X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

[johnnygobbs]

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.

I don't particularly think any of the X-Men films have been well-written, especially since filmmakers have been unable to tie events to each film and maintain a consistent narrative.  That's poor writing in my opinion.  Also, the comic-book continuity may have been murky but we're talking about 50 years and multiple comic-book serieses here.  Not seven films (and only seven if you include the Wolverine movies).

Also, did you see 'The Winter Soldier'?  That dealt with a pretty heavy subject: government agency surveillance and a Nazi-conspiracy.  I'm sure if there is grounds for dealing with darker subject matter, like ethnic cleansing and the fall-out of atomic mass destruction, the Marvel Cinematic Universe films will deal with it, although personally, I'm pleased to see some comic-book movies that don't confuse darkness with quality.  I'm interested in heavy drama but occasionally I find it can be in bad taste when it's intertwined with fantasy.  I've got mixed feelings for instance about making Magneto, one of the comic-book world's most despicable villains, a Holocaust victim.  It's dramatically compelling but also strikes me as a little glib.

[The Dark Knight]

DOFP is good, but I like First Class more.

[The Laughing Fish]

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.

I don't particularly think any of the X-Men films have been well-written, especially since filmmakers have been unable to tie events to each film and maintain a consistent narrative.  That's poor writing in my opinion.  Also, the comic-book continuity may have been murky but we're talking about 50 years and multiple comic-book serieses here.  Not seven films (and only seven if you include the Wolverine movies).

Also, did you see 'The Winter Soldier'?  That dealt with a pretty heavy subject: government agency surveillance and a Nazi-conspiracy.  I'm sure if there is grounds for dealing with darker subject matter, like ethnic cleansing and the fall-out of atomic mass destruction, the Marvel Cinematic Universe films will deal with it, although personally, I'm pleased to see some comic-book movies that don't confuse darkness with quality.  I'm interested in heavy drama but occasionally I find it can be in bad taste when it's intertwined with fantasy.  I've got mixed feelings for instance about making Magneto, one of the comic-book world's most despicable villains, a Holocaust victim.  It's dramatically compelling but also strikes me as a little glib.

I didn't mind how Magneto was introduced as a concentration camp survivor in the first Singer X-Men film; I thought it gave a good insight as to what further fueled his hatred for human beings. But I didn't like how First Class tried to twist it by making a mutant responsible for the death of Magneto's mother. And the more I think about the scene where Shaw kills Magneto's mother, the more I wonder why Magneto didn't try to kill Shaw together with the Nazi soldiers. And another thing I don't buy was Shaw's plan to destroy the human race with nuclear missiles. Wouldn't the missiles kill mutants too? I'm pretty sure that not all of them are immune to radiation. And wouldn't the missiles just destroy the planet's atmosphere too, leaving the mutants nothing left but a world in ruins? Apart from Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy to a lesser extent, I thought First Class was really average. Although I might have cut it a little bit of slack had it been a reboot, and NOT a forced attempt at a prequel.

I thought The Wolverine was utter garbage. The villain had a ridiculous and unnecessarily convoluted plot to steal Logan's healing factor, and the film came across gritty for the sake of being gritty. Remember that line where he said "Go f yourself" in First Class? Well, he said it once or twice seriously, and it got old really fast. There were only two scenes in that movie that I liked, and except for Jackman, the acting from everybody else was terrible.

And given now I heard that Days of Future Past suffers from loads of contradictions and yet it wants to have it both ways by wiping out the franchise's continuity almost altogether, I have zero interest in seeing this movie than ever before. I still consider The Last Stand the worst of the franchise, but the films after that have killed off my interest in the franchise completely. They are definitely not well-written films at all.

[Edd Grayson]

I've just watched the movie and, much to my surprise, it was good. Felt like an X-Men adventure rather than a "realistic" one. I agree with the Joker that the story was a little flimsy, but Xavier, Mystique, Magneto and Wolverine were played very well, even if the outcome was a bit predictable.

It wasn't afraid to be fun and comic-booky and that's very good. I wasn't much of a fan of these X-Men films until McAvoy, Fassbender and Lawrence came along and they were very good here.

[thecolorsblend]

This movie turned out really well. Rewatched it a few weeks ago and really enjoyed myself. There are certain things that don't make sense. If killing one military contractor was enough to cause a chain of events resulting in the sentinel war from the beginning of the movie, Magneto coming THIS close to (what the public believes will be) his second Presidential assassination should probably trigger something even worse, right?

Speaking of, what incentive does Magneto have to join Xavier's side? Every argument he ever made has been validated. If anything, the events of DOFP should make Magneto even more extreme.

Also, how long was Wolverine in 1973? Long enough to fly to Paris and then back to the US. So that's what, 48 hours at a minimum? Kitty Pryde was maintaining the psychic link that long without even needing a bathroom break?

But when you move away from that stuff, the movie really does a lot to develop the Xavier/Lensherr dynamic. First Class was undeniably Magneto's story. But this one is Xavier's. He's lost everything and everyone but somehow he has to become everything he's supposed to be... at the moment when he's least capable of doing it.

If I had to be everything I am now at the end of 2010, it would break 2010-era me. I was already dealing with a huge amount of trouble. I wouldn't have been able to do it. I like what it says about Xavier that he was able to rise above his own frailties... and, in fact, that doing so meant embracing his own physical infirmity as well as his mutant powers, both of which place him far outside the realm of experience of most people. It's one less tether he has to the civilian world.

Anyway. Overall this is a good one. Definitely worth a rewatch. Just make sure to turn your brain off a little bit first.