this is beyond me. Magneto has slipped into the compound.

Xavier heads to cerebro but finds himself unable to take all the noise and takes it off. Wolverine gives a bit of his history to Charles, and convinces him to look inside his own head, revealing a lot of the sh*t that’s happened in his life and eventually getting to make telepathic contact with his future self. It’s just as silly as futuristic hologram time-projections we get in Wolverine and the X-men so I’ll give it a pass.

Charles tries to convince himself to be more open to his goals and helps him embrace his own pain and what will ultimately make him even more powerful. Power is restored and he prepares to use cerebro again. Meanwhile Magneto sneaks aboard a train carrying the sentinels and begins implanting metal into them so he can control them. Now, how that gives him access to their programming is beyond me.

Kitty is bleeding and may die very soon. Charles uses her powers to try and convince Raven to stop but she refuses. You know you’re exceptionally stubborn, Raven. You’ve been told what your actions will bring and you still decide to continue on them. She’s heading to Washington and Beast reveals that they’re announcing the sentinel programme in front of the White House tomorrow. Beast gives the ‘time wants to happen speech’ that’s ultimately a lot less cr*p coming from Rip Hunter.

Magneto heads into the Pentagon to retrieve his helmet, naturally it wasn’t just melted down but kept at the exact same prison Magneto was being held. I thought metal was scarce. Wolverine asks Charles to promise to find Scott, Jean and Storm (was Ororo too hard a name?!) anyway, Charles says he’ll do his best. 

In the future, a huge army of sentinels are approaching. Magneto heads out to join the guards. Back in the past we have a funny joke about Wolverine surprised not to get through a metal detector. Charles begins searching for her mind. The President is called to make his speech about the mutants, he unveils the sentinels. Meanwhile Magneto decides to take an entire sports stadium to the whitehouse. You know, I presume there are easier ways to what you want than with an entire sports stadium.

Charles finds Raven and stops her from taking a shot, sending Beast and Wolverine out to stop them. The sentinels begin to activate and open fire upon the populace. Trask and the President are sent to a bunker as the people are evacuated. In the future, Storm tries to cover the, with well, a storm, the winds destroy a couple of their ships but they begin deploying sentinels, storm gives some of her lightning to bishop, who uses it to open fire on the sentinels.

Magneto uses their plane as a weapon and destroys a couple of sentinels. In the past, the sentinels join Magneto’s side as he drops the staium down, separating Charles from his wheelchair and cutting off any support. In the future we find that Magneto was impaled by a piece of debris, a sentinel takes storm by surprise and kills her as well, Bishop is killed soon after. Magneto, still alive creates a metal barrie around the doorway into the temple and Blink transports him inside. The others continue to put up a fight.

Beast converts to his ‘beastly’ form, but Magneto sets a sentinel on them, without his metal claws, Wolverine isn’t able to fight but Beast has a few ideas. Wolverine charges at Magneto but he impales Wolverine in metal rods and tosses him aside. Trask discovers that there’s a mutant in the building but as they’re about to act, the bunker is pulled out of the ground by Magneto, he pulls open the punker and points all their guns towards them. He makes a speech to the world on cameras. 

As the speech is made we see Colossus destroyed along with the rest of the advance guard. Blink is the last of them to fall. Charles and Magneto lament that they’ve spent so many years fighting each other. With the advanced guard down, Iceman tries to re-enforce the wall. In the past, Charles begins to recover as the sentinel going after Beast spots Magneto and quickly chases him before he tears it apart. Turns out the President was (at that moment) Mystique in disguise and she shoots Magneto in the shoulder with a plastic gun. She turns the gun on Trask but Xavier reaches out to her again. She’s already saved their lives; she may be able to turn things around. She eventually drops the gun as in the future Iceman is killed, followed by the Professor. It’s done, everything has changed.

Magneto is allowed to leave, he’s as good as dead otherwise. Wolverine awakens in the new future where everyone is still alive, including Jean and including a somewhat dorky looking Cyclops and it looks like Rogue is back too. Beast is now also a teacher. He goes to see the Professor and asks to be caught up on their new history.  Well, we know at least these people are going to survive Apocalypse

The sentinel programme is cancelled and Trask is arrested for attempting to sell military secrets, we see that Wolverine's in the hands of Stryker, or rather Mystique, so how he comes to have adamantium claws is utterly beyond me as Origins Wolverine never happened (see Deadpool for evidence of that.)

Post credits we see a bunch of people chanting En Sabar Nor (which is Apocalypse) as he uses telekinetic powers to build a pyramid.

I’ll briefly mention the 2 scenes I remember from the extended edition, one of which was a scene in the future where they find Rogue (who has powers back now because reasons) ironically being held in the Xavier mansion and Iceman dies there rather than being held back from the main fight. We also have a scene of Mystique essentially doing what she did in the first X-men movie to cerebro.

The movie is very good, it balances action drama, and character development for the movie’s main leads, honestly Wolverine gets the least but it’s understandable given we’ve had 5 movies of character development for him already. The main person who needs developing is Charles who’s in such a bad way you wonder how he ever got out of it initially but that’s by-the-by, his development is at the fore-front of the movie and it makes sense for his character development, especially after the events of First Class left him in such a dark place.

Mystique gets her share of development and it’s still quite nice to watch her power through everything, my biggest issue is her being unbearably stubborn in this one but it’s a fairly minor issue in what’s largely a very good film

Speaking of minor issues, I feel it dumps a lot of potential that the First Class movie set up. Emma Frost was not well used in First Class and now she’s been dumped between movies and is unlikely to show up again. Same with all the mutants who were killed.

What the movie ultimately represents is the equivalent of a continuity reboot. X-men, X-men 2 and 3, Wolverine, and The Wolverine are no longer canon with the running universe. But since this movie provides an interesting inter-connecting point between the two I’m more forgiving on this front. It gives them an opportunity to undo the mistakes of X-men 3 and X-men Origins Wolverine, which is the biggest draw to this idea.

Rating -150%