X-Men: Days of Future Past *** (2014, Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Halle Berry, Evan Peters, Peter Dinklage, Nicholas Hoult, Shawn Ashmore, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Lucas Till) – Movie Review

Director Bryan Singer returns after a long gap following his first two X-Men movies for what is billed as ‘the ultimate X-Men ensemble’. That’s enough to get hearts racing out of control among the squillions of fans worldwide. And quite rightly!

Simon Kinberg’s intriguing screenplay is based on the Marvel Comics characters but especially on the 1981 Uncanny X-Men storyline Days of Future Past by Chris Claremont and John Byrne.

After two movies of his own there’s no doubt that Hugh Jackman is still the star of the show as Wolverine, who in this seventh film is sent to the American past of 1973 in a desperate effort to change history and prevent stuff that would result in doom for both humans and mutants. Professor Xavier tells him that ruthless scientist Dr Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) has invented fiendish robots that are going to rise up and take over, so Wolverine can somehow sort all this out in an alternate consciousness where past and future co-exist.

This ingenious setup cannily allows Singer to have parallel action in the two time periods and  the characters from the original X-Men film trilogy to join forces with their younger selves from X-Men: First Class in an epic battle to change the past to save humanity’s future in a war for the survival of the species across two time periods.

So it’s time travel, but not physically. There’s a lot of obfuscation in the sometimes baffling script that helps to hide the idea that this setup conveniently replaces a plot, as set piece follows set piece in best comic book style. It’s this, that and then the other, and suddenly two hours and ten minutes are gone. Don’t try to fathom anything out, just go with the flow and thrill to the action, the so-cool-it-hurts cast, the top-notch special effects, the extraordinary production and breathtaking 3-D cinematography.

The show’s other star is Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, who’s so impressive that when either she or Jackman  aren’t on screen the movie dips. They look great in their past or future costumes, which frequently reveal them wearing very little at all. They don’t have a lot of actual acting to do, but they’re both thrilling killing machines in action mode.

Luckily, Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy are also back as troubled young Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr, with most of the film’s dialogue to chew over, which they have no problem with at all, special actors that they are. Evan Peters cuts a flash dash as manic teen Quicksilver who executes an escape, in the film’s best sequence (played out to Jim Croce’s song Time in a Bottle), that slows everything down.

Back to the future, Patrick Stewart has a lot more to do than a sidelined Ian McKellen and Halle Berry. It goes without saying of course that Stewart is effective too. McKellen and Berry couldn’t shine. they didn’t have the opportunity as they hardly had 20 lines between them. They’re among many of the actors who just appear and disappear without anything satisfying to do.

Nicholas Hoult’s part as Beast starts well then seems to fade and vanish. Ditto Shawn Ashmore’s Iceman. Anna Paquin’s Rogue, Ellen Page’s Kitty Pryde and Lucas Till’s Havok are there on screen but have little impact. Too many characters, maybe, is that the problem here? But they’re all checked off, present and correct, so the fans will be happy.

Daniel Cudmore (Felix in The Twilight Saga) plays Colossus, Omar Sy is Bishop, Josh Helman is Major Bill Stryker and Bingbing Fan is Blink.

Days of Future Past is visually astounding, always spectacular, often exciting and sometimes witty, but I didn’t go for it much myself. It’s so darned serious they’ve forgotten to put the fun into it. All that technical wizardly and no laughs and no coherent, unmuddled plotline.

I’m unsatisfied and I’m confused. Everybody dead can be alive in an alternate universe? Are James Marsden’s Scott Summers and Famke Janssen’s Jean Grey dead, or not? Are McKellen’s Magneto and Berry’s Storm dead? No, of course not. Presumably everybody will be back in the next one if this one does the bonanza billion dollar business expected of it. As long as the actors aren’t dead too.

However, though Mark Camacho gives the worst President Nixon ‘lookalike’ performance ever, the classy turns from Jackman and Lawrence keep X-Men: Days of Future Past alive.

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Film Review

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more film reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/

The cast of X-Men: Days of Future Past at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con International.