X Men Days of the Future Past

X Men: Days of the Future Past

Review by Zulfi

3.5/5

The main thing which we must get accustomed to while watching ‘X Men: days of the future past’ is that kitty can not only travel through solid obstacles but also through the dimension called time. Or at least her mind does and she acts as the medium for someone to physically go there. Now there is another important element Bryan singer throws into the equation that for that someone to hop through time it would take a toll through that shearing journey. Many won't make that alive and it would prove a physical impediment. Now who should enter but our Mr wolverine. Because he is a physical monster. You may subject him to anything but he prevails. He is the one who should go back to the time of Nixon and put an end to a sentinel programme, by stopping Mystique in her endeavors otherwise the threat on mutant race is imminent. Hugh Jackman is the quintessential feature of x men franchise. Though his chiseled body may look a little beefed by proteins or steroids and a little out of natural order, his intro in the retro time makes up for it. 
            There are many things going on in the ‘x men: days of future past’. For one we have the excellent proposition just detailed. And then there are the young Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender), who need to be herded like kids by the age old wolverine to make them realize the mission which they will be intelligent to call foolish and in equal measures to believe in it. There is that old sequence from the prequel which had divided the two friends over a single point of action. And then there is the trepidation of the whole world to get exposed to the mutants. Bryan singer works so well even if you give one element of the equation but here he has the free hand to explore in his directorial creation. He has a lot of feed to go back and deal with each issue of the script. The thing with X-men which is really interesting is the villain. Though magneto is the villain of the whole series, except the first movie of the franchise, he shared the stage with many other threatening fellows. We had Stryker, a Nazi scientist and here Bolivar Trask, Played by peter Dinklage of Game of thrones fame. He adds nothing much for this role. He has a very small screen time and that is spent in looking serious and addressing conferences. But I didn’t see any difference of the mindset of his and William Stryker. In fact we are shown the hints of this trait, which will probably be a result of the latter’s emergence.

X men works mainly because of Bryan Singer’s designing of novel action set pieces in accordance with the powers of the superheroes and executing them. One of the best scenes in not only ‘days of future past’ but in the whole franchise comes, when Quicksilver teams up with Logan and Xavier to save Magneto. The picturisation of the freezed frame along in accordance with the momentum of the fast speeding mutant creates laughs and awe in equal measure. Singer does know how to show his superheroes and super-villains. The resounding of the screen with beast’s roar as he throws himself at wolverine’s throat is another minute piece of action, which comes in one of the starting scenes of the 1980’s world. But the best scenes go to Magneto in the climactic action scenes as he infuses the metal in the railtracks into the sentinel hardware defying the software control. A nice touché. And Fassbender starts to grow in the fanboys’ books. Though the movie is set in the 1980’s, except the political conferences, the politicians and past presidents doesn’t have much to play a role. It creates a mystic atmosphere with outdated fashion adding a touch of nostalgia but not much function.

But the main story always is the tug of war between Xavier and Magneto. Though they may join hands in the start, we know that at the end they will go their separate ways. In fact, we know those will be the climactic scenes rather than the taking out of Trask. And Singer doesn’t forget another main cog in the wheel, Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence). By the way she is behaving and to become the sidekick of Magneto, she needs to travel a few more movies to get there. Storm, Rogue, Colossus have a look in but are sidelined. There are many others too with their moments of glory.

 Xavier’s limpness is temporarily halted with a medicine, which makes him lose his telepathic powers. The letting go of his physical pleasures for his race’s sake is stressed in this as probably it was felt his physical handicap needed to be properly glorified. The end is discombobulated with an alternate future of different proceedings and it solves the riddle of many chronological discrepancies in various sequels. However one couldn’t help but get peeved by the trust Xavier has in his friend and foe as Magneto woes to help and then flips the bird at him. However the new age of restarting the X men form their youth had well paid off for Bryan Singer as the writers Simon Kinberg, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn provided good stories to reboot. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen were requested out of their exit to come back and I have a hunch if this won’t be for the last time. The movie is a decent fun.

After the 2000s if there is anything which had given a different feel for a new genre of superheroes, it can easily be X men. We had surpassed the age old formula of nuclear power and spies to this new age of storytelling and with Nolan’s deep philosophical reasoning added to the mix in the mid 2000s, we have entered into another completely different movie-zone. What’s gonna be the next turn is a much anticipated question?