This weekend sees the latest entry in the franchise that started it all: the big budget superhero movie block buster. Or more specifically, the Marvel superhero movie blockbuster. Long ago DC comics (now part of Warner Brothers) had big hits in 1978 with SUPERMAN, THE MOVIE and again in 1989 with BATMAN. Those flicks spawned sequels, but their success never expanded past those characters or to DC’s competitor, Marvel . After scoring a modest hit with 1998’s BLADE, the Marvel superheroes really arrived at the multiplexes with 2000’s X-MEN. SPIDER-MAN swung onto movie screens in 2002, and Marvel began its own studio in 2008 with the first IRON MAN. Tickets sales haven’t really subsided since and so now we have a new feature based on an early 1980’s comics storyline, X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, the first mutant movie, not counting last Summer’s solo spin-off THE WOLVERINE, since 2011’s X-MEN: FIRST CLASS. That surprise smash was a prequel to the original 2000-2006 trilogy with younger actors playing swingin’ sixties versions of the crew. Seems those sneaky Fox film makers and execs picked the PAST story in order to have the best of both worlds. So we’ve got two Magnetos, two Xaviers, and so on. uniting them all is the immortal Logan, the Wolverine played by Hugh Jackman for the seventh time (those are Bond numbers)! And rejoining the heroes is their original movie guide Bryan Singer who bowed out of CLASS and X-MEN: THE LAST STAND (he jumped ship to DC for a Superman reboot that, um, didn’t take). So, how’s this time-tripping tale? Let’s slap on our 3D specs (or not, but at least those glasses aren’t as clunky as Cerebro!) and take a field trip to that secluded school for gifted youngsters.
The film opens during a dark, almost pitch black time for humanity in the not-too-distant future. Earth’s cities are burned out husks with piles of bodies littering the streets thanks to the omnipresent, hovering sentinel robots. Not only do they round-up mutants, but they dispose of their human sympathizers. But there are pockets of resistance. In China, Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) leads a group of fellow mutants (including Colossus and Warpath) as they evade capture in a constant loop of hiding, fighting, and running. Kitty is able to send the consciousness of Bishop (Omar Sy) back in time (an hour or so) to his past body and warn his pals order to evade the bots. At the end of their latest skirmish the ragtag group spies a unfamiliar aircraft. It is another mutant group headed by Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen)! They’ve got a plan to use Kitty’s powers to go back fifty years to 1973 and prevent Raven AKA Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from assassinating inventor Dr. Bolivar Trask (Petre Dinklage) which inspires the creation of the killer androids. But trying to send someone back more than a few hours would tear the subject’s body apart. Unless they have heightened healing abilities. This is a job for the Wolverine AKA Logan (Jackman). In 1973 Logan heads to the shuttered school to convince the now powerless Xavier (James McAvoy) and Hank McCoy AKA the Beast (Nicholas Hoult) that they must save the future. The three must enlist their enemy Eric Lehnsherr AKA Magneto (Michael Fassbender) to break the chain of events before the sentinels in modern,er future, China track down and destroy the remaining X-Men.
Sounds a bit confusing? Not too worry, the expert cast guides the film effortlessly through the years. The movie’s anchor is the always entertaining Jackman as that dude with a bad tude’ (and claws that pop out of his knuckles). As he embarks on what may be his last mission, there’s a somber quality to Logan, but once he’s in the familiar 70’s territory (he is immortal) we get a bit more of his dry wit and even a few double takes (why is the bed rolling?). And the action scenes are just as energetic as when he donned that X-belt many moons ago. Plus he’s got great chemistry with all the incarnations of his comrades. Stewart brings the intelligence and gravitas to the father (or grandfather) figure leader of the team, while McAvoy as the younger Charles has an angry, frustrated, even haunted quality to the role. He’s equally dejected over losing his mind powers as much as losing the great love of his youth. And, as the trailer shows, there’s a corker of a scene between the two actors as young meets old. McKellen still gives an aristocratic nobility to Eric, especially as he floats in to the sky, his arms outstretched and cape billowing. As the 70’s Eric, Fassbenber adds an air of cool, as he attempts to conceal his own sinister agenda. Lawrence, as the woman both adored, is able to mask her appearance, but not her own master plan. She’s tired of being hunted and decides to go on the offensive, to be in charge of her own, and mutantkind’s fate. But once she’s in her true blue-skinned form, there’s a real vulnerability to her. The casting of Dinklage as the dark designer is an inspired choice. He’s no ranting bigot out to wipe out the different, even admitting an admiration for the beings his machines target. Returning team mates Hoult and Page offer terrific support as do veterans Shawn Ashmore as Iceman and the always radiant and exotic Halle Berry as Storm. But the film’s big scene stealer may be Evan Peters as the super quick Peter Maximoff AKA Quicksilver. He’s just in a few scenes, but his assistance on a mission with Logan, Charles, and Hank might be the most enjoyable movie superhero sequence since Loki met the Hulk. Let’s hope Joss Whedon’s take on the speed-demon in the upcoming Avengers sequel is at least half as entertaining.
Singer slips back into this mutant world with surprising ease. The time travel element seems to have brought an extra zing to the series much as it did with Star Trek in VI: THE VOYAGE HOME and FIRST CONTACT (perhaps that’s why we see a clip of Kirk on a TV set speaking about time jumping from the original series). The fashions, props, cars, and odd facial hair perfectly capture the period along with the retro tech used to document the mutants doing their thing in public. We see it from folks filming on choppy vidoetape, 16mm, and even Super 8 mm (I swear that’s Singer himself peering through the lens of that antique). In addition to time hopping, there a lot of great globe-hopping with action taking place in Paris, Saigon, and the states giving this titanic tale an epic quality missing from many multi-hero extravaganzas. John Ottman contributes a pulse -pounding score and clear, taut editing. This film takes its place amongst the better superhero films of recent memory (odd that Logan almost suffers the same fate as Captain American in his flick last month…and in the same place!). I would even say whole-heartedly that X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST is the best of the X film series. Let’s hope the whole group will get back together for another big-screen adventure in the very,very near future, because this time out they are truly Marvel-ous mutants! Actually they’re x-trordinary!
4.5 Out of 5
