X-MEN: Days of Future Past   3.5***

 

            Including "The Wolverine", this is the seventh outing for the X-Men of the Marvel Comics franchise and Bryan Singer who directed the first two, is back as director . The movie begins in a not too distant post-apocalyptic future, where most mutants have been eradicated, Wolverine (Huge Jackman) Professor X (Patrick Stewart) Magneto (Ian McKellen) Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) Storm (Halle Berry) and a few other (lesser) superheroes find themselves cornered, with enemies quickly approaching. These new enemies are called Sentinels and they are the brainchild of Dr. Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage). These mutant- hunting robots were  designed to seek out and destroy all mutants and more importantly were constructed in such a way that, in large groups, they are  unbeatable. With death assuredly in their near future, the surviving X-Men's only choice is to send Wolverine back in time  to the inception of the Sentinel (the 1970's) in order to reunite young Professor X (James McAvoy) young Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and find a way to modify history; hence the title.  

 

With such a complicated narrative we have good mutants, bad mutants, past mutants, future mutants, one who manages to be in both the future and the past, and another who uses his powers to have a conversation between his past and future selves . So it's not always clear exactly what's going on but it is loads of fun with some terrific scenes. (especially so in the 3D version which I chose over the traditional 2D) I especially enjoyed a freeze-time scene where the mutant called Quicksilver gets to do his stuff and a sequence in which Magneto raises an entire football stadium before putting it to a very novel strategic use.

 

My only gripe with this movie is that it has too many characters and   some of them don't get enough screen time despite the fact there are great actors playing those characters . Also, for those like me who have not seen many of the X-Men movies, you don’t know who or what some of the characters are.

 

But what really sets the X-men films apart from the ever more derivative comic-book adaptations is that I always genuinely cared for the characters, and 'Days of Future Past' is no exception. I love loud, spectacular action movies as much as the next guy, but if you don't always get to care for the heroes.  What we get here is a complex, smart Fantasy/Sci-Fi thrill-ride that respects its origins as much as it embraces the future, while never - ever - forgetting that its first job is to entertain the audience. For finding that  rare balance between character-driven human drama and no-holds-barred popcorn action spectacle, 'Days of Future Past'  sparkles and provides plenty of X-citement !!