X-Men: Days of Future Past. (12A.)
Directed by Bryan Singer.
Starring Hugh Jackman, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult and Peter Dinklage. 131 mins
They say you should never go back; at least not to the scene of a triumph. But surely Bryan Singer returning to the comic book series he initiated over a decade ago is one we can make an exception for. Along with Sam Raimi’s first two Spider-man films, his X-Men 1 &2 really kick-started this whole era of comic book domination, set up an expectation in audiences that smart, high quality superhero movies would be the norm rather than the exception. Days of Future Past has all the intelligence, wit, emotion and invention of his earlier entries, but it isn’t quite the all conquering triumph.
For a start, the old place has changed a bit since he was last around. In X-Men First Class, Matthew Vaughn introduced a new cast to play younger versions of the characters and though the posters suggest an equal billing mingle of originals and newcomers, all the old faces, Jackman excepted, appear only briefly. The film has a Terminator plot in which Wolverine is sent back to 1973 from an apocalyptic future where a bloody war has destroyed the planet, to change the course of history and Patrick Stewart, Ian MacKellern, Ellen Page, and Halle Berry's participation is restricted to the short future segments. So Singer is really following up Vaughn’s creation more than his own.
But Vaughn didn’t just bring in a new cast; he also injected a new tone of irreverent fun. Days of Future Past has the more earnest, moody tone that made the first two films so special but now seems like a bit of a drag. Singer doesn’t quite connect to these new faces and though Fassbender is still a magnificent Magneto, the film stumbles with its handling of McAvoy’s Professor Xavier. McAvoy is as eminently watchable as ever, but the script has Xavier as a washed cynic who can still walk and still has all his hair. You look at him and think there really is no way that this man will grow up to be Patrick Stewart in wheelchair.
Mostly though I’m nit-picking. It’s a fine addition to the canon and there’s plenty to enjoy here. Of all their properties whose screen lives are not under direct Marvel control, the X-Men seem to be in the safest hands. They really should though address the terrible hash Sony are making of the Spider-man films.
X-Men: Days of Future Past. (12A.)
Directed by Bryan Singer.
Starring Hugh Jackman, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult and Peter Dinklage. 131 mins
They say you should never go back; at least not to the scene of a triumph. But surely Bryan Singer returning to the comic book series he initiated over a decade ago is one we can make an exception for. Along with Sam Raimi’s first two Spider-man films, his X-Men 1 &2 really kick-started this whole era of comic book domination, set up an expectation in audiences that smart, high quality superhero movies would be the norm rather than the exception. Days of Future Past has all the intelligence, wit, emotion and invention of his earlier entries, but it isn’t quite the all conquering triumph.
For a start, the old place has changed a bit since he was last around. In X-Men First Class, Matthew Vaughn introduced a new cast to play younger versions of the characters and though the posters suggest an equal billing mingle of originals and newcomers, all the old faces, Jackman excepted, appear only briefly. The film has a Terminator plot in which Wolverine is sent back to 1973 from an apocalyptic future where a bloody war has destroyed the planet, to change the course of history and Patrick Stewart, Ian MacKellern, Ellen Page, and Halle Berry's participation is restricted to the short future segments. So Singer is really following up Vaughn’s creation more than his own.
But Vaughn didn’t just bring in a new cast; he also injected a new tone of irreverent fun. Days of Future Past has the more earnest, moody tone that made the first two films so special but now seems like a bit of a drag. Singer doesn’t quite connect to these new faces and though Fassbender is still a magnificent Magneto, the film stumbles with its handling of McAvoy’s Professor Xavier. McAvoy is as eminently watchable as ever, but the script has Xavier as a washed cynic who can still walk and still has all his hair. You look at him and think there really is no way that this man will grow up to be Patrick Stewart in wheelchair.
Mostly though I’m nit-picking. It’s a fine addition to the canon and there’s plenty to enjoy here. Of all their properties whose screen lives are not under direct Marvel control, the X-Men seem to be in the safest hands. They really should though address the terrible hash Sony are making of the Spider-man films.
