X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014)

[XvGojira]

[jellydonut25]

Wolverine's not the focal point of DOFP.

The movie centers around Mystique, Xavier, and Magneto, Wolverine is there to offer a contrast to that dynamic, and IMHO, he's used extremely well in DOFP. Featuring him in Apocalypse as one of the horsemen would be great too. The biggest/best thing Apocalypse ever did was turn Angel into Death. Right now, it'd be just as shocking and powerful to the audience if that happened to Wolverine.

[Hybrid Gojira]

I'd be surprised if Wolverine isn't in Apocalypse...I'd also be surprised if he isn't a horseman.

[klen7]

[jellydonut25]

Becoming Death wouldn't be a "mindless minion" thing. At all.

[Dr Kain]

[jellydonut25]

[XvGojira]

[jellydonut25]

It'd actually be way better than what happens to Cyclops in X2, because that's shoving a character to the side because...hell I dunno why, Cyclops is a way better character than the movies ever allowed him to be.

Wolverine becoming Death would mean him actively CHOOSING to join Apocalypse...it might be a bit difficult to pull off, as the way they did it in the comics is with Angel, who has lost his wings and can no longer fly and out of desperation turns to Apocalypse for wings again (after MUCH cajoling and convincing and trickery). I guess the way they could do it would be to have Wolverine basically be worthless as a fighter without the adamantium and feeling completely inferior in battle (which would actually be refreshing given how Wolverine has been portrayed in the films thus far).

[hanshotfirst1138]

I'll fix the grammar later, by here's my rough draft of my review.

"Stick with me, baby. Stick with me anyhow. Things should start to get interesting right about now."
Bob Dylan

"You'd best be careful what you wish for friend, 'cause I've been to hell and now I'm back again."
Steve Earle

"Keep what is useful, discard what is useless, and add what is uniquely your own."
Bruce Lee Sing-Lung

Buckle up fanboys. Summer is here at at last, with a blast of a blockbuster to set the bar remarkable high. It's hard to believe that it's been almost 15 years since Bryan Singer first kicked off the still-strong wave of superhero films with 2000's X-Men. With top-shelf thespians and sleek direction, Singer followed in the footsteps of Donner and Burton in developing a way to depict comic-book superheroes with seriousness and a degree of intelligence. X2 was even better, a bigger and more complex sequel that set up many possibilities with its finale which unfortunately never came to fruition. Sadly, the X-Men franchise was left floundering directionless with the director's departure, devolving in a serious increasingly poor sequels. Elsewhere, Singer's career disappointed frequently, with the misconstrued Superman Returns and the amicable but unimpressive Jack the Giant Slayer. Finally regaining a degree of sanity with the the Singer-produced First Class, the man who started it all is back in the director's chair to attempt to untangle the franchise's increasingly unwieldy mythology, massive cast, and increasingly irrelevance against Marvel Studios excellent lineup. And he succeeds wildly, with easily the best superhero outing since at least Joss Whedon's The Avengers, juggling the film's ensemble cast, pop gravitas, twisty time-travel narrative, and slick, James Cameron-style action sequences, in adapting one of the comics' most celebrated storylines. It took ten years, but this is finally the sequel X-fans deserved, and more.

The story opens in the not too distant future, when the X-Men are on the verge of extinction, being hunted by massive robots known as Sentinels, designed by eugenicist Bolivar Trask in an attempt to wipe out mutant-kind. Hunted in a horrify holocaust in a post-apocalyptic world, the surviving mutants, hunted to near extinction, have discovered a method to travel in time and avoid their pursuers, at least in the short term, but there's a catch going back further than a short time, allowing the temporary avoid the ever-more powerful hunters. Going back any further is too rigorous for anyone to survive. Except maybe a certain iconic adamantium-clawed mutant with healing powers. Going back to 1973 to stop Mystique from assassinating Trask and starting the anti-mutant mayhem, Wolverine finds Xavier a bitter and broken man from the events of First Class, and desperately tries to convince him to and his only remaining pupil, the Beast, to try to change the course of the future.

Wisely discarding most of the irritating "X-kids" from Vaughn's overrated X-Men: First Class while retaining the effective cast members-Mcavoy, Fassbender, Hoult, and Lawrence-and throwing in a delightful bonanza of cameos from the original cast, giving them a proper send-off after Brett Ratner's hideous X-Men: The Last Stand, Singer swings for the fences. Though the future cast is disappointingly underused as they aren't the meat of the narrative, seeing McKellen and Stewart back is simply wonderful, their chemistry and repartee remaining as delightful as ever and adding gravity to the proceeding, though the majority of the narrative takes place within the past, with Hugh Jackman returning to the role he was born to play in Wolverine. Jackman remains the most perfect bit of superhero casting since Christopher Reeve donned the Man of Tomorrow's cape, Fassbender and McAvoy, especially with Stewart and McKellen alongside them (McAvoy and Stewart meet in one of the film's most inspired passages) as counterpoints, and Lawrence continues to justify her superstar status, blending sexy femme-fatale action chops with surprising vulnerability, even under layers of makeup.

Finally free of the gaudy excesses of Ratner, Vaughn, and Hood, Singer's sleek style, reminiscent of James Cameron at his peak, lends pop-gravity to the proceedings, succeeding in precisely what Vaughn attempted in First Class-tying the films historical setting with social upheavals like the original comics did. Whereas Vaughn felt like he was simply connecting the dots though, Singer properly shakes things up as much as you can in a comic-book world where nothing ever really changes, making full use of his massive budget and getting every cent up on the screen. Though the underutilized future cast feels a bit disappointing, it allows Singer to thin the ever-growing cast to allow for stronger narrative focus. The central fulcrum-the relationship between Mystique, Xavier, and Magneto-allows for an actual character-based narrative with understandable motivations on all sides. As a result, it approaches that obvious but all-too-rare point in blockbuster FX-fests of giving actual weight to the proceedings and reasons to care among the fireworks.

Elsewhere, the jokes are all zingers, particularly some lines for the fans, without spoiling too much, the resolution is wholly satisfying both on its own and a retcon to hideous previous finale, and the set pieces are all rollicking good fun. Singer's action sequences actually make spatial sense, the Sentinels are inspired in design and execution, both as futuristic hunters and clunky 70s tech, the many set pieces executed with the clean choreography of the best pop cinema, reminiscent of James Cameron at his peak, full of clean lines and a clearly delineated sense of who's doing what to whom, ending with an action climax that's both visually spectacular and emotionally satisfying. Singer cites many of his favorites as pop cinema's very best-Nicholas Meyer's Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Spielberg's Jaws-and if he's not quite in their company, he's certainly on the right track. Qucksilver is an inspired creation, his bullet-time style FX as a particular highlight. Signer's use of silence, tension, judicious slow-motion, impressive choreography (some of it courtesy of ace second-unit director Greg Smrz, a John Woo alum who's clearly learned his lessons well), and the stylish cinematography and punchy editing of his top lieutenants- superb DP Thomas Newton Seigel and and editor and composer John Ottman, who lend the film a gorgeous, slightly expressionistic color palette (shot in rich digital) and strong rhythm. For once, bloat isn't a problem as the film's outward expansion actually suggests a larger universe (rumored deleted scenes hint at future treats as Blu-Ray extras) and the film's running time flies by.

Setting the bar impressively high for the rest of the summer, X-Men finally earn some of their glory back, suggesting that this franchise, once on life support, might still have some life left in it yet. Sleek, smart, stylish, funny, and thoroughly entertaining, the gang's all here, and they're better than ever. Though this proves a satisfying denouement, a post-credits stinger nonetheless hints at a new villain and future adventures. But if the world is in peril again, we needn't worry. With Singer back at the helm, we're in good hands. It's great to have him back at last. To me, my X-Men.

[mr.negativity]

[Gwangi]

This has been only one of two movies I've seen this summer. I liked it, though I was not in love with it. In order to prepare myself, I went ahead and saw "First Class". I didn't think much of that one. It is suppose to take place in 1962, yet it just didn't feel like was. Everything seemed modern, with only mention of the Cubian missile crises telling us that indeed it was 1962. For DOFP, I think they did a much better job conveying the look of 1973 (I was only five years old at that time, but I do remember some of the styles).

Of course, one of my favorite scenes was Magneto lefting RFK Stadium and sending it to the White House lawn! I do have one question however. Before he does that, we see a groundskeeper preparing it for a baseball game. Well, in 1973, there were no major league teams playing in D.C. Washington Senators were long gone and the Nationals would not come until nearly 30 years later. My guess it that he was preparing it for a minor league game, or perhaps special event soft-ball game.

Anyway, using Leonard Maltin's rating system, I gave it *** out of **** stars.

[jellydonut25]

[MouthForWar]

Looks like we'll be getting an extended cut next year.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-v ... ast-723520

[hanshotfirst1138]

Figures. God made me many things, but he didn't make me patient. But at least we actually got fair warning. I'm willing to wait, but I'd like to see the extras on the initial release in the meantime, and Redbox will probably have one of those blasted rental discs .

[MekaGojira3k]

Yay, glad to have the warning

[jellydonut25]

Hopefully the extended cut release will feature the theatrical cut as well. I'm finding more and more that these extended versions only really appeal to me for one watch, and then one here and there very rarely, and it's the theatrical cuts I prefer to watch more regularly due to their brevity (and I can just mentally insert extended cut scenes)

[MouthForWar]

Apparently "The Rogue Cut" will be coming Summer of 2015 and will have the Rogue subplot added back in.

http://uproxx.com/gammasquad/2014/09/pr ... e-edition/

[Dr Kain]

[jellydonut25]

It's not NECESSARILY an "inferior" cut, but yeah...what's the point of buying a disc when they tell you that the FULL cut is coming out later?

At least IF there's ever a Godzilla extended cut, they weren't dumb enough to tell you it was coming before the regular release.

[hanshotfirst1138]

Great, another wait, because the one for the Middle Earth boxed set won't be enough! At least they're straightforward about it. Wonder what extras the first version will have to tide us over, or if it'll just be sparse. I wish they'd put it in a mega-boxed set with all of the other stuff, the UV rereleases of 1 & 2 omitted previous extras.

[Cookie]

Watched DOFP tonight. Great way to basically let Xmen go wherever now... PLEASE, lets see more of Cyclops now....

[mr.negativity]

Honest Trailers:

[klen7]

Found this at a gas station during the holiday travels...


they also had Wolverine White Chocolate Pretzels....

[jellydonut25]

Anybody else check out the Rogue Cut yet?

Even though I think I might like the theatrical cut a little better, this is the first time in a while I've seen a director's cut that I thought was totally worth the buy because the two are fairly different viewing experiences, instead of the director's cut just being an extended version or just changing the ending or something.

Pretty much from when Wolverine accidentally cuts Kitty through to the end of the movie the whole thing goes through some very different story beats to get us to essentially the exact same place.

The Rogue sub-plot is as follows: Wolverine cuts Kitty and so Iceman decides she can't go on because she's bleeding and exhausted. So, he proposes a plan to go rescue Rogue, who's being experimented on because "they" want to steal her powers just like they stole Mystique's. Then Rogue can borrow Kitty's powers and take her place. The whole rescue scene plays out being intercut with the scene of Magneto going to get his helmet. So, while we're seeing him beat up innocents, he's beating up bad guys to rescue Rogue. But this shifts a LOT of things around...various interactions between Wolverine and Beast take place in the Mansion the night before the White House scene, Mystique and Beast have a sort of loving kinda farewell/extra interaction, Iceman bites the dust at a different point, Kitty is the one who drags Magneto behind the door instead of Blink, and it's just all kinda differenty.

The problem is, that Rogue sub-plot kinda flies in out of nowhere and the more you think about it, the more full of holes it starts to become. Also, it makes Iceman's death seem like the characters don't give it enough emotion. He dies trying to save one woman who loves him and his ex-girlfriend and Rogue doesn't really bat much of an eyelash at his death. It's...weird.

Still, it provides us with some fun/different moments, some extra action, and some neat shots. I'm actually not completely sure which version I LIKE better (even if the theatrical is a "better" version), and I think I'll probably wind up popping back and forth between each one whenever I do an X-Men re-watch when a new movie comes out.