Bryan Singer makes a comeback to blockbuster form with this astonishing continuation of the X-Men saga.
X-Men: Days of Future Past is without a doubt the most effective and articulate film in the entire X-Men series. The combination of both the old-school and new-school casts have now officially brought back all of our X-Men. Yes, all of them.
If you are an avid follower of X-Men, you would know that Bryan Singer brought the dearly loved comic series to the big screen with X-Men, which helped kickstart Hugh Jackman’s career to international fame. X-Men 2 followed and it was beautifully done as it served justice to the comics. Brett Ratner, then came along and ruined the series with X-Men: The Last Stand. Come on, we all know how bad that one was.
Ugh.
Fortunately for us fans, Matthew Vaughn’s terrific prequel X-Men: First Class, starring James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as a younger Charles Xavier (Professor X) and Erik Lansherr (Magneto) respectively brought the series back on track. In X-Men: Days of Future Past, a bold attempt to combine the past and present universes as well as clean up the wreckage X-Men: The Last Stand caused is clearly depicted.
X-Men: Days of Future Past opens with a shattered future Earth, with Professor X explaining that the Sentinels have almost wiped out all mutants and humans who supported them. Decades have passed since X-Men: The Last Stand and a handful of mutants including Kitty Pryde (Ellen Paige) and Storm (Halle Berry) led by Professor Xavier and Magneto who are friends and allies once again, make a desperate attempt to change the future. In order for this to be done, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is sent back into his 1973 body to somehow stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from killing Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), the mastermind who created the Sentinels.
The film then develops into a fascinating and occasionally funny story which involved Wolverine who must somehow convince the younger and broken spirited Charles Xavier to help him gather the troops and meddle with history to avoid the oncoming massacre.
Fans are also presented with the ongoing feud and potential friendship between Xavier and Magneto. The chemistry between Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen as well as Fassbender and McAvoy was brilliant and rewarding as each duo showed a time-spanning love-hate relationship between two people who clearly cared very much for one another in both the past and the present.
The film hits the spot with its attention to detail that would leave fans with genuine moments of joy. Now, the X-Men saga may have been on a bumpy track, but X-Men: Days of Future Past does not only manage to clean up the mess that Ratner made but has also established itself as one of the finest and most elegant as well as enjoyable superhero films to date.
X-Men: Days of Future Past opens in cinemas on May 22nd, Thursday! Be sure to catch it.
