Author’s Note: This article singles out Bryan Singer for criticism of the entire X-Men series. I understand that’s not entirely accurate, that there have been other directors and producers along the way. But Singer directed the first two films (which started the downfall of the X-Men film series) and also produced ‘First Class’ and directed ‘Days of Future Past.’ I consider him above all to be the chief perpetrator of why X-Men went so wrong.
Yes, I know this movie came out months ago in theatres, and just about every user on this site has posted their own two cents about ‘Days of Future Past’ already. The thing is, I only just saw the movie for the first time the other day. Why did it take so long for me to see? Well, much like this movie’s predecessor: ‘First Class,’ I was reluctant to shell out twelve dollars and fifty cents for a film that I had doubts about. So I waited for it to hit DVD so that I could RedBox it for a dollar and not lose all that much if it turned out to be bad.
Let’s face it, I’ve been hurt before by the X-Men movie franchise. From the very first film, I have been nothing but disappointed over and over again by just about every movie connected with the X-Men storyline that FOX has churned out in the last decade. ‘First Class’ was the first X-Men movie I actually enjoyed and thought was excellently done. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have a massive problem with it, as I thought it would be a reboot of a failed franchise, and instead it just perpetuated everything I hate most about what FOX has done to butcher my favorite Marvel superhero team. But I digress. ‘First Class’ on its own was a good, nay excellent, film. And despite my hatred of the dreck that FOX has transformed X-Men into, I still own ‘First Class’ in my movie library because, damn it all, I love the darn movie despite all I hate about it.
The preceding paragraph basically describes my conflicting feelings about this latest abomination of the X-Men canon. I’m going to give fair warning that much of this review is going to tend toward the negative. So I want to throw out the disclaimer that, much like ‘First Class’ I actually enjoyed this film as a movie unto itself. It was (surprisingly) well directed, well acted, and overall managed to keep my attention the whole way through. Hugh Jackman (whom, by the way, has been the lone bright spot in this decade-long bastardization of the X-Men franchise) was magnificent as the lead actor, as usual. At this point I’m pretty much resigned to thinking that Jackman is the only actor who could have convincingly pulled off Wolverine all these years. So thank God for his willingness to stick with the franchise after thirteen long years.
That being said, ‘Days of Future Past,’ like most of the rest of the FOX X-Men series, stuck in my craw for most of the same reasons that have tormented me from the very beginning. My feelings on the matter can be summed up pretty simply with one sentence: IT’S JUST TOO DAMN DIFFERENT!!!
Look, I know that all movie adaptations of comic books (hell, books in general) must, by their very nature, take creative liberties that deviate from the canon in order to meet time constraints, appeal to broader audiences, and compromise with stubborn producers in order to make more money. I get all that! Even Lord of the Rings, IMO the most faithful adaptation of a series of books to a series of films I have ever seen to this day, takes numerous liberties by changing lines and adding scenes that were never in the original books. You know why I love Lord of the Rings in spite of that? Because Peter Jackson made what could at most be described as ‘tweaks’ to the storyline. He kept the basic narrative intact with very little deviation, and directed the film as it was intended to be read out loud from the pages of the books.
My issue with ‘Days of Future Past,’ and really all the X-Men films to date, is that the changes that bug the hell out of me go well beyond simple ‘tweaks.’ Bryan Singer has pretty much overhauled the X-Men canon, creating a universe that is so far removed from the pages of the comic books I grew up with that it’s literally almost unrecognizable! Not just changing costumes (that I can live with), but literally altering the characters themselves beyond recognition. Changing their powers, their personalities, their origins, their relationships… Ugh! To this day it makes me sick to my stomach to think of how Singer ruined Rogue. Ruined her!! In fact, Anna Paquin is one of the chief reasons the X-Men franchise lost me early on! How could you change Rogue from a strong, confident, outgoing, and overall assertive heroine to that of a shy little wall-flower that’s trapped in some kind of anti-social shell?? And don’t even get me started on Anna Paquin’s abominable imitation of a southern accent!
I’m digressing again. Sorry about that. This is supposed to be about ‘Days of Future Past’ so I’ll get back on task now.
As promised, I’ll start with what I liked about the film:
-- First of all, Nimrod was awesome! Yes, that is the name of the enhanced Sentinels of the ‘Days of Future Past’ storyline (for those of you who never read the comics or at the very least watched the animated ‘90’s adaptation of X-Men). Their ability to withstand mutant punishment, regenerate from damage, learn from mistakes and improvise, and to adapt to mutant powers is everything that makes Nimrod so fearsome and such a tough enemy for mutants to overcome! Kudos on the film makers for at least capturing that vital element of the storyline.
-- Hugh Jackman. ‘Nuff said! The guy owns Wolverine at this point as far as I’m concerned.
-- The acting in general was outstanding. Of course Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan are their usual stellar selves, but everyone in this flick who played a significant role was generally very good and at the top of their craft. Jennifer Lawrence continues to impress me as an actress, and between this and ‘Hunger Games,’ she is rapidly becoming my new favorite female actor of the current generation. Her combination of hotness and acting chops has got me likening her to Audrey Hepburn, which is no small compliment. I also want to say that Michael Fassbender, who plays ‘Young Magneto,’ is far more appropriate as a Magneto character than Ian McKellan ever was. Don’t get me wrong, McKellan is a legend, and he will always be Gandalf the Gray to me, but from the very beginning I always found him ill-fitting to be Magneto. Luckily his younger iteration dominates this movie, as it should. He’s the very reason I liked ‘First Class’ so much as a film.
-- The action wasn’t over the top ridiculous. It was well spaced, well paced, and didn’t detract from the narrative. Movies that sacrifice narrative for action scenes always turn me off, so for an X-Men film it was very good.
-- The girl who played ‘Blink’ in the movie was so unbelievably cute/hot I literally found myself googling her during the movie. It’s a shame she wasn’t a bigger presence (I mean, if the X-Men films are ruined anyway, you might as well go all out) because Blink has always been one of my favorite X-Babes of all time.
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Now on to what bothered me about the movie, and this goes right back to the canonical assassination that is all too common an occurance throughout all the Wolverine/X-Men films:
-- Kitty Pryde. It’s great that she played a prominent role in ‘Days’ just like in the original comic book story. And I even liked how they touched upon her little-known ability to phase through time. But it was supposed to be her that went back in time, not Wolverine. In the comic story, Shadowcat could only send herself back through time, not others. But of course this isn’t the first time in the series a mutant’s powers have been wrongly portrayed. Honestly, this plot alteration is pretty much a result of Bryan Singer’s past mistakes of playing up Wolverine to excess, and downplaying pretty much every other X-Man with the exception of Storm. If Singer had done more work developing Shadowcat, it would have made more sense for her to be the protagonist. This plot hole is an example of the proverbial chickens coming home to roost on the mistakes made in earlier films, and the unwillingness of the X-Men creative team to admit/reboot their mistakes. If not for the fact that Hugh Jackman KILLED IT in this film, I would be more upset over this plot switch. As it is, it’s really just an annoyance.
-- What the hell is Bishop doing in ‘Days of Future Past’?? Bishop was from a completely different dystopian future, and went back in time in a much different X-Men storyline. Was Singer trying to adapt a bit of the combined story that was told in the X-Men Animated Series? If so, why wasn’t Bishop in a much larger role? Why wasn’t he the one who went back in time? Where was his sister, Shard? What about the X.S.E? These are the questions his inclusion in the film forced me to ask, instead of simply enjoying the movie. There is no practical reason for Bishop to be in ‘Days’ when you think about it. He’s a minor character (whose powers are completely misrepresented in yet another attempt by Bryan Singer to be ‘cute’ with the X-Men franchise) who does little to nothing to assist the overall plot movement. In my opinion, Bishop’s relegation to ‘bit-part’ status is frankly a little insulting. Did Singer need a “Token Black Mutant” to round out his cast?
-- Dramatic departure from the source material. In the original ‘Days’ storyline, the X-Men were supposed to save the life of President Kelly (Senator Kelly from the first film) from assassination in the present day. But, oh, we can’t do that, because Senator Kelly was killed in the first film (in one of the lamest deaths in cinematic history I might add). Instead Wolverine (wrong) gets sent back to the ‘70’s (wrong), to find Professor X without powers (wrong), and the team of X-Men scattered and the mansion abandoned (wrong!). He’s tasked with saving the life of Bolivar Trask (wrong) from assassination by the mutant Mystique (technically wrong, since it was Mystique’s ‘Brotherhood of Evil Mutants’ who perpetrate the assassination. Not Mystique herself.). Magneto is involved in the proceedings (wrong!), as is Quicksilver (also wrong), who is represented as a typical American teenager who is an only child (instead of Eastern European and with a sister, Wanda). Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, WRONG!! Do you see what I mean by ‘Canonical Overhauling’ by the X-Men movie crew?! It’s like they poured through a bunch of pictures of mutants and just threw out whoever they thought would be cool to include in this movie. And it’s like this all throughout the series! Nobody is where they are supposed to be, in time periods, or in realities! And all this crap extends all the way back to the first X-Men film, which started this cascade fail-fest of a series and only got more egregious as the series went on!!!!
-- INCONSISTENCIES!!! Does Bryan Singer even keep track of his own canon?? It’s not enough he has to butcher Stan Lee’s canon, he can’t even keep his own facts straight. For example, why are there two ‘Toads’? In the first film, the character Toad is played by Ray Park (Darth Maul for those who aren’t familiar), who is depicted with a full head of hair and a more or less youthful complexion (he doesn’t look a day over 25). Yet the character Toad also appears in the 1970’s in ‘Days of Future Past’, obviously played by a different actor, and appearing to be more or less in his upper forties, with no hair, and with an appearance more befitting of his ugly comic book persona (ironically, this is one of the very few instances where the series improved on itself). So how did Toad get younger and more handsome between 1973 and 2001? Is he related to Benjamin Button? Is his mutant power to constantly grow younge,r to go with his tongue-slinging powers?
And what about the Sentinels? If they were manufactured in the 1970’s how come we never saw them in any of the first three X-Men films combating Magneto? Don’t you think humanity would have responded to Magneto’s threat in the first and third movies with the darn things? Especially considering they were built of materials designed specifically to thwart Magneto??
-- Then there’s Havok. This is a complaint left over from 'First Class.' Every X-Fan knows that Havok and Cyclops are brothers. With Cyclops being the older brother by a couple of years. Yet in the movie canon, Havok is depicted as an adult in 1962 (Professor X finds Havok in prison in ‘First Class’ and by American law, no minor may be incarcerated in a maximum facility prison, much less solitary confinement), and older still eleven years later in Vietnam. Yet at the same time, Scott Summers is depicted as a teenager in the first Wolverine movie (the latter half of which takes place in the early 1980’s). If my math is correct, that would make Havok not only the older sibling, but ridiculously older. Like two or three decades older!! At that point, can you even call them brothers?? It’s more like Alex Summers is Scott’s father or uncle. But of course the film never explains their relationship. You’re pretty much just left to wonder. Is it supposed to be just some coincidence that they both have the last name “Summers”? Why doesn’t Professor X ever talk about Havok with Cyclops? Why is their relationship never raised? WHY IS BRYAN SINGER FILLING MY HEAD WITH QUESTIONS WHEN HE SHOULD BE CLARIFYING THINGS?!!? THIS IS THE TEXTBOOK DEFINITION OF BAD STORYTELLING!!!
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You know what really kills me about ‘Days of Future Past’? I actually enjoyed the movie in spite of all the stuff I hated about it. You know what that tells me? It tells me that if Singer and the rest of the creative team bothered to do any real groundwork and research before just slapping the X-films together, they could have truly created something special! The X-Men films have been more or less a financial success in spite of the dreck they’ve been turned into. Imagine what they could have been with some faithful storytelling? That makes me more angry than anything! X-Men could have been the defining superhero film series of the 21st Century rather than Avengers!! This is one of those instances where I wish I had been the one put in charge of the project! I really do feel like I could have done a much better job! And from what I hear, I’m far from the only one.
Verdict:
Days of Future Past gets a solid B-. It’s a good film from a pure filmmaking standpoint, but loses major points for canonical obfuscation and directorial liberties. In the hierarchy of X-Men movies, it’s a distant second from ‘First Class,’ but far superior to previous X-Men films and spinoffs.
My ranking:
First Class (A-)
Days of Future Past (B-)
The Wolverine (C+)
X2: X-Men United ( C )
Wolverine (C-)
X-Men (D)
X3: The Last Stand (F)