X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

[Edd Grayson]

So he just expects us to forget about these mistakes, which aren't just minor ones but things that make the movies contradict each other?  I wasn't a huge fan of his X-Men movies before, but now I'm really starting to dislike this franchise.

I'm with johnnygobbs about the reboot.

[johnnygobbs]

So he just expects us to forget about these mistakes, which aren't just minor ones but things that make the movies contradict each other?  I wasn't a huge fan of his X-Men movies before, but now I'm really starting to dislike this franchise.

I'm with johnnygobbs about the reboot.

Along with the overly-dour grim Nolanesque tone (before Nolan 'originated' it), the lack of continuity is what rubs me the wrong way about these films.

In the UK, the 'X-Men' films are currently being screened back-to-back on TV in conjunction with marketing for 'Days of Future Past', so presumably someone does want the audience to make the link.

By contrast, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (and I apologise for harking back to them again in terms of how comic-book movies and show should be done) does a superb job of linking everything and coordinating all the films, and even the current TV show "Agents of SHIELD", which has got markedly better towards the end of its first season.  You don't have to watch one film to appreciate another but regular fans of the films and shows are frequently rewarded with cross-film references that enhance enjoyment, and it's far more satisfying when you're not constantly going over continuity issues in your head.

[Edd Grayson]

What kind of a reboot would you like to see? I'd love it if they did the original X-Men team from the comics and mantain the right amount of fantasy while still taking things seriously, and drop the Nolan-esque tone. I'd also like to see characters Rogue and Gambit and Beast done closer to the comics, and maybe Nightcrawler or Colossus too.

I also didn't really like the way Cyclops, Storm and Jean Grey were portrayed. I think Professor X is the only one they got right, and maybe Magneto as well, although I don't see Magneto as Ian McKellen, I see him more physically imposing.

[johnnygobbs]

What kind of a reboot would you like to see? I'd love it if they did the original X-Men team from the comics and mantain the right amount of fantasy while still taking things seriously, and drop the Nolan-esque tone. I'd also like to see characters Rogue and Gambit and Beast done closer to the comics, and maybe Nightcrawler or Colossus too.

I also didn't really like the way Cyclops, Storm and Jean Grey were portrayed. I think Professor X is the only one they got right, and maybe Magneto as well, although I don't see Magneto as Ian McKellen, I see him more physically imposing.

Ideally I'd like to see a reboot featuring the original 1960s team, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Angel and Iceman, although even that prospect has been undermined by 'X-Men: First Class'.  A TV series might be the best way to go. *shrugs shoulders*  There are so many characters and strands something along the lines of "GOT" might be the best direction for a reboot.

Of the characters I think have been done well I'd include Professor X, Magneto (I do like the less physically imposing/more intellectual version Ian McKellan provides), the Beast (either played by Kelsey Grammar or Nicholas Hoult) and Nightcrawler. 

The worst ones were Iceman and Rogue (who both lost their sense of humour and sass), Angel (who barely showed up for five minutes and was presented as a skinny emo kid rather than a hunky WASP), Cyclops and Jean Grey who have been marginalised, and Storm, as much as a like Halle Berry (unfortunately, she wasn't right for this comic-book role - a native African actress might have done better to exude the qualities of an African queen).  Sabretooth was also an early example of a character they got wrong (although Liev Schreiber in 'X-Men: Origins' did much better).

Basically, I think this series is a total mess, and I'm glad to see Bryan Singer effectively agrees.    The difference is, I don't think it's 'okay'.

I hope 'Days of Future Past' does worse than 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' (thankfully, that's pretty much guaranteed), and 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2' (sadly, that is much less likely) because those films get their comic-book characters right to a much greater degree than the 'X-Men' films ever have, especially the Bryan Singer directed ones.

[Edd Grayson]

I agree about Nightcrawler and Beast, but as you said, the rest were done badly or marginalised.

I actually like Ian McKellen's Magneto as well, just that I prefer Magneto to be more physically imposing in contrast to Xavier.

They also weren't really sure what to do with Mystique, in the first movies she was a little more than a one-note henchman for Magneto, and in First Class they try to develop her as Xavier's "sister", only that in the first films we don't have the slightest hint that Xavier and Mistique even knew each other. 

It is a mess, I thought they would start all over with First Class, but then it turned out it was supposed to be a prequel instead of a reboot and we got all the continuity problems.

An "X-Men" TV series with time to develop the characers while staying closer to the comics would be fantastic, but I'm not so sure about the chances for it to actually happen.

[johnnygobbs]

They also weren't really sure what to do with Mystique, in the first movies she was a little more than a one-note henchman for Magneto, and in First Class they try to develop her as Xavier's "sister", only that in the first films we don't have the slightest hint that Xavier and Mistique even knew each other.

  Yes, this continuity error is symptomatic of the franchise's problems.  You can't retcon something like that and expect everyone else to forget.  It's like the first 'X-Men' that made no mention of Wolverine and Sabretooth being brothers, although I suppose one could argue in the case that Wolverine's memory had been tampered with to such an extent the issue was never going to come up, at least not from him.

It is a mess, I thought they would start all over with First Class, but then it turned out it was supposed to be a prequel instead of a reboot and we got all the continuity problems.

That's what I was hoping when the film was announced.  Shame.  It's still the best of the series, but imagine what Matthew Vaughn could have done if he'd been allowed to start the franchise from scratch using Jean Grey, Cyclops, Angel, Iceman, and the Beast.

[Edd Grayson]

Starting from scratch with the original team at that point would've been ideal.


They say that "X-Men: Apocalypse" is going to be more of a sequel to First Class but still in the same franchise, so it's not what I'd really like to see.

[The Laughing Fish]

Given that this movie is receiving surprising amount of praise, Jill Pantozzi has come out admitting having problems with it, despite enjoying it. WARNING though: contains spoilers.

Source: http://www.themarysue.com/xmen-days-of-future-past-review/

So despite the praise this movie is getting, there is still a strong amount of contradictory problems in terms of continuity and things not getting any explanations at all.

And from what I've heard of what happens to the majority of the X-Men: First Class characters, it reaffirms my thoughts that those characters in that were pointless and makes me dislike that movie even more. 

[The Joker]

Checked the movie out last night.

-Probably the best X-Men movie thus far.
-Future action was great. Blink really stood out to me.
-The focus was on the right characters.
-Trask was an interesting antagonist, much like Magneto
-Smaller "team" worked well.
-GI-Toad!
-Sentinels were depicted as nameless killing machines, as they should be. No problems.
-Eric having the guilt trip edge on Charles was interesting.
-Oh, and spoiler *JFK was a mutant!*

All in all I enjoyed the movie. It's a little flimsy to me as the impetus for a time travel story, but thankfully the film was very comic booky and executed well. Not sure if it trumps Cap 2 as far as the 2014 superhero genre goes, but it's miles ahead of ASM2 for sure.

Another thing to note; this film does demonstrate why you have to be really careful when you bring in speedsters to your superhero film. I mean, the way they depicted Quicksilver here, he could pretty much have solved any problem had, and no one could have done anything to stop him. 

[phantom stranger]

By contrast, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (and I apologise for harking back to them again in terms of how comic-book movies and show should be done) does a superb job of linking everything and coordinating all the films, [...]

I've got to disagree with you on that. The Marvel movies are certainly fun and they've done a pretty good job on continuity. However,  the last three X-Men films have had a complexity that was lacking in most of the Marvel Studios output.

They gave us Magneto as a Nazi hunter and a Wolverine story that was predicated on something that happened in Hiroshima. I just can't see Marvel studios doing something like that.

So which is more important? Continuity (which has always been murky in the X-men comics) or a well-written, complex storyline?

I vote for the latter.