X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
Content by Tony Macklin. Originally published on May 25, 2014 @ tonymacklin.net.
X-Men: Days of Future Past is one of the best movies of the year - until it Xs out.
In its climactic last 1/4, it loses its nerve and settles for blowing everything apart. At that point, it becomes just another action movie. It's full of sound and fury signifying box office.
Brad Pitt decided to dial back the violent chaos and reshoot the ending of World War Z (2013). It became a much better film.
Director Bryan Singer decides to dial up the violent chaos. He lapses into destruction - at the cost of all he's developed - and the violent climax is more generic than anything that's come before.
Forget past or future - it's simply in the present. Immediate explosions need no context.
The best thing about X-Men: Days of Future Past is its wonderful cast. They could excel in a Shakespearean play.
Hugh Jackman (Logan/Woverine), James McAvoy (Charles Xavier), Michael Fassbender (Erik), Jennifer Lawrence (Raven/Mystique), Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Ian McKellan (Magneto) and Halle Berry (Storm) give soul to their characters. They are beautifully assisted by Ellen Page (Kitty) and Anna Paquin (Rogue).
Nicholas Hoult gives convincing depth to Hank/Beast. Hoult appeared in Singer's Jack the Giant Slayer (2013), in which the director chased CGI instead of beans. Peter Dinklage is a formidable villain as Dr. Trask.
There are a bevy of touching scenes by very humanistic actors. There won't be a better ensemble in any film this year as there is in X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Screenwriter Simon Kinberg (story by Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn) gives them worthy, clever dialogue, and the gifted cast enhances it. Language prevails - at least, for a while.
Director Singer creates a film that is personal and has potent razzle-dazzle. The theme of gay outcasts is still alive. But there's a changing, challenging world.
X-Men: Days of Future Past is complex and creative. It tells the story of how Wolverine's (Jackman) embodied spirit has to travel back to 1973 to try desperately to change what happened in the past, because it will lead to a dire future, in which the mutants face total destruction. The robotic Sentinels, which are being developed in the 1970s, are a force which they can't survive.
Much of Singer's violence is boisterous and his intensity is deft. A lot of X-Men: Days of Future Past is creative and imaginative. It's zealous and intelligent entertainment.
When it succumbs to bombast, it's disheartening. It loses its heart.
One of Singer's special powers is credibility. When he loses it, he's like a powerless Charles Xavier.
Special effects are not a special power. They're as robotic as the Sentinels.
Movies - beware. The Sentinels are taking over.
