X-Men: Days of Future Past

So, X-Men: Days of Future Past is the third Marvel Comics film we've had in a little over a month.  Could this lead to some possible over-saturation, and in turn to audiences being burned out on superheroes?  I hope not, because X-Men, simply put, is a blast.  The first summer blockbuster that truly fires on all cylinders.  Not only that, it's probably the first movie of the summer that I'll still be thinking about when Fall rolls around.

If Captain America: The Winter Soldier was a 70s paranoia thriller ramped up as a modern day event movie, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a garden variety, just barely passable "superhero flick", then the latest entry in the long-running saga of Marvel's mutants can best be described as an intelligent Sci-Fi story that is brilliantly executed with a complex but not bewildering plot, as well as a genuine interest in the ideas its premise brings forth.  While it does have its big action set pieces, many of them are laced with a certain grim certainty, rather than the roller coaster action we might expect.  The stakes are high this time around, and the movie is smart to treat it as such.  The battles are cold and sometimes terrifying, not escapism, while the plot is gripping and often intense.  Will this hurt the film's chances at the box office, and turn off those looking for some escapism during their Memorial Day weekend?  I hope not.

The plot kicks off in a bleak and desolate future (Is there any other kind of future in the movies these days?), where mutants and their human allies are hunted down and mercilessly slaughtered by massive robots called Sentinels.  The film's opening battle sequence between a small band of the X-Men against the towering destroyers sets up the tone the rest of the film will take.  The heroes seem to be fighting a useless battle.  The machines can adapt and change their abilities, and we see the heroes not only fighting to survive, but failing as well.  There is, however, one last hope.  The wise Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) comes up with a plan to send one of the X-Men back into the past, and hopefully prevent the Sentinels from being made.  The man chosen for the job is Wolverine (Hugh Jackman).  He subconsciously travels back in time to 1973, in order to unite the younger Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender), and have them work together for the cause of saving the future.

The mission centers around the shapeshifting mutant Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), who during a fateful day in this timeline will murder the inventor of the Sentinels, Boliver Trask (Peter Dinklage).  Little does she realize, her actions will only result in her capture, and scientists experimenting on her mutant abilities in order to make the Sentinels as powerful as they are in the future.  So, the goal is to prevent Mystique from killing Trask.  The problem that arises is that everyone has a different view on how it should be done.  Xavier would like nothing more than to bring Mystique back to his side, and work together to build a better future.  Magneto, however, sees the only option being that Mystique must die in order to change the course of the future.  With Wolverine trapped in the middle, trying to sort everything out, it's clear that his mission will be not just about saving the future, but also in getting these two powerful minds that stand beside him to see a common means to the goal.

To call X-Men: Days of Future Past complicated, maybe even convoluted, would be correct.  But the movie never gets bogged down in explaining itself, as an inferior Sci-Fi story built around time travel would.  Much like last weekend's Godzilla, I appreciated the dire and appropriately serious mood that the movie tackles its situation.  This movie handles it much better, though.  Unlike the giant monster film, I actually cared about the characters at the center of the story.  Of course, it helps that these characters and the actors playing them have had 14 years and 5 films (not counting the two Wolverine spin offs) to build and develop.  One of the neat tricks this entry pulls off is how it kind of brings the entire series up to this point together.  There are not only throwbacks, but also some surprise cameos for fans to look out for.  Given that one of the main purposes of this film is to bring the whole series together, it's only fitting that the original director, Bryan Singer, return.

Most importantly, Singer and his screenwriters are not just making a standard "good vs. evil" storyline here.  Everybody has some logical motive behind their actions, even the scientist who builds the Sentinels in the first place.  What's interesting is that the movie tries to see every side of the action, so we can sympathize with just about everyone who plays a major part in the story.  Not only does this make for a more interesting comic book movie, it generally makes for a better and more thought out one.  Don't get me wrong, this approach wouldn't work for every comic book movie.  I don't exactly want to delve into the deep thoughts of the Green Goblin when he's launching pumpkin bombs at Spidey, for example.  But here it works, because the X-Men have always been about tolerance, acceptance, and seeing the situation from all sides.  Those who stand against the heroes have just as much of a reason to fight as they do.  I think this simple ideal comes across strongest here than it ever has.

Even if I do feel the film ran a little long, this is still the best entertainment I've seen so far this summer.  It not only manages to hit just about every note right, but it even manages to fix a few wrong notes that some of the past films hit.  That's one nice thing about time travel plots - You can change things from past entries that did not sit well with fans.  I truly hope this movie doesn't get overlooked during this blockbuster season, and that audiences aren't feeling bombarded by superheroes already.  Days of Future Past is truly a must see in an early summer that has largely been disappointing.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

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