X-Men: Days of Future Past

Today we (Mad Mike and DonnyFTW) will be talking about X-Men: Days of Future Past from 20th Century FOX, Directed by Bryan Singer.

We begin our adventure in the future, I guess (I'd imagine that it would be around 2014). Sentinels created years ago have essentially taken over the world and are picking off mutants one at a time. Professor Xavier Picard tells us this was all the cause of a midget doctor named Trask. He began developing the sentinel program in the early 70s, but wasn't getting much support for it... Until he was murdered by Mystique, which led to the US government to go ahead with further developing this program. Mystique was then captured and her morphing power was used to make the sentinels complete. Years later, sentinels completely fucked shit up, and now the remaining mutants can only do one thing: rip off Terminator...err... I mean... Go back in time and stop Mystique from killing Trask.

How is this done, you ask? Well, by Kitty Pryde getting into Wolverine's mind and putting him back in 1973, of course! He is then put on a mission where he has to bring a now smack-addicted Xavier back together with his old pal Eric, aka Magneto, in order to stop mystique from killing Trask, thus preventing the sentinel program from getting green-lit.

So Donny, please enlighten me as to what you thought about this film?

I thought it was a great way to merge the original trilogy cast with the cast of First Class. Singer helmed the first two (superior) X-Men films, that essentially began the comic-book movie craze that we see at our local multiplexes today. Because of his previous involvement with the franchise, he doesn't need to develop his version of the X-Men, he's simply afforded the ability to take risks with his characters and plot lines. Thus allowing him to make a movie about time traveling mutants without it coming off as cheesy.

How about you, Mike? What did you think?

Well first of all, the chick who sold me the popcorn for this movie was a total d-bag. She looked so snotty and didn't even give me my proper change back! So I just want start by saying fuck her and fuck her stupid face! 

That was really uncalled for, but a lot of fun to watch!

Anyways, I know I poked fun at the movie a few times in the intro, but honestly, I loved this movie. I thought the story was great, it managed to walk the fine line between simple and complex, without teetering off to either side. The character development was fantastic, as was the action sequences. I don't want to give anything away, but there is an action sequence involving Quicksilver that will blow your mind!

Yeah, that Quicksilver scene was my highlight of the movie. It only takes up about 1.5 seconds of real time, but it was the best part!

Yeah, Donny agrees that it was awesome!

However, all action sequences aside, I really liked how character driven the movie was. To me, that's the only way an X-Men movie should be. X-Men is filled to the brim with unique and amazing characters to begin with, and since Days of Future Past deals with 2 time periods, I feel like the only direction to take is to focus on strong character development and strong emotional connections with the audience instead of going for pure action and destruction. I know that a character driven story isn't what the casual moviegoer wants nowadays, but have no fear, Transformers 4 is coming out in a month.

So, do you want to talk acting now?

Uhhh... Sure! You start

Okay, well my favourite part of First Class (non-Fassbender related) was Nicholas Hoult, he's the poster boy for Doctor Hank McCoy (ha! That rhymes! Also, Fuck you Frasier!). Although he isn't given a ton to do here, which is expected given the vast cast (I did it again, lol!) he still manages to impress. The same can be said for Evan Peters's turn as Quicksilver (Your move, Aaron Taylor-Johnson). But the heart of this character driven story comes from James McAvoy as Charles Xavier. We see him struggle with difficult decisions throughout the film, and as a viewer, you sympathize with the fact that he must choose his worst enemy to try to save his oldest friend. And ohmygod Fassbender rauufrrhghghrrrgghhhhh (inaudible)

Okay, I'm going to turn away from Donny because he's drooling uncontrollably and masturbating furiously... Uhh... Where are we? Acting? Ok.

Well, Donny has already said what a fine job McAvoy did, as with Michael Fassbender

*fap fap fap fap fap fap fap*

GOD DAMMIT DONNY STOP IT!

Personally, it was nice to see Patrick Stewart and Ian Mckellan reprise their roles as Xavier and Magneto of the present. They give a commanding presence to the cast, and to me, it was as if they never left the franchise. The following part goes without saying, but Hugh Jackman was amazing as Wolverine, he nailed it as he usually does and he once again made it feel like he was born for the role. It was also cool to see Peter Dinklage play Trask, I'm just getting into Game of Thrones and he's slowly becoming a favourite of mine.

Last but not least, Jennifer Lawrence put on a terrific portrayal of Mystique, she completely owned the role of a very conflicted and complex character, toeing the line between anti-hero and villain. Unfortunately for Lawrence, the Academy does not live on planet Earth, so a 2nd Oscar for her won't be coming for this movie.

Donny, are you cooled off yet?

Yes... sooo.....

I'm going to get you some towels, so talk about your favouritie parts.

Blue boobs are nice... But seriously, I enjoyed the inclusion of the new mutants in the post-apocalyptic future. Specifically, I loved seeing Bishop, and I loved the re-imagining of Blink that Singer gave her. I also thought it was brilliant to construct the story around Team Wolverine vs Team Mystique, which gave FOX the opportunity to market the two biggest stars in a no holds barred, future-at-stake battle. The sentinels were also really badass. 

The scripting of the movie was excellent, as it gave us shades of complex storytelling during the time travel portions while simultaneously not being too complex so that a layman watching the movie can choose to set it aside to enjoy a character driven action movie that the X-Men franchise is known for (Origins notwithstanding)

Mike?

Yeah, I as well loved how greatly the movie deals with time travel. Yes, the initial premise of Kitty Pryde putting Wolverine's mind back in the past may be a little out there, but the time travel overall is done very simply and the movie doesn't make it fuck with your head. A lot of time travel movies make that mistake, even the great ones like Looper and Back to the Future. Not since Terminator 2 have I seen a movie that dealt with time travel so simply and beautifully. Props to the movie for not making my head explode with confusion

Yeah, Time Travel = Good

I thought the RFK stadium sequence was breathtaking, Magneto decided to be just as ambitious as Bryan Singer, and he lifts an entire stadium off the ground and moves it to the White House, completely enclosing it in the process. This set-up the movie's amazing climax. And I'm not talking about Donny's amazing climax to Michael Fassbender. 

Stop saying his name!

However, my absolute favourite part of the whole damn thing was the meeting between Past Xavier and Present Xavier. The way it was done was one brilliant mindfuck, and it was without a doubt the emotional pinnacle of the movie. It's a moment that anyone in the audience can relate to. Why? Well, how many times have we all wished that we could talk to our younger, dumber selves? To tell them how they're future would be if they continued the path they were on? To try to get their heads out of their asses before it's too late?


Or how about the flip side of that? How many times have we wished that our older selves would come and talk to us? To tell us how our future will be? Or to give us a wake up call and tell us to change our ways? That's definitely something that pretty much everyone watching the movie will relate to... And, I'll be honest, I was choking up a bit during the scene, I absolutely loved it!

You're such a girl!

Whatever! Seriously, if you feel no emotion in that scene, well... you will make a great serial killer one day! So good for you!

Anyways, since we know how much you love Fassbender, why don't you tell us what you didn't like, Donny?

Well without spoiling the ending, I found it to be a coppout. Not that I don't understand their reasons for doing it that way, I just wasn't a fan. Also, I would've liked to have seen more badass sentinel fight scenes. But other than that, I can't really complain about much. 

You?

Well, this is a movie that deals with time travel, and even though I've already stated that it's simplified here, it can still lend itself to some plot holes and some mindfucks. But to be honest, I can let those issues slide because this is a movie who's main characters include a telekinetic mind reader and a morphing smurfette.

All in all, X-Men: Days of Future Past seamlessly blends amazing action, terrific character development, and tons of gripping emotional depth. It also literally wipes The Last Stand from existence! I won't exactly spoil how that happens, but Singer gives a huge middle finger to Brett Ratner, and that was so satisfying to watch.

To be fair, Singer still produced it, and Kinberg wrote it... So yeah...

WHATEVER! No one asked you!

I give this movie a full 5 X's out of 5. Awesome movie! It might go down as one of my favourites.

Now give us your final thoughts, smartass!

Although only time will tell if Days of Future Past holds up as well as the original films, its central message of hope is well received not only by the characters in the film, but by the viewing audience as a whole. I hope that future X-Men films will follow the Days of Future Past blueprint, putting visually pleasing action sequences across the backdrop of a character driven story that intrigues and excites without getting lost in the sometimes complex X-Men universe. 

I give it a perfect 5 Adamantium claws out of 5.

I agree with that rating... I'm out...

Well there you have it. Thank you for joining us again on Flying Monkey Reviews and we hope that you read up on us in the future! If you want to check out more from us check the links below.

Mike's Personal Blog

Donny's Personal Blog

Donny's Posts Over At Big B Comics

We're working hard to constantly add posts to these and if you're looking for more movie reviews these are where to find them as we recently got reviews of Godzilla, Commando, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Captain America: The Winter Solider, 2001: A Space Odyssey and The LEGO Movie.