X-Men, Days of Future Past review: A Superheroic Symphony of Entertainment

Seven titles into the series (Wolverine films included), it's fair to say Marvel have been milking the X-Men cash cow with alarming vigour over the past decade. But while it's easy to dismiss the franchise as a gold plated horse flogged to within a bare inch of its life, it's an unfair suggestion when this latest instalment is such a brilliantly entertaining picture. It's not without its inevitable flaws, but Days of Future Past is a superhero movie of the highest calibre, explosive with great performances, thrilling set pieces and sharp humour, which stands head and shoulders above the flatter tones of Marvel's Spidermen and Captain Americas. 

As the last remnants of the mutant group known as the X-Men face destruction at the hands of the robotic Sentinels, Professor X (Patrick Stewart) launches an audacious plan to save the team. By sending Wolverine (Hugh Jackman on steroids) back to the 70's to prevent the epoch of their opponents, the group aims to prevent the war between humans and mutants from ever beginning. Taken directly from the comic book series, the plot, with its themes of paradox and the manipulation of time, is far from original. It's a shame that the story and its structure mark one of the few atmospheric collapses in the movie, as a superb, frantic opening half hour result in a more stuttering and scrambled pace throughout. Even for a Marvel film, the plot tests the limits of plausibility, and is at times simply too dumbed down and predictable to be taken seriously. Fortunately, a $200 million budget allows for a cast that can truly be called all-star, with the likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Ellen Page and Ian McKellen reprising their roles. These characters becomes a major factor in holding the shaky storyline together, with screen time split between present and past to allow for an expanded and increasingly charismatic set of characters. Jackman is excellent as the grizzled Wolverine, but it’s the chemistry between James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, who portray the young Professor X and Magneto respectively, which largely steals the show. The power struggle between this pair of geniuses comes to dominate the midsection of the film, and proves far more memorable than the myriad of special effects and set pieces thrown in to keep the action flowing. On the subject of effects, the mega-budget technology does help to create some of the finest sequences the picture has to offer, including a breathtaking slow-motion scene shot in 3,600 fps featuring the underused Quicksilver (Evan Peters) and the blitzing action opening. Jennifer Lawrence also excels as Mystique, a role she plays with such wit and vision that you can’t help but wonder if an origins film could be on Marvel’s cards in the near future. As always with a cast on this scale, there’s huge potential wasted with the lack of use for the supporting characters, but the leads are so compelling that this is more of a gripe than a serious problem with the film.

Despite an inconsistent pace, where Days of Future Past truly succeeds is in its masterful grasp of what superhero films are all about: entertainment value. The film’s action sequences are, it must be said, some of the most thrilling in recent memory. Powered by the experience of X-Men master director Bryan Singer, these sections are more incendiary than ever, and mark some of the best moments in the film. The need for emotional development is realised too, and better still it’s smartly executed and devoid of the usual superhero sentimentality which has so devalued the genre from a critical perspective. Singer creates a tectonic whirlwind of a crescendo as the film reaches its peak, culminating in a heart-thumping ending and a satisfying conclusion. Despite the lack of the classic supervillain, this more intelligent and politically aware effort feels like a step in the right direction for an evolving studio. It’s a wonder that Marvel, with its access to resources others can scarcely dream of, fails to hit this winning formula of entertainment and awareness with all of their films.  

Days of Future Past is surely the finest X-Men outing to date, an edge-of-the-seat trailblazer of a movie packed with jaw-dropping moments and exceptional cast performances. Its small failures in plot and pacing are more than made up for by a symphony of entertainment rarely evoked by even the strongest of Marvel’s superheroic pedigree.

7/10