Days of Future Past What you didn't like about X-Men:DOFP - Flaws/Critiques

[magneto23]

The movie was definitely too short IMO. By at least 10-15 mins. The characters in the future needed more attention. Their scenes seemed to fly bye.

Wish there was more of a fight at the end in 70s part of film. Magneto made it sooo easy.

Little nerd nitpicks- Emma dead? That's some BS. No Wanda reference at all. They had the perfect opportunity to connect Azzazel & Mystique to Nightcrawler. Didn't do it. Even though it would have fit right into her revenge motives(would have made even MORE sense IMO).

 

[WC Avengers]

Didn't like -


- Collossis getting punked with no dialog.

- Kitty getting slashed by Wolverine (this was not needed)

ask me what I liked and I will give you a epic Novel......

 

[Iceman]

This. I was really expecting **** to hit the fan when the scene started and then I was left underwhelmed.

I liked what they did, just wanted more of it. **** needs to hit and smash through fans in these films. t:

I was expecting a bit more from the final future battle myself. But it was pretty consistent with how the Sentinels were portrayed earlier in the film.

In the past I would have thought for sure Wolverine would have been able to land a decent blow on Magneto since he didn't have the adamantium anymore. In the comics even with the metal wolverine would manage to get close enough to slash him with his claws.

I also would have liked if Magneto had stepped up to be the hero in the 70s and taken on the Sentinels.

He was more villainous than I was expecting.

 

[SkyIsBlue]

Yup.

The final battle in the future looked too one-sided. The Sentinels kept hitting and hitting and the X-Men weren't able to fight back properly. Of course, the Sentinels are powerful but I wish Singer extended the fight scenes more.

When Warpath sensed the Sentinels for the final battle, I was so unbelievably excited to see all the future Xmen fight to the death in the most epic way. I was underwhelmed when they all died in less than 3 minutes. I was rooting for all of them to last at least last 10 minutes. When Storm died and everybody else followed too quickly, I was like:

I honestly thought Storm would be one of the last ones to go.

Hahaha.

At first, I felt ok with Rogue being cut because at some point it did the film would lose focus. But as I went home and thought about it, I was so sure already that Rogue's scene could've made things better. That's just me though.

 

[Jaxon]

Where was the fighting with the Sentinels? Come on, the future snippets were OK but there is such a long history of fighting with the sentinels that we should have seen plenty of it in their creation years, and then gone through with a story about years of erradication of mutant at the hands of sentinels, not just left to some narrative at the starts.
Mystique can jump out of buildings now?
Kitty can send people back in time (sort of)?

And I'm willing to even forgive that a neurel medicine allowing Charles to walk with a damaged spine.

Ah Bryan Singer is truly a terrible director.

 

[ChildofAtom]

The movie was definitely too short IMO. By at least 10-15 mins. The characters in the future needed more attention. Their scenes seemed to fly bye.

Wish there was more of a fight at the end in 70s part of film. Magneto made it sooo easy.

Little nerd nitpicks- Emma dead? That's some BS. No Wanda reference at all. They had the perfect opportunity to connect Azzazel & Mystique to Nightcrawler. Didn't do it. Even though it would have fit right into her revenge motives(would have made even MORE sense IMO).

As much as I loved the movie, I definitely have to agree with you 100% on these critiques. 110% even.

On the one hand, thankfully, I don't feel that the movie was too short for it to be considered a full-on flaw. The length and the pacing worked over all, but more so in the sense that the first-class cast got a solid sequel/follow-up to their story arcs. And if that was truly Singer's intent, then in my opinion it's fair to say he really did succeed.

That being said, while the future scenes were strong enough to serve their purpose, and as meaningful as some of them were(especially the fixed timeline at the end), I feel that another 10-15 minutes with the future characters would have balanced the movie out into a true.. "inbetwequel"(to quote Singer's own term for the movie), and would have pleased a portion of the fans(including myself) a little bit more with regards to the original trilogy cast. Again, this is more of a nitpick and personal preference here, but still something I wish he had considered a little more, given other factors such as X2's length still remaining the longest of the franchise, due to the cuts he made to the future scenes.

The 70's fights definitely could have used a little more refinement, especially the final confrontation at the white house. It was good, but a little flawed and didn't have quite the same level of impact as the future scenes. Ironically, I only really consider this a slight problem because of the issues mentioned above with the balance of future scenes vs. the past. In other words, because Singer chose to tip the scale in favor of the First Class cast and story, I kind of expected the 70s climax to have more of an impact(or at -least- the same, roughly) than the final future confrontation. Not that the future battle wouldn't still be a bit more spectacular and "showy" or that it shouldn't have it's own emotional moments(such as Storm's death), but overall, with what we got.. the 70's ending was very good, but not quite as satisfying as I felt it could have been.

Emma Frost being dead, and the random choice to not reference Wanda(or at least the older sister bit that one of the interviews mentioned), yeah.. very annoying.. but also still in the realm of nitpicks..

Mystique and Azazel not being connected, at LEAST in reference..? I have very mixed feelings about whether this is really a nitpick, or a more legitimate grievance. On the one hand, none of the movies have ever kept up with every single detail of every character history, nor kept said histories perfectly in line with the comics. So in that sense, I didn't expect that Azazel -had- to become Nightcrawler's father.. but at the same time, because they chose to pull Mystique into the story more with First Class, and even more into the spotlight for the DoFP plot.. and given the fact that Azazel does clearly resemble and embody Nightcrawler's mutant powers and appearance(except for color of course), it would have made sense to go ahead and make the connection. Not only that, but as you mentioned as well, it really could have easily added an extra layer and depth to Mystique's emotional grief and motivation for revenge.

Not just a woman scorned(could've been another nod to X3), but a mother scorned and left a single parent(of a mutant baby no less, who unlike her, can't change his drastic physical appearance) after the father of her child is experimented on and killed? Imagine how much more of an emotional impact the hospital scene(where Mystique is having her leg fixed up) alone would have had, after the nurse's comments about her appearance on the TV, if we saw Mystique laying there in tears, remembering Azazel and her child, the family she almost had, if not for them being born different.. born mutants(with both Azazel and her baby being unable to hide their appearance like she could). In the grand scheme of things, it certainly didn't ruin the movie, or even Mystique's part, for me.. but I can't help feeling like they dropped the ball on using those characters, at least in the details, rather than just chocking Azazel up to being one of the autopsy photos and little more than a fallen "brother" or friend.

Oh, and also.. not to sound like a broken record.. but where was Mystique's layered voice? -_-

 

[psylockolussus]

Didn't like -


- Collossis getting punked with no dialog.

He said "Mystique"

- Kitty getting slashed by Wolverine (this was not needed)

Agreed.

 

[A Dollar Short]

Others have used the word "rushed" to describe the future portion of the film and I think it's right on the money. It was well known the past would be the bulk of the film, but the future's presence was severely lacking. I loved the Sentinels (although maybe a tad overpowered), the costumes, the characters, everything, but there was very little of it. Some more dialogue and action scenes (where the mutants actually hold their own) would have made this a 10 for me. Still loved the film, just wanted more with the future characters.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

Didn't like that we don't get much time in the future.

Didn't like that we didn't really get an epic final fight in the future or past. In fact the movie didn't a bit more action as a whole.

Trask needed more character development/ a stronger motivation for hating mutants.

 

[kedrell]

Not crazy about the pointlessness of the after credits scene. We all knew that movie was coming anyway. You could literally put that stinger after ANY of the 7 X-Men films and it'd make as much sense. Hey Fox, how about building a larger story across your movies and use these stingers to advance it. Works for Disney.

 

[TheSpectacular]

Lack of dialogue from future mutants. Adult Beast said more in his 2 second cameo than Colossus did in the whole film. Colossus had one word, not even a line. Human Torch, I mean Sunspot didn't even speak.

 

[Spider-Ock]

The only flaw in the film for me was that we did not get to see Wolverine in action this time. In the final battle, Magneto just ties him up and throws him into the Potomac River. I was expecting a battle between Magneto and Wolverine in which the odds are equal for a change.

 

[Snikt]

The only thing I wanted, that I didn't get (and this is very minor) was to see Wolverine in the future go toe-to-toe with a Sentinel...but I'm sure it would've ended just as bad for Wolvie as the others .

 

[Heretic]

My biggest gripe is that we saw the future AFTER the changes took effect. Now we are on one timeline again...so we KNOW who will live in Apocalypse and future films because they are still alive when Charles and Magneto are old men. The future should have just blinked out of existence and then we could just discover what the new future would be as it happens.

Aside from that, just a few minor quibbles here and there that others have already mentioned like Kitty suddenly having consciousness transferring powers etc.

 

[Spider-Ock]

My biggest gripe is that we saw the future AFTER the changes took effect. Now we are on one timeline again...so we KNOW who will live in Apocalypse and future films because they are still alive when Charles and Magneto are old men. The future should have just blinked out of existence and then we could just discover what the new future would be as it happens.

Aside from that, just a few minor quibbles here and there that others have already mentioned like Kitty suddenly having consciousness transferring powers etc.

You are right. I too think that the changed timeline should not have been shown. Even if the stakes are big in apocalypse, we won't really feel it as the future is already known to us.

 

[psylockolussus]

My biggest gripe is that we saw the future AFTER the changes took effect. Now we are on one timeline again...so we KNOW who will live in Apocalypse and future films because they are still alive when Charles and Magneto are old men. The future should have just blinked out of existence and then we could just discover what the new future would be as it happens.

Aside from that, just a few minor quibbles here and there that others have already mentioned like Kitty suddenly having consciousness transferring powers etc.

Thats only a problem if we won't see the OT cast again.

Who knows the OT cast might deal with Apocalypse someday? After all Apocalypse is immortal.

 

[DA_Champion]

There are a lot of problems with this movie, it's hard to know where to begin.

The most significant, for me:

- It doesn't feel like 1973 at all, and unlike First Class there is no reason for this plot to take place in 1973;
- Young Magneto is shoehorned onto the plot and is far less interesting than in FC;
- How does keeping Bolivar Trask prevent the dark future after everything the world was seen? Washington has just been levelled, if anything funding for sentinels will go up;
- Mystique's character arc is to not kill Trask because Xavier succeeds in nagging her enough to change her mind;
- What was the point of Kitty pride being injured by wolverine if they never go anywhere with it?

A weakly-constructed plot.

 

[Heretic]

Thats only a problem if we won't see the OT cast again.

Who knows the OT cast might deal with Apocalypse someday? After all Apocalypse is immortal.

It's a problem because if the next film is Beast and crew...well...Beast aint gonna die. No matter what Apocalypse throws at him, we know he must survive. The same can be said for every character still alive when Prof X is an old man. No one alive at that time can possibly die while the younger actors are playing these roles.

 

[psylockolussus]

It's a problem because if the next film is Beast and crew...well...Beast aint gonna die. No matter what Apocalypse throws at him, we know he must survive. The same can be said for every character still alive when Prof X is an old man. No one alive at that time can possibly die while the younger actors are playing these roles.

So did you have a problem when Prof X/Beast/Magneto/Mystique didn't die in First Class? Or Wolverine/Stryker/Sabretooth didn't die in X1? Its a prequel, of course some things are expected but with good writing, they could still make it exciting and unpredictable and yet still staying true to the events in the future.

- What was the point of Kitty pride being injured by wolverine if they never go anywhere with it?

They should have removed it during the reshoots, the thing is Kitty probably supposed to die in that situation and Rogue will serve as a replacement but of course Rogue was cut.

 

[Heretic]

So did you have a problem with Prof X/Beast/Magneto/Mystique didn't die in First Class. Its a prequel, of course things are expected but with good writing, they could still make it exciting and yes staying true to the events in the future.

This makes every future movie that hasn't even been made a prequel. I hate when comics do this nonsense, and I'm not going to start liking it when movies do it. Basically, every X-Men movie for the next generation will be prequel films to the last few minutes of this movie.

 

[DA_Champion]

They should have removed it during the reshoots, the thing is Kitty probably supposed to die in that situation and Rogue will serve as a replacement but of course Rogue was cut.

Seriously?
That's a major fail then, they gave up on something good and replaced it with incoherence.

 

[Matt.S99]

It's probably one of if not the last time we will get to see some of the OT cast. Plus, it's all main mutants. Is it really so bad knowing that Storm, Beast, Jean, Scott,Xavier etc don't die? I mean, they're the main team. Who cares. It's not like they showed a bunch of new mutants and ruin their fates. Plus, they could always be killed off AFTER that scene. Seriously, who cares. You're mad that these characters DON'T die? That's literally all we know. They are alive in 2023. Who's to say they cant get seriously injured? So much so that they can no longer fight. There are many possibilities that don't just end in brutal deaths. Lol.....oi vey.

 

[Mrs Vimes]

Are we allowed to post spoilers yet? Here are tags anyway:

Spoiler

- The whole movie is very rushed, but the future scenes suffer especially. There's no time for anything except action and awkward exposition. The new mutants barely register and the old guard like McKellen and Stewart make an impact pretty much only on the strength of their presence and sheer goodwill they have from the previous films. Also, it's hard to feel anything about the characters' deaths when they're resurrected a few minutes later.

- Didn't like the future Sentinel design.

- Didn't care for the flashbacks with the footage from the previous films.

- At some random points, the movie suddenly looks like it was shot on a cheap video camera (I don't mean the bits where it's actually supposed to look like video footage for the news or onlookers' cameras - just normal scenes).

- I can't see why exactly Mystique's DNA is crucial to the Sentinel program. She only takes on other mutants' appearances - not their powers. If any character is naturally suited for this it should be Rogue - wouldn't surprise me one bit if that was the case in some early version of the script.

- As someone's excellent post in the review thread pointed out, young!Magneto is completely shoehorned into the plot. They make a big deal at the start saying how Wolverine needs him as well as Charles, and that this time around their younger selves will know better. But he doesn't actually contribute anything to the mission and he is not really needed for anything, other than driving action scenes in the absence of an action-oriented villain. Even having him for the sake of battle for Mystique's soul doesn't really make sense - there's no point in the story other than the very end where it looks like Mystique is wavering from her determination to kill Trask and needs someone to push her back onto the path.

- JFK stuff is also shoehorned into the story for no good reason other than making a cute historical reference, and making Charles even more hardened against Erik (like he doesn't have enough reasons already) only to have him soften a tad when he finds out that Erik actually spent all those years in jail for a noble reason. IMO, an unnecessary contrivance.

- Erik and Charles have some wonderful scenes together in the first half of the film, but then their relationship is pretty much dropped - Charles doesn't even react in any way to Erik's desertion in Paris and their last scene together is a rushed fizzer.

- Wolverine dropping off at the crucial moment in Paris was also really contrived.

- Anyone with half a brain would be doing everything in their powers to keep Quicksilver on the team, yet he's dismissed immediately after the prison break, simply because for the sake of the plot.

- So because Mystique knocks out Magneto the whole world goes "awww" and forgets everything about the mutant who dropped a stadium on the White House, opened fire on innocent civilians, almost murdered the President and his staff, made a speech to the whole world threatening humanity and inciting mutants to violence, and is still an active threat?

- Mystique's actions at the end are confusing. She tells Charles in the airport scene that it's either "them or us", so really she and Magneto are on the same page right? So what does she shoot him for? Because she's still angry at him for wanting to kill her? Because she only wants to kill Trask but doesn't want the others to die?

- I get that Charles doesn't want Erik to die at the hands of humans, but I had a problem with him letting him go so easily and seemingly without any moral qualms, especially after he knows for the fact what terrible consequences acts of aggression can have for the future. Yes it's nice that he has hope for him, too bad about the humans who'll get hurt or killed in the meantime I guess.

- When Charles tries to get to Raven in the airport scene, he says that she won't let him get into her head, and seconds later she sees his projection which only works if Charles gets into her head?

 

[psylockolussus]

Seriously?
That's a major fail then, they gave up on something good and replaced it with incoherence.

Small incoherence that didn't really ruin the film. Yes its a flaw, but imagine if we got the rescue Rogue scene and Kitty died from losing blood? That would have given the film more flaws.

 

[Heretic]

It's probably one of if not the last time we will get to see some of the OT cast. Plus, it's all main mutants. Is it really so bad knowing that Storm, Beast, Jean, Scott,Xavier etc don't die? I mean, they're the main team. Who cares. It's not like they showed a bunch of new mutants and ruin their fates. Plus, they could always be killed off AFTER that scene. Seriously, who cares. You're mad that these characters DON'T die? That's literally all we know. They are alive in 2023. Who's to say they cant get seriously injured? So much so that they can no longer fight. There are many possibilities that don't just end in brutal deaths. Lol.....oi vey.

When the drama involves life and death struggles and I know that EVERYONE lives...it hurts the drama. There are so many X-Men characters...I am willing to accept some of them dying to make room for more.