X-Men: Days of Future Past review

Now, first of all, I would like to mention that Im one of those people who are getting REALLY sick of superhero movies. Batman, Superman, The Hulk, Ironman, Catwoman, Green Lantern, Thor, theyve all got the same basic premise and story outline and its all getting a bit too repetative and boring in my opinion. However, if theres one superhero group Ive always liked to some degree, its X-Men. I like that its a (somewhat) more realistic take on the superhero mythos, with ordinary humans understandably being afraid and xenophobic towards the superheroes, as I imagine is what would happen in the real world if people suddenly started to have superpowers.

Anyways, with this in mind, I went to see the newest X-Men movie today. I liked First Class more than I liked the original trilogy, so I was optimistic about this movie.
I was not disappointed.

As usual, bad points first, good points afterwards.
WARNING SPOILERS
Bad points:

1. A tiny tiny little minor bit of a plot hole: didnt Charles Xavier DIE in X-Men: Last Stand? How is his older self suddenly alive again? I know it was hinted that he survived in the epilogue of that movie, but it was never explained.

2. I really wish we couldve seen more of that super fast guy, he was very entertaining. I was sort of hoping hed show up for the final battle, but no such luck. You could make the argument that hes just a kid, but come on, the guy broke into pentagon for goodness sake.

3. The plot was a little bit too... I dunno, strange? Silly? Melodramatic? For my liking. I cant quite put my finger on it, but theres just something about the plot that felt a bit weird to me, like it was almost crossing the limits for suspending my disbelief.

4. I still dont understand WHY they decided to break out Magneto from Pentagon in the first place. Hes a lose cannon, a crazy murderous extremist who shouldnt be trusted to even make a cup of coffee right, why on earth would they think he would be at all helpful? It should not have come as a surprise to them that he decided to go his own way and just go all genocidal on them all, as hes done previously.

Good points:

1. Good acting. I quite enjoyed Peter Dinklage as Trask, he portrayed him as an asshole, but a realistic asshole as opposed to the cartoonish villains often seen in these types of movies. I also enjoyed James McAvoy as young Xavier, he acted the part well.

2. Kick-ass special effects.

3. Super fast guy (I dont remember his name) was a lot of fun to watch. All the silly stuff he did while using his super speed, his carefree attitude and personality. All in all, definitely one of the most enjoyable characters in the movie in my opinion, though I wish he had been present for longer of the movie rather than just that short part with the Pentagon.

4. The sentinels look amazingly badass.

5. I like that Mystique has become more of a character of ambiguous morality. She has her own goals; shes not on the same team as Xavier and his students, but shes not as brutal as Magneto either.

6. Authentic 70s feel. Granted, I wasnt even born until the 90s, but it seemed pretty authentic as far as I could tell, what with the fashion and technology. Also like the funny inclusion of a lava lamp and water beds.

7. I like how the conflict was solved; the way it all turned out, Trask became the badguy in the public eye while Mystique became the saviour. I also like that they in this way sort of turned the depressing ending of Last Stand on its head, making it yet again an optimistic world where both Xavier and Jean Grey are alive and well and the school is as it should be.

All in all, its an enjoyable movie. If I could give it a score of 1-6 where 1 is lowest and 6 is highest, Id probably give it either a 4 or 4.5. This is one of those movies where I have to see it more than once to form a concrete opinion on it.

In other news, while walking home from the theatre I saw a random potato in the street.


Edit: Just checked Wikipedia. Holy crap, the fast guy was Quicksilver? >_> Well, glad to see hes not Magnetos sister-loving incestous son in this universe, at least. (I hope the sequel doesnt prove me wrong, his comicbook relationship with his sister is just plain creepy)