XMen Days of Future Past tricky but good, pure fun

Paul Peterson

I think all of us are suffering from super hero burn out and I’m no exception.

Captain America was great and Spider-Man had a certain charm,  but it’s hard to get psyched for much of anything. I lost interest with XMen in one of the previous versions. Not sure which one it was, although the one that ended with the line ‘I prefer Magneto’ was great. Still, that franchise has changed and evolved over the life of the series.

I have to say that this year’s model Days of Future Past was exceptionally good. It’s tricky and a little confusing. They go back in time to stop Raven from killing Dr. Trask. Time travel is always messed up and it somehow involves the terminally unhappy Wolverine going back in time through some kind of hyper extended Vulcan mind link. Ok, I know I’m mixing my genres but you get the idea.

Time travel is tricky.
Mind warps are tricky.
Having this many stars together is tricky.
It all works though.
There is a stellar cast from the newly-crowned darling of the film Jennifer Laurence, to Ellen Page. The younger Charles Xavier is stellar and, of course, the big names always shine.

The special effects are great, don’t get me wrong, but thank God, they don’t rely on them. There’s a decent story here. I like Magneto best of all. That cat’s a warrior and he even manages a bit of range.

Don’t worry too much about the exact details. For the most part, they master time travel and rewriting history.

Unlike most Marvel stories, there is a conclusion of sorts albeit the obligatory open-ended vibe that promises another nod, another, and a….well, you get it. I’m OK with that. They have fun. They change characters and they continue to fight the good fight for mutants everwhere and while my superpower involves being able to fall asleep on a dime, I am still a mutant.

This was good, pure fun and I strongly recommend it.

As always, other opinions are welcome, but wrong. That’s it for this week. The cheque’s in themail and I’m outta here. Pauyl.