The movie opens in a dystopian world of 2023 where the Sentinels are hunting the remaining mutants.  Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellan) are working together as they hatch one last plan to send the mind of an older Wolverine/ Logan (Hugh Jackman) back into the past of 1973 with the help of Kitty Pryde/ Shadowcat (Ellen Page) to stop Raven/ Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from killing Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), the creator of the Sentinels.    Logan wakes up in the past and he must convince a disillusioned Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) to break out a young Magneto/ Erik (Michael Fassbender) out of the Pentagon with the help of Quicksilver (who is one of the scene stealing characters in the film) to help stop Mystique from killing Trask in Paris.  Their plan goes wrong when Magneto decides Mystique must be killed, but she escapes and Hank McCoy/ Beast tries to stop Magneto from killing her.   Their actions seem to keep the future of 2023 on course instead of helping to stop it.

 

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST acts as a sequel to X-MEN: FIRST CLASS and the other X-MEN films resulting in an ambitious narrative and one of the best X-MEN films ever.   Michael Fassbender continues to be great while Bryan Signer directs his best X-MEN film to date.   It manages to blend history with the mutant storyline like the last X-MEN movie did.   It sets the stage for another X-MEN film (which is briefly teased at the end of the end credits) while creating a story that is good as or better than X-MEN: FIRST CLASS.  The team dynamic is even stronger in this film than it was in X-MEN: FIRST CLASS and I hope they continue to build on that for X-MEN: APOCALYPSE.  Other than that, the production design, characters, writing, and direction is perfect.  It is the best movie based on a Marvel comic this year so far (pulling ahead of CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER).   They manage to bring together both casts while playing fan service to the various characters you never seen before like Bishop and Blink (who does some incredible things with her teleportation skills).    This X-MEN sequel is firing on all cylinders to deliver one of the best X-MEN films yet.   I’m excited to see what they do for the next one.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Five deleted scenes with optional director commentary

Kitchen Sequence with commentary by Bryan Singer on why it was cut and outtakes from it in addition to the final cut scene

 

DOUBLE TAKE: XAVIER & MAGNETO- the big highlight is an interview between James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart

X-MEN REUNITED- a promotional featurette on the two casts of the X-MEN series

CLASSIFICATION: M- this featurette focuses on the new mutants in this sequel including Bishop, Sunspot, and Blink

SENTINELS: FOR A SECURE FUTURE- a look at the design of the Sentinels including an interview with X-men comic artist John Byrne

 

Trask Industries Concept Galleries- Mutant Experiments, Blueprints, Sentinel Constructions

Three Theatrical trailers

Sneak Peek and Teaser trailer for EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS

 

Code for Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy

Fan Art booklet

 

FINAL ANALYSIS: X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST is one of my favorite two X-MEN films (with the other being X-MEN: FIRST CLASS) and it holds up on repeat viewings.  I can’t wait for the next X-MEN film (X-MEN: APOCALYPSE due in 2016) and the extended Rogue Cut of X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (which includes all of the cut scenes featuring Rogue (Anna Paquin) and none of those scenes are included among the deleted scenes on the blu-ray.   I do hope the extended cut includes more in-depth behind-the-scenes extras since the hour or so of extras only skim the surface of how this movie was made.

 

This review is ©10-172014 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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