Review: X-Men: Days of Future Past

                       This Film Could Give Us Hope For A Better 'Future' In Blockbuster Movies

                Recently, I have seen some blockbuster films that seemingly manage to weave in-your-face action with rather meaningful storytelling. For example, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a brilliant superhero film that works as a political thriller and Godzilla demonstrates humanity succumbing to its own arrogance after toying with science. X-Men: Days of Future Past manages to continue this trend by successfully staying true to the themes of its source material.

                Story:
             X-Men: Days of Future Past follows the titular X-Men who are in a future that has become a dystopian war zone after an event that took place in the past. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is then sent back in time to try to convince a younger Professor X (James McAvoy) and younger Magneto (Michael Fassbender) to join forces to change this one crucial event from the past in order to alter the future.

             What I Liked About It:
            As I said, I loved how the film manages to be true to the themes from the source material. The X-Men comics were founded during the Civil Rights Movement and deal with racism without actually using race. Not only that, but the characters of Professor X and Magneto are based off of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, respectively, as they are fighting for the same conflict but with different points of view. Professor X is all about peace, but Magneto wants order and dominance over humanity for his kind to be accepted. One thing that they added was making Mystique somewhere in between as in this film, she isn't completely good yet she isn't fully on board with Magneto. Even though the film delves into the themes of racial and sexual intolerance, they even manage to showcase the theme of hope for a better day. It does this through the character of Professor X, who slowly struggles to hope again after he lost his best friend and a woman who was like his little sister growing up.

           Another thing I also liked was the performances from the cast. Hugh Jackman IS Wolverine and once again shines as the character. I'll admit that even though the mantle has to, and I mean HAS to be passed someday, it'll be hard to top Jackman's portrayal of Wolverine just because he has lived and breathed the character for a solid 14 years. Jennifer Lawrence is equally as good as Mystique as she plays the character that has become a lone ranger and agent of vengeance. Michael Fassbender perfectly embodies the character of Magneto, who is an anti-hero that is despicable yet has some respectable qualities. James McAvoy brilliantly plays Professor X and this time around, shows a rather darker and painful side to the character. Peter Dinklage plays the film's villain, the despicable Bolivar Trask who invents the mutant-hunting Sentinels and really does a good job at making you hate the character. Another actor who stole the show is Evan Peters, who plays a mutant named Quicksilver who has the ability to run super fast. Peters doesn't have a whole lot of screen time, but boy does he make the most of it and I can't wait for him to come back in the sequel. I also really liked the action sequences and how some of the heroes in the past sequences don't wear fancy uniforms. I liked that part a lot because it shows that it isn't the colorful uniforms that make the heroes. It is their powers and their intellect.

            What I Didn't Like About It:
            Nothing.

            Consensus:
           Overall, X-Men: Days of Future Past is a brilliant tour-de-force in blockbuster filmmaking that manages to stay faithful to the source material. Whether you are a fan of the comics or not, or are even a fan of comics to begin with or not, you might still get an enjoyment out of it. Not only that, but because the film deals with discrimination, you might find yourself connected to the characters if you feel discriminated whether you are a minority or a homosexual or just plain different. Even in the page, you might still find yourself connected to the brilliant comics that have lived on over the years. In my opinion, even though the X-Men are about mutated beings, they are the still the most human out of all the other comic books.

Grade: A+