Review of X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) by Dan F — 06 Aug 2017

DOFP is a classic comic book story arc. The source material is incredibly dated, and the premise of travelling back in time to change an apocalyptic future is the main drive of The Terminator films. However, DOFP was published in 1981- 3 years before Sarah Connor was stalked through time.

Singer's return to the director's chair is a straight sequel to First Class, and doesn't depend on the other five X-Men movies to tell its story. Playing on the concept of alternate timelines, DOFP offers a new alternative to correcting the path of franchises- write your way out of it, instead of the reboot recycle approach.

While the film doesn't feel beholden to these other films (liberties are taken with continuity), there are a few awkward moments of exposition and narrative leaps of faith that the audience is expected to go along with.

The x-Men franchise arrived in a time where comic book heroes were not fashionable in cinema, and it still feels like it's trying to cover up a connection to source material it's a little bit embarrassed by.

In trying to take a mature approach, in between some fun sequences (Quicksilver is fun, but underused) it's actually quite boring, and not nearly the compelling commentary on civil rights it seems to think it is.

The franchise continues to suffer by meeting the compromising standards of being "the best we could hope for"; it certainly was that case 15 years ago, but in the age of Marvel Studios the bar has been raised and the audience is no longer ashamed of the comic book roots.