This is. The last one, and my marathon is over. Happily, we’re ending with a good ‘en:
X-Men: Days of Future Past
What do you get when you mix a nonsensical script, high school level acting, dodgy made-for-TV special effects, and a ridiculously sluggish, sleep-inducing pace?
Not Days of Future Past, which is neck and neck with X2 as the best of the seven-film X saga.
Fassbender OWNS
I mean, what DOESN’T this thing get right? It opens with a bang, showcasing a grim dystopian future and wickedly creative use of mutie powers, plus gruesome mutie death. Logan is quickly sent back in time and the plot is instantly surging along. Unlike flicks like X-Men, Origins and The Wolverine, Days of Future Past knows where it’s going and wastes no time getting there.
BOOM, we catch up with Professor X. BOOM, now we’ve met Quicksilver. BOOM, Magneto is rescued in the most awesome scene of the series (only Nightcrawler in the White House comes close). BOOM, we’re in Paris watching Mystique’s badassery. PAUSE for a brief lull before the last act, then BOOM, we’re seeing two climatic showdowns at once, both packed with eye candy on a scale bigger than the series has ever done.
Sure, sure, we have no damn idea how Kitty Pryde is sending people back in time (seriously, how does she do that?), and the magically overpowered Quicksilver had to go be a teenage boy otherwise the movie’s problems could have been solved in three minutes (which is lazy writing), and Magneto’s plan at the end is kind of not-very-smart for a dude who is usually pretty smart (what did he hope to accomplish, exactly?), and how the hell does Mystique know where Wolverine sank into the river and how’d she manage to replace Stryker so quickly (and why is she even going after Wolvie in the first place?), and why does Logan have metal claws in the future again (and grey hair; he didn’t age for 150 years, then in the next 20 he goes grey?), and Hank’s serum makes Charles able to walk but suppresses his powers? How are these things even related? Oh, and Magneto can lift entire stadiums now? For real?
But whatever. Who cares?
And God said “Let there be awesome,” and it was awesome
The movie is way too awesome to care about ANY of that. It’s got the best, most creative, most “wow!” use of powers in the whole series, the acting is great, the pace is impeccable, the story is excellent. The whole thing is just really well put together. You start to watch and zooooom, you’re off to the races and it doesn’t let up until the end.
Plus, it miraculously manages to be a sequel to First Class AND the original trilogy at the same time, which is a neat trick and throws in a reboot for good measure without that reboot feeling like a total cheat.
What’s not to like?
Excellent stuff. Arguably the best, or at least tied with X2 for that honor. Hell, let’s take it a step further: it’s not just one of the best X movies, it’s one of the best superhero movies overall, period.
