Directed by: Bryan Singer
Starring: Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Peter Dinklage, Nicholas Hoult, Halle Berry, Ellen Page
On the personality scale, X-Men fall short of The Avengers but are more palatable than The Fantastic Four. They are rather inert, but at least have special, distinct superpowers that can wow us every now and then. The movies, like the X-Men themselves, leave me with a "meh" feeling. I'm not bored, but I'm not engrossed. Try as they might, even the gifted cast can't stop the indifference in me.
X-Men: Days of Future Past is a sequel to X-Men: First Class (2011), which introduced Professor Xavier (McAvoy) and Magneto (Fassbender) as young men learning to deal with their powers. It also brought into focus the rift in ideaology which created the on-again, off-again friendship between Professor X and Magneto. I didn't see the first two X-Men movies, truth be told, but nothing about any of their sequels or spinoffs make me want to go back and watch them.
The plot of this film held promise, mostly because time travel movies are inherently intriguing. The idea of defeating time and changing the past holds universal appeal. Days Of Future Past brings together the X-Men as young and older people, sometimes in the same frame. Wolverine (Jackman) doesn't qualify as young or old because he is immortal, so he is the one chosen to have his mind transferred back to 1973 to prevent mutant Raven (Lawrence) from killing a scientist who is making it his life's mission to destroy mutants. The assassination led to unintended consequences in which Raven is taken prisoner and her DNA used to create giant robots that can adapt to mutants and destroy them in a worldwide war 50 years later. It is up to Wolverine to convince the younger Professor X and Magneto to put aside their differences to stop the assassination.
How Wolverine exactly travels back in time is explained, but not really understood. We accept that it happens and move on. Poor Wolverine seems to land the worst jobs and takes the biggest beating of all of the X-Men. The blades that protrude at will from his knuckles don't do as much damage as the fact that he simply can't be killed. The other X-Men have wild powers also, but as people they get the short end of the stick in the charisma department. Jennifer Lawrence is beautiful, of course, but spends a lot of the movie as a blue shape-shifter who could've just as easily walked in from the Avatar set.
There is the occasional fun involving one-liners and some neat effects, plus we get to see actors who enjoy themselves despite slim material. I won't divulge the outcome of the time travel, except to say that generations of X-Men will be able to attend Professor X's school and learn history from Wolverine. How much is tuition at that place anyway?
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