X-Men: Days of Future Past
Composite Score: 83.07
Starring: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Elliot Page, Peter Dinklage, Evan Peters, Josh Helman, Ian McKellen, and Patrick Stewart
Director: Bryan Singer
Writers: Simon Kinberg, Jane Goldman, and Matthew Vaughn
Genres: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Superhero
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi violence and action, some suggestive material, nudity, and language
Box Office: $746.05 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
X-Men: Days of Future Past is the second (or third, depending on who’s counting) film in the soft reboot of the X-Men films that came in the early 2010s – a follow-up to both The Wolverine (2013) and X-Men: First Class (2011) that is superior its predecessors. It follows Logan/Wolverine as he is sent back in time from a dystopic future to the 1970s to prevent the events that will lead to the creation of the mutant-killing machines, the Sentinels. It features characters from both X-Men trilogies, including the past and “present” versions of Professor X (James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellen), as it crafts a sci-fi epic that might leave your head spinning if you look away for too long.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
Certain aspects of Days of Future Past don’t hold up quite as well as I’d like them to on rewatch. One big factor limiting its greatness is the amount of fan-service played simply to be fan-service. For example, certain characters show up at the very end of the film for a very short scene that feels a bit contrived, particularly one character who appears for only a couple of seconds and is given no lines despite their importance in earlier films. This also carries over into the cast of characters that appear in the “present” parts of the film. Why did they go with the mutants that they did other than to just add more characters, most of whom we’ve never seen before and will never see again (in that form)? Also, the conclusion of the film’s conflict also feels a bit convenient – just saving one guy’s life apparently atones for breaking up a peace summit, multiple attempted assassinations, and dropping the out-of-use District of Columbia Stadium on the front lawn of the White House.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
As a standalone film with a few fan-service moments here and there, Days of Future Past might be one of the most entertaining superhero films of the last decade (and is arguably a top-5 non-MCU superhero movie all time). It encapsulates so much of what is great about the superhero genre, and particularly the X-Men films, into one cohesive piece that comes in at a runtime that is below 2.5 hours. You have wild sci-fi/time travel, not-quite-multiversal, stuff going on. There’s fun quips and interactions between characters that you want to see interact. The characters are surprisingly complex – something more often true of the X-Men than most other superheroes – and engage with issues of scientific ethics, preventative policing, and (in some not-so-subtle ways) society’s treatment of minorities. This film in particular accomplished a world-spanning crossover before Spider-Verse, Endgame, Justice League, or No Way Home did it, in a relatively satisfying fashion.
Days of Future Past is an at-times overlooked great in the world of superhero films, getting so much right in its execution of its ambitious premise and providing a satisfactory conclusion (that was immediately undone by Apocalypse, Logan, and Dark Phoenix) to the story of the X-Men, making it a solid entry into the Greatest Films of All Time. Though its fan-service and convenient plot devices might frustrate some viewers, the overall experience remains highly enjoyable and engaging, both emotionally and socially, in ways that keep it worth revisiting. This film is currently available to stream on Disney+ for any who are interested.
