Movie Review: X-Men: Days of Future Past

– rated ‘Cheddar’ on the cheese scale.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

The movie that all die-hard X-Men fans have been waiting for is finally here. The future is a real messed up place where both humans and mutants have sealed their own extinctions after a long and drawn out war. What’s the only way to fix the future? Why, alter the past of course. A pinnacle in the X-Men storyline and Marvel Universe, this film has been long anticipated and despite its laughable title was well worth the wait.

Before I dive head first into this review it’s only fair that you know I have always brushed off the X-Men movies, never being able to get past the forced stories, bad acting, or hysterical CGI. I was fully expecting to hate “X-Men: Days of Future Past” ever since the first time I laughed out loud at its title when I saw the trailer. I begrudgingly went to see this movie with some friends who were more than excited and was caught off guard when I found myself invested in the story and completely sold on the characters and special effects. With improved acting and an incredible opening fight scene I was immediately sold on this already action-packed super hero summer blockbuster.

The beginning has a few speed bumps but they were easy enough to get over, except for Charles Xavier’s wheel chair. His high tech hovering wheelchair developed in a country far away by many scientists/Gandolf (Magneto?) has amazing design, cool future gizmos, pretty blue lights, floats above the ground and can only go where a regular wheel chair goes.  Seriously, all the technology and future sparkle put into this chair and it has the same limitations as the old ladies who have taken spills in the Life-Alert commercials. Getting past the weird chair took about five minutes of suppressed giggling, but eventually the novelty fades and the rest of the film really makes up for it.

One major obstacle in the older X-Men movies for me was the acting and CGI, both of which I’m glad to say have improved, significantly, in this latest installment of the series. With a lot of returning favorites like Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) there are also a few new faces that you’ll welcome with open arms like Quick Silver (Evan Peters) who stars in one of the most amazing slow motion scenes you’re likely to ever see. Still not sold? Hugh Jackman’s butt. Jennifer Lawrence’s Buns. On the big screen. Both rears earned their own slot on the end credits, got more time on screen than most of the cast, and did a better acting job than the entire troupe of the first three X-Men films combined.

On top of dynamic acting the film can boast heavily in it’s CGI department this go around.  The sentinels, the powers, and the environments are all breath taking and don’t pull you out of the movie what-so-ever. The fights in the film are few but well worth the wait, luckily the storyline and acting fill up the spaces with swagger.  This film won’t alter your worldview, and leave you weeping openly. But it does deliver some hyper rewarding fights and is everything you want a summer blockbuster to be. Somehow along the way I even became convinced that getting super hero mutants to manipulate their own powers to send one of their own back in time to stop a robot army that destroys the world in the future (their present) was legitimate grounds to build a story on.

A great movie to see whether you are a fan of the series or not and boasts heavily in changing my mind about a series that I would otherwise hate. This movie really gets back to what we want out of cinema, to be entertained and thrust into a fantastical world in which we are not familiar with, and it does it with style. The film has a pure Hollywood sense about it that is as raw and exposed as Hugh Jackman’s behind. “X-men: Days of Future Past” is a film that is full of fast-paced action, lovable characters, laughable moments, and even tugs at the ol’ heart strings a time or two. As long as you can stifle your vomit every time Wolverine shows off his pre-adamantium bone claws.

– rated ‘Cheddar’ on the cheese scale.