X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST--The latest installment in Foxs popular series of comic book movies begins in a dark, Terminator-ish future in which the world has been nearly destroyed by an all-out war between humans and mutants. Desperate to change the future, Prof. X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back in time to 1973 to prevent Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from killing the scientist (Peter Dinklage) who created the robot mutant-hunters the Sentinels, as it is this murder that sets in motion the chain of events that results in the dystopian future. Thats the set-up, and for the most part, director Bryan Singer delivers the goods; DAYS feels like a comic book, with plenty of action but some nice character development, adding some actual emotional weight to the crazy time-travel shenanigans. Things keep moving, but the action never gets mind numbing and boring, as in so many action films today. I am particularly impressed how Singer so expertly juggles so many characters, including past tense versions of Prof. X and Magneto (James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender). Between this one and THE AVENGERS, there is plenty of evidence that the right scripter and director can make an epic, multi-character funnybook movie that will be entertaining and be true to the spirit of the original comics. The downside of DAYS is that viewers who arent fans of the series or the source comics are likely to get confused. A whole lot of X-Men show up that even an old comic book geek like myself did not recognize, and there is no real attempt to summarize earlier entries in the series, which helps with pacing but would leave neophytes out in the cold. However fanboys and fangirls should enjoy the picture very much. Be sure to stay throughout the end credits! RATING: *** 1/2
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 19:06:19 +0000
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