Days of Future Past Official Rate and Review DAYS OF FUTURE PAST - Part 1

[X-Maniac]

Well, I've just seen it again (third time now). and my God, it was even better than the previous times.

Really, I can't find fault with it except for tiny things (Beast doesn't look as good at the very end, Bishop underused, wasn't sure if McKellen Magneto died or not). So I'm almost willing to give it a 10. It's a big thing to make a film so perfect in a score, it gives very little leeway when you give an ultimate rating.

To me it is of Dark Knight level, it's just a shame that the film's opening weekend never rose to the level of X3 and beyond, but we are in a very different place these days with box office (see also the openings of the Amazing Spider-Man films).

Now, finally, I am going to write a review for my blog!

So bloody good, and well worth the multiple viewings. Kinberg has redeemed himself, Singer slots back into franchise where he is obviously meant to be.

 

[Tehmeh]

Majority seems to think it improves with repeat viewings. Nice. And by majority I mean some of you whose posts I've happened to see.

 

[Rock Sexton]

Beast looked dreadful in that cameo, it got laughs in the audience, I remember before I see the movie someone said he looked the same as in X3 so I was expecting him to look like that... Then when he appeared he just looked like a blue face covered in a little bit of hair

I find his design and makeup to be a bit off-putting.

 

[JimB]

I was just looking at the three trailers a moment ago, and suddenly felt the need to see DOFP for a third time tomorrow.

I think what's got to me the most is the interaction between the two Charles.
The emotion portrayed by James McAvoy, and the compelling phrases of hope of the older and wiser Charles to his younger and hopeless self along with the music and the setting with the light coming ... it's such a beautiful scene.

 

[Idina tobolowsk]

Yesterday i saw that movie its different one in this series i just want to know that in this movie any Yellow Costume wearing by Wolverine or Any Cast of that movie?

 

[Loki882]

No, and thank god for that.

 

[Asr]

Just came back from seeing it a 2nd time. Damn this movie was just full of awesome! The ending in the alternate future just had that emotional anticipation factor and practically brought a tear to my eye. It was great seeing so many characters again too from FC and the OT, it was like a reunion after so many years and I got all misty-eyed seeing the "old" crew in the future combined with the "new" crew in the past. There were just so many cool moments, like Quicksilver's all-out speed display, JLaw's Mystique moving like Romijn's Mystique in her physical attack scenes, both young & old Xaviers bringing the emotional core to the movie throughout ("I don't want your suffering! I don't want your future!" and "We need you to hope again"), Magneto attacking Wolverine and the humans (again), etc. And the sense of bleakness & despair in the future scenes was played out perfectly and reminded me so much of the future war scenes from Terminator 2. The only thing missing from the future scenes was more Bishop, I especially wanted to see more of his energy-absorption powers.

I couldn't put a finger on why but JLaw looked amazingly hot in this movie too when she wasn't Mystique. Not sure if it's because she's just getting older and is starting to look less like a kid and more like a woman, but she was just ridiculously hot.

Definitely my new #1 favorite X-Men movie over X2 and FC, but hard to rank it against CA: TWS which I also thought was amazing.

 

[JP]

Tell your friends!!!

 

[Guard82]

I just saw it for the first time and loved it! I can't wait to see it again! DOFP has so many great things in it that it's unbelievable! X-Men fans will love it, and general audiences will also enjoy it a whole lot. The movie has a terrific adventurous tone to it, with a real sense of danger and tragedy, but also a sense of hope, redemption, and triumph.

The story does a good job of selling the threat of a dark, dystopian future, but without going as dark as, for example, The Dark Knight. I think it strikes a very good balance between its "lighter" elements and its "darker" elements.

Bryan Singer's directing and Simon Kinberg's writing deserve a lot of credit for being able to take so many diverse story elements and weave them together into a mostly tight, well-paced narrative. The movie manages to balance the "future" scenes and the "past" scenes remarkably well, and that's no simple task.

The characters who receive the most attention in the story are Xavier, Magneto, Wolverine, and Mystique, and their actors are awesome throughout. James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart give some phenomenal performances as Xavier. The scene where the two Xaviers psychically communicate with each other across the timeline is filled with drama and pathos. Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellan once again turn in some excellent performances as Magneto.

Jennifer Lawrence was awesome as Mystique in this. She got so much to do in this movie and was able to convey a wide range of emotions, motivations, and conflicted feelings. And of course, Hugh Jackman was excellent as always as Wolverine. He does a great job serving as the character who must bring all the key characters together to prevent the disastrous future.

The supporting characters were great too. Not all of them received that much character development, but they all had their moments to shine. In the future, for example, it was neat seeing Blink use her powers in battle with the Sentinels. Her powers were especially useful when it came to dealing with those robots. It was neat to see Bishop as well since he is most associated with the future in the comics. In the '70s segments of the film, Quicksilver and Beast made nice sidekicks for Xavier and Wolverine.

I enjoyed Ellen Page once again as Kitty. Even though her role was mainly just to send Wolverine back in time and maintain his presence in the past, she still had some good emotional moments. Her facial expressions and her tone of voice did a good job of conveying the fear everyone was feeling, as well as the hope they were all looking for. And I have to say that I liked the part where she defiantly tells the Sentinels, "Too late, *******s." LOL

The Sentinels themselves were sold as an EXTREME threat. They came across as phenomenally dangerous as well as creepy, especially in their futuristic versions. Whenever they arrive, there's a palpable sense of dread.

I absolutely loved the ending. It was beautifully written and directed, and it gave a sense of triumph and happiness for the characters. All in all, it was highly rewarding.

DOFP definitely represents a new high in X-Men films, and comic book movies in general. I'm anxious to see it again!

 

[AnneFan]

Majority seems to think it improves with repeat viewings. Nice. And by majority I mean some of you whose posts I've happened to see.

I've only seen it once, just recently.

This, First Class and X2 are excellent entries in the franchise.

 

[Tehmeh]

I've only seen it once, just recently.

This, First Class and X2 are excellent entries in the franchise.

Absolutely. DOFP might be the first movie I'll end up watching a 2nd time in theaters.

 

[Guard82]

Definitely my new #1 favorite X-Men movie over X2 and FC, but hard to rank it against CA: TWS which I also thought was amazing.

I agree. I loved both movies, actually. I really can't quite choose between them because both of them had left me leaving the theater extremely pleased. Both TWS and DOFP were very well-written and well-acted, and they both did a good job of balancing serious, deep elements with more light-hearted and fun elements. That's why I found both movies very satisfying.

Two excellent comic book movies in one summer. It's a great time to be a comic book fan.

 

[FeedOnATreeFrog]

Just saw it again.

Bumping up my rating from 7 to 8. (tied with the first X-Men movie as my favorite)

I think it's going to be one of the most rewatchable.

 

[Adder]

Good movie, I give it an 8/10. With that said I would still rank X2 and FC higher.
I have a few issues with DOFP that keep it from reaching the level of those other two x films.

1. Too many convenient elements added to force the story they wanted to tell work. Some of which undermine past films. For example, kitty pryde suddenly having new time travel powers without much explanation and Beasts formula which conveniently allows prof x to walk but removes his powers.

Totally lame, they ended FC with prof x in a wheel chair but didn't have the balls to commit themselves to having him in the wheelchair for a whole movie nor could they find a clever work around for prof x's overpowered mental abilities.
So they made up a lame "fix it all" serum that allowed them to cheaply and easily do both. Never mind that beast created a serum very close to the one which suppresses mutant powers from x3.
2. Weak action/fights outside of the future scenes. The future action/fights were great, the present day stuff....forgettable.
3. slightly boring stretch between the great quicksilver scene and the films climax.

 

[SymbioticToxin]

Since I finally saw it yesterday, I can weigh in on this.

I really wasn't expecting much, to be honest. I loved First Class, and the fact that it seemed they focused more on the original trilogy characters in the promotional stuff really worried me. That being said, I was surprised. Yeah, kinda wish other characters got to share some time in the past other than Wolverine, but him going back did make a bit of sense. Quicksilver was...well, he wasn't as bad as I thought he would be.
Not my favorite part of the movie, but I did enjoy his scene in the white house kitchen. The fights didn't drag on but were quick enough to keep me invested and happy. The acting was good for almost everyone, the notable exceptions being Bishop, Sunspot, and Warpath, but that's mostly because they didn't really do anything remarkable to me. Blink was ok I guess. I hated the Future Sentinel designs, but I loved the Past Sentinels.
Wish there was more time with them and what they could do. Magneto eventually becoming the villain of the movie just made me groan. The team up of Eric and Charles lasted a good couple of minutes, mostly to let Charles vent and Erik to yell and...that's it. I loved his costume design though minus the cape, it just looked stupid. There was some potential seen and some lost, but overall it was an enjoyable movie that set up it's new series of films in an interesting way.

 

[Loki882]

Good movie, I give it an 8/10. With that said I would still rank X2 and FC higher.
I have a few issues with DOFP that keep it from reaching the level of those other two x films.

1. Too many convenient elements added to force the story they wanted to tell work. Some of which undermine past films. For example, kitty pryde suddenly having new time travel powers without much explanation and Beasts formula which conveniently allows prof x to walk but removes his powers.

Totally lame, they ended FC with prof x in a wheel chair but didn't have the balls to commit themselves to having him in the wheelchair for a whole movie nor could they find a clever work around for prof x's overpowered mental abilities.
So they made up a lame "fix it all" serum that allowed them to cheaply and easily do both. Never mind that beast created a serum very close to the one which suppresses mutant powers from x3.
2. Weak action/fights outside of the future scenes. The future action/fights were great, the present day stuff....forgettable.
3. slightly boring stretch between the great quicksilver scene and the films climax.

1. It's a secondary mutation, which is a concept from the comics.
2. How Xavier ended up in a wheelchair in FC was rather lame in and of itself.
3. Beast's serum didn't come out of nowhere. It ties back to FC where he was working on one to cure his feet mutation and used Mystique's blood as part of the process. He simply refined it in the ten years between FC and DOFP.
4. Xavier didn't lose his powers because of the serum itself. They specifically say that he's taking too much of it, the doses are higher than they should be.

 

[BH/HHH]

Wow, that was some experience, can't really some it up in a review but here's a few points:

- Quicksilver stole the movie, he was in it about 10 minutes but he totally stole the movie. Marvel you have your work cut out for you if you want to try and top this version. Really hope he returns in Apocalypse. The slowed down scene in the Pentagon was breathtaking and hilarious.
- They nailed the sentinels (both versions), the future sentinels especially felt unstoppable
- Peter Dinklage was the standout performer in this film, this guy is truly an amazing actor
- the finale was amazingly crafted, I couldn't tell where it was going and I liked that
- the repercussions of this film were set up to perfection in those final mansion moments
- post credits scene was a nice tease

All in all its a very solid 9/10 from me, it was definitely the best X-Men movie and I just hope Age of Apocalypse is even better.

 

[BestGirl]

I was afraid this movie was going to be a convoluted mess but was surprised to discover it turned out very well. Singer knows how to manage pace and tone to make a highly watchable film. Quicksilver was spectacular, and Beast's makeup and Magneto's costume were improvements over FC. I had some issues with the movie but they were fairly minor.

8/10

 

[speno94]

I was afraid this movie was going to be a convoluted mess but was surprised to discover it turned out very well. Singer knows how to manage pace and tone to make a highly watchable film. Quicksilver was spectacular, and Beast's makeup and Magneto's costume were improvements over FC. I had some issues with the movie but they were fairly minor.

8/10

What were some of your minor issues?

 

[BestGirl]

I didn't understand how Beast's serum could simultaneously suppress Charles's mutation but also allow him to walk. They should've just given Charles some exoskeleton. Wasn't Trask Industries supposed to have invented such a device?

The way Charles forgave Eric on the plane happened too quickly for my tastes.

Eric's decision to kill Mystique in the Paris hotel room made no sense at all. How was he going to get the body out of there without being noticed? Didn't it occur to him that spreading her DNA all over the place would be a bad idea?

I didn't like the way Charles allowed Magneto and Mystique to walk away at the end. Yeah, they hadn't actually killed anyone there but they were still dangerous and had nearly caused a war between humans and mutants. He should've controlled their minds and locked them in the mansion's basement until he decided what to do next.

Charles shutting the school down because some of his students were drafted is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

JFK being a mutant was kinda lolworthy.

 

[Loki882]

I didn't mind the explanation for Charles being able to walk, but I would probably have just gone with a simpler one. Magneto fixes his spine would have worked just fine as an explanation.

Erik clearly didn't have a set plan for this situation because it was one that he could have never anticipated. He probably assumed that they needed Mystique alive to properly conduct their research (I think that Trask implied that himself in his conversation with Stryker). Erik was basically making this up as he went along.

Charles was never going to do that to Mystique. He still thinks of her as his sister and cares about her and plus, she just did exactly what he wanted her to do (not kill Trask and save the president from Erik). There's no reason for him to confine her. As for Erik, even if he could do that, he could contain him indefinitely and he knows from talking to Logan that he and Erik reconcile and start working together at some point in the future.

It wasn't just the students getting drafted. That was just the final straw. It was a series of loses that built up over time, and he became addicted to that serum as well.

 

[DarkXorn]

I didn't understand how Beast's serum could simultaneously suppress Charles's mutation but also allow him to walk. They should've just given Charles some exoskeleton. Wasn't Trask Industries supposed to have invented such a device?

My understanding was Hank used Mystique's DNA to suppress his mutation because it could morph cells, and the offshoot for Charles involved the shapeshifting qualities of Mystiques DNA to repair his spinal injury, but unfortunately still included Hank's initial research of mutation suppression that followed in Charles' serum.

 

[BestGirl]

I didn't mind the explanation for Charles being able to walk, but I would probably have just gone with a simpler one. Magneto fixes his spine would have worked just fine as an explanation.

How could Magneto have fixed Charles's spine? It's not made of metal.

Erik clearly didn't have a set plan for this situation because it was one that he could have never anticipated. He probably assumed that they needed Mystique alive to properly conduct their research (I think that Trask implied that himself in his conversation with Stryker). Erik was basically making this up as he went along.

He should've just waited for her to go with them and then get her by himself. Even if she'd had it with Charles she would've still trusted Magneto.

Charles was never going to do that to Mystique. He still thinks of her as his sister and cares about her and plus, she just did exactly what he wanted her to do (not kill Trask and save the president from Erik). There's no reason for him to confine her. As for Erik, even if he could do that, he could contain him indefinitely and he knows from talking to Logan that he and Erik reconcile and start working together at some point in the future.

Yeah, I can see why he'd let Mystique go just for reasons of pure affection but he still should've just about had it with Magneto by that point. Dude's a walking loose cannon.

It wasn't just the students getting drafted. That was just the final straw. It was a series of loses that built up over time, and he became addicted to that serum as well.

I don't recall his addiction to the serum being mentioned as an issue. If it was, he didn't seem to have a hard time kicking the thing.

 

[Figs]

It wasn't just the students getting drafted. That was just the final straw. It was a series of loses that built up over time, and he became addicted to that serum as well.

One of which was him losing Raven I believe.

 

[Rock Sexton]

EDIT: Wrong thread