In a devastating future nearly void of both humans and mutants, the remnants of the X-Men send Wolverine to the past where he must change the current of time to save all of humanity from certain doom.
In other words, it's a clever way of taking the white-out and blotting out X-Men: The Last Stand. It's a reboot and a redo all in one (thank you JJ Abrams and Star Trek for the idea). It's a creative way of starting over, but sometimes elaborate plots that change time can leave the audience quite confused.
I had the joy of seeing this movie with my girlfriend, and I hadn't even realized that this was her first X-Men movie (Ah, I remember my first time.). As the lights in the theatre dimmed, I wondered why we were seeing a movie that would basically be tied together by all the previous ones; no doubt, she would have no idea what was going on. However, it was the opposite. I was the one who had seen the series, and while she blissfully accepted the outcome of the movie, I walked in silence, only partially confused mixed with partially satisfied. Don't get me wrong, it was one of the better X-Men movies (thanks to Bryan Singer who directed the first, the second, and finally this one). But for me, I was having trouble trying to understand the inconsistences between the directors. I hadn't seen the original three in a while and most recently watched The Wolverine, which was pointless not only because it didn't add anything to this movie, but it was just plain dumb. Yes, Days of Future Past had it's problems, but the whole point was for Bryan Singer to correct the mistakes of the flunked movies and start over. The problem was that the trilogy didn't line up the origins movie of Wolverine or exactly with First Class so this one was just all over the place. Still, it was enjoyable.
I essentially liked the idea that sending him back in time wouldn't change anything--like throwing a rock in a stream; eventually, the stream would correct itself. But enough interruptions, and the stream would have to redirect its course. Creative. I also loved Michael Fassbender as usual and liked James McAvoy much better in this film. Then there's the perfection of Sir Patrick Steward and Sir Ian McKellen. The writing was better than X-Men First Class, and the plot was just perfectly spaced between action-packed moments and emotion-filled conversations (even if they were sometimes pointless to the plot).
Now, dare to read onward if you want a couple of smaller spoilers. This part is about how Sarah (who wanted to be referred to as the gorgeous girlfriend) absolutely always points out inconsistencies and poor writing in movies. But this was a super hero movie, and I found myself answering her questions with a bunch of bull crap just because I was defending the sacred territory of the superhero franchise.
"Why did the magnet guy lift an entire stadium?"
At the moment, I said, "To show how powerful he was," but I knew this shot of the movie was actually pointless. He brings it to the White House, and that's the end of that. Then I said, "To place a wall around the White House." "A stadium has opening." "He only brought the top part." I could taste the nonsense on my lips.
"Are the magnet guy and the mind guy best friends?"
They went back and forth so many times in the movie, I had no idea.
"Who was the bad guy?"
No one. No one was the bad guy. The mutants were divided, but they both had good intentions. Even the humans were just protecting themselves. The only real bad guys were the robots in the future that you barely get to see. And they were awesome.
"How did the Wolverine survive after drowning?"
Well, he has regenerative properties as seen throughout the movie--but drowning? There's no coming back from that. I understand rescuing him a couple minutes after he's lost consciousness but a couple hours? How would he regenerate air? With that, they practically made the Wolverine invincible.
Thank goodness Sarah didn't have to worry about the Weapon X program inconsistencies and other problems. All that mattered was the action. All I have to say is that if the X-Men movies are only going to get better (and not switch directors which got us into this problem in the first place), then I can't wait for X-Men Apocalypse.
With all the time changes made in the movie, it's hard to think about this still being the Marvel universe. For me, there's Marvel, X-Men, and DC. This is even more so because of the drastic changes made to history in the movie. As for the X-Men...there's something oddly appealing about mutants. In other superhero movies, the character is special and unique, but in X-Men, there's many of the mutants. And all that's changed is a simple strand of DNA to make them superheroes (or villains). Which means it could happen to any one of us...
Let's just hope we inherit the DNA of Hugh Jackman's body.
No comments:
Post a Comment