X-Men: Days of Future Past (Unmarked Spoilers)

[RogueIce]

Because the spoiler box is annoying, that's why. You've been warned.

Just got back from seeing it tonight. And Goddamn is it a great movie and, personally, I think it's the best comic book movie I've seen yet.

So those wondering why they didn't send Kitty back, they do explain it. With a trip that far back into time, it would be pretty much lethal to anyone who wasn't Wolverine, which is why he was the only choice. Not the first one; originally Charles wanted to go, but he would've died which would defeat the purpose. As far as Kitty is concerned, she's the one who had the power to send people back because...well they don't really explain. Maybe some advancement of her phasing abilities (which she does use) or something? Who knows. But she's integral to the plan working so there's that.

Breaking Magneto out of the Pentagon was pretty awesomely done. And they threw in a nod to Magneto being Quicksilver's father without actually saying as much. Oh and he's locked away for killing JFK. Except he was trying to save the President because turns out he was a mutant. I guess Kennedy's power was making Nixon look like shit during televised debates?

Lots of actions, excellent character work and a story that kept on giving. It was solid in pretty much all areas. The only real niggle I had was when Stryker didn't seem to recognize Wolverine. That could be me misinterpreting things, though; there was only a very brief moment they were together, and he basically looked at the claws before running off. Which, to me, indicated some surprise at seeing them at all (and sparked his interest in Logan); except Wolverine and Sabertooth started working for him during Vietnam? Or at least got locked up during the conflict, but this movie starts days before the Paris Accords and Logan was in NYC at the time. I'm not sure though, I could have just read that brief moment wrong.

All the X-Men movies are in continuity...or were, before time travel shenanigans. They even played Jean's death from X3, so it happened. Except it didn't because time travel. Seeing both her and Scott in their cameo at the end was awesome though.

Little confused about Rogue though. Maybe her actress is that big of a name, but she got pretty high billing, right before Ellen Page even. Except I only remember seeing her at the very end in the Good Future with Bobby, and she didn't even really say anything (maybe a quick "Hello" I missed). But then I remember seeing a scene of her in the Bad Future from the trailer, or at least showing her suffering/crying or something like that, so maybe there was something that was cut? Hopefully an extended edition or at least deleted scenes are shown.

Also a post-credits scene. Stay for it. Definite setup for future movies.

[Crown]

What a fucking movie, what a fucking great movie. To quote Jeremy Jahns; "The movie (to me) was a bit disappointing for one very huge reason. Because from now on, from now to the very end of my life I have to go through life knowing, not theorising, but knowing that X-Men 3 would have been awesome if Bryan Singer had done it."

The action was fucking great, the quiet moments were fantastic. Singer really used the new class cast well and the story was compelling.

That Quicksilver set piece, that set piece was amazing. It would have been so easy to smirk at including this character, but he just did it so well, I was laughing and grinning. And when Magneto lifted that stadium, I had a semi. It was just fucking amazing. Jackman was well used as Wolverine, he was there as the catalyst but he wasn't the protagonist, it was a well use of a character who some believe has been over exposed (I myself don't mind the Wolverine centric X-Men movies, neither rabid hate or fanboi creaming as long as it's good I'm okay with it).

So those wondering why they didn't send Kitty back, they do explain it. With a trip that far back into time, it would be pretty much lethal to anyone who wasn't Wolverine, which is why he was the only choice. Not the first one; originally Charles wanted to go, but he would've died which would defeat the purpose. As far as Kitty is concerned, she's the one who had the power to send people back because...well they don't really explain. Maybe some advancement of her phasing abilities (which she does use) or something? Who knows. But she's integral to the plan working so there's that.

Also from canon from the previous X-Men movies kitty wasn't born yet in 1973 so she couldn't go back either way. And while a lot of people chuckle at how phasing translates to time travel, I sort of smirk and think 'yes and telepathy and diamond skin are synonymous'. But this also ties in nicely about how Logan's mind is so shattered and why both Professor X and Magneto speak about him beyond the Stryker experiments in the previous movies.

Little confused about Rogue though. Maybe her actress is that big of a name, but she got pretty high billing, right before Ellen Page even. Except I only remember seeing her at the very end in the Good Future with Bobby, and she didn't even really say anything (maybe a quick "Hello" I missed). But then I remember seeing a scene of her in the Bad Future from the trailer, or at least showing her suffering/crying or something like that, so maybe there was something that was cut? Hopefully an extended edition or at least deleted scenes are shown.

She got cut. Singer tweated about it ages ago that he had to cut Anna out of the future scenes due to timing and pacing but that she would be in the blue ray, so we already knew that. And if I can be an X-Men fanboi for one moment; I love Anna's Rogue in the first movie and have no real complaints but such a waste of a character after that though, bit of a shame.

Also a post-credits scene. Stay for it. Definite setup for future movies.

Jizz-in-pants time!

[RogueIce]

The action was fucking great, the quiet moments were fantastic. Singer really used the new class cast well and the story was compelling.

Quite. This movie really did have it all.

That Quicksilver set piece, that set piece was amazing. It would have been so easy to smirk at including this character, but he just did it so well, I was laughing and grinning. And when Magneto lifted that stadium, I had a semi. It was just fucking amazing. Jackman was well used as Wolverine, he was there as the catalyst but he wasn't the protagonist, it was a well use of a character who some believe has been over exposed (I myself don't mind the Wolverine centric X-Men movies, neither rabid hate or fanboi creaming as long as it's good I'm okay with it).

Yeah, I love Wolverine and am definitely with you on not caring about the so called publicity factor with him. And this movie was brilliant in how it used him and true to the character.

Plus they can't really bitch. Hell, Wolverine actually failed at his mission, really, or at least pretty much admitted that he really couldn't teach Young Charles to be who he needed to be. At best, he served as a conduit, or as you said the catalyst, because it wasn't until that mind-meld where Young Charles met Future Charles (an epic scene in and of itself) that he really regained the confidence and hope he needed to change the future for the better.

And yeah, that Quicksilver scene was all kinds of awesome and hilarious at the same time.

She got cut. Singer tweated about it ages ago that he had to cut Anna out of the future scenes due to timing and pacing but that she would be in the blue ray, so we already knew that. And if I can be an X-Men fanboi for one moment; I love Anna's Rogue in the first movie and have no real complaints but such a waste of a character after that though, bit of a shame.

Ah. I looked up the scene description, and yeah I can agree with why it was cut, but it would still be awesome to see. Future Charles and Magneto working together on a mission? Hell yes! Definitely a reason to pick up the Blu-Ray. And, uh, a player since I don't own one yet.

Jizz-in-pants time!

Fuck yeah!

Speaking of the ending, I have seen (well ok only from a couple people on SB) that there was disappointment with the ending? I have to disagree. Sure it didn't end in a huge climax, with all the action basically leading up to the resolution, but the resolution itself was a quiet one.

But y'know what? It worked, and it worked brilliantly. To quote myself from SB: Ultimately the day was not saved by big flashy super-powered mutant heroics. The future was saved by a simple choice, a very human choice: between vengeance and mercy, between hatred and forgiveness. Forgiveness won, and thus the course for a better future was set, unlike the original timeline where hatred ruled the day, and look at what happened.

Basically the end of this movie perfectly encapsulates the differences between Charles and Eric, with Mystique/Raven caught between them. Their vastly different approaches to Mutant-Human Relations...and the end rather clearly demonstrates who has the better worldview, and the better plan. And it could never have done that with lots of explosions and special effects as the finale. Though there certainly were plenty leading up to that final, fateful choice.

[TOSDOC]

It was an ensemble cast, and yes you get to see everyone's powers in action, but if you're expecting a finale like the Avengers you may be disappointed. This is an X-Men movie, primarily about hope and prejudice and forgiveness. Lots of the characters are underutilized for the sake of the story. The end result is still very satisfying.

X-Men 3 sucked, and now even more so when you consider how it would have turned out with Bryan Singer at the helm. Singer goes back and repairs all the damage done to the franchise after he left, setting the stage for future X-Men films so any story from here on out can be told. I feel very happy about that, and just wish it could have been done sooner, but this is more than mere damage control. Singer puts McAvoy and Fassbender back in the driver seats from First Class where they belong, with Jackman there to guide them without stealing the show. This is more Professor X's arc than Wolverine's. You also get to see hints of Mistique's transition from who she was in First Class to who she was in the X-Men trilogy

Quicksilver's scene was fantastic. That was one of our favorite songs, and perfect for the scene.

All in all, great addition to the X-Men franchise. I can almost hear Fox executives talking about how to bring back Singer for X-Men movies to compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe for attention. I hope they continue to build on what groundwork they laid here for future movies.

[Eternal_Freedom]

That was pretty fucking sweet. I went in a casual viewer, not a huge X-Men fan, but damn I'm glad I went. The escape from the Pentagon, the amazing final scenes, and Young Charles talking to Future Charles. Oh and Magneto and Professor X getting a final reconciliation before Magneto dies and everything is undone.

Hell, basically anytime Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan are on screen at the same time was awesome.

[TOSDOC]

I didn't have time before, but wanted to add. I didn't have any problem with Kitty doing the time travel, IIRC wasn't she the one who enabled it somehow in the original story? Phasing a person's consciousness instead of their physical body is pretty cool.

Continuity-wise, what I was hoping for was a scene where Eric helps Charles somehow with Cerebro at the mansion. Stewart's X mentioned to Wolverine back in the first movie that Magneto helped him build it, and it would have been nice to see them working together on that to find Mystique in this film, but the way the timeline worked out between First Class and Days, it looks like Eric was off on his own, and it was Hank who built the mansion's Cerebro instead. I also think Eric missed an incredible opportunity to discredit the Sentinels much more discretely than the grandstanding tactic he chose instead, but he was true to himself.

Great film, though. The reaction to the waterbed had the whole theater in hysterics. I enjoyed seeing Wolverine's actual limitations to the Sentinels in this film, and posing a threat to Magneto that had to be dealt with differently than what was shown before.

[Darmalus]

I very much enjoyed the film, and the high points have been touched on already.

I do wonder if they could have stopped Raven without Magneto, because I swear every time Magneto made a decision he picked the one that made the situation worse.

[Gaidin]

This movie showed me one thing. Fox needs to grow a pair and maintain a live action tv show that they don't necessarily hold to the 20 gajillion viewers a week standard for some of the X-Men characters. Maybe not necessarily on the Fox channel. Maybe a 13 episode summer show. If only made by Fox but broadcasted somewhere else. I don't care. Kinda like what Marvel is doing with Agents of SHIELD. I'm just saying. Imagine what they could do with the lesser known X-Men that never make it into the movies. Or just the greater players they just don't have room for.

I very much enjoyed the film, and the high points have been touched on already.

I do wonder if they could have stopped Raven without Magneto, because I swear every time Magneto made a decision he picked the one that made the situation worse.

Hell I think that's what drove Xavier's point home and convinced her to make the choice she did.

[General Zod]

I think some of the characters from First Class could have been given a bit more than some throwaway lines about being killed off-screen. But other than that everything was top-notch, and the after credits reveal was fucking sweet.

I also really dug the nod to the first x-men movie where Wolverine went through the metal detector and was surprised it didn't go off.

[Replicant]

I enjoyed the movie but a few thoughts come to mind.

1. The Sentinels were over the top. I would like to have seen that Colossus and Warhawk as powerful enough to defeat a Sentinel one on one.

2. The X-Men were idiots and rarely used any intelligent coordination. Ice-Man blasting a Sentinel and then Colossus punching it or him and the fire blaster alternating on the Sentinels to cause them to go brittle would have looked cool. Would have liked to see Blink at least once use her ability to make one Sentinel destroy another.

3. In the end The newspaper should have said that Trask was indicted for illegal experimentation on Mutants and murder, though I guess that could have been the real charge and the US Government that condoned it charged him with illegal weapon sales to cover their own complicity in the murder and dissection of American citizens, albeit mutant ones.

4. So does Wolverine have an Adamantium Skeleton at the very end when Charles realizes that Wolverine's mind was in the new present?

5. How does the changing of reality suddenly keep the Phoenix personae of Jean from surfacing and wrecking everything until she is stopped.

6. Dennis Leery in a cameo as a DC cop?

7. Where was Stan Lee? I missed his cameo.

[Gaidin]

I'm not sure I agree the Sentinels were over the top. I mean, the war's been going on long enough to turn most of the world into either a wasteland or a dystopia. If they can't come up with a Sentinel that forces Colossus and Warhawk to partner up in that amount of time, then someone's not doing their job. I mean, the first line was able to pretty effectively force Magneto to get creative.

[Replicant]

I'm not sure I agree the Sentinels were over the top. I mean, the war's been going on long enough to turn most of the world into either a wasteland or a dystopia. If they can't come up with a Sentinel that forces Colossus and Warhawk to partner up in that amount of time, then someone's not doing their job. I mean, the first line was able to pretty effectively force Magneto to get creative.

I guess one could argue that the surviving X-Men don't even know that they cannot beat the Sentinels one on one because Kitty keeps sending Bishop back so that the fight never even happens.

But really, none of the X-Men really demonstrated any real chance of victory in their fights.

[Gaidin]

I guess one could argue that the surviving X-Men don't even know that they cannot beat the Sentinels one on one because Kitty keeps sending Bishop back so that the fight never even happens.

But really, none of the X-Men really demonstrated any real chance of victory in their fights.

At best I would call them rusty. I'd say the fight had to happen often enough that the best fighting X-Men for this particular matchup are the ones that are left alive because I don't think this is an idea she'd have right away. But if they haven't had this fight for a while, then the one where they're defending Wolverine would leave them with a lot of catching up to do.

[General Zod]

Would have liked to see Blink at least once use her ability to make one Sentinel destroy another.

I'm pretty sure she did that during the fight-scene towards the end. She opened up a portal and one of the sentinels zapped another.

4. So does Wolverine have an Adamantium Skeleton at the very end when Charles realizes that Wolverine's mind was in the new present?

Presumably.

7. Where was Stan Lee? I missed his cameo.

They couldn't get one, apparently.

[amigocabal]

My observation:
Spoiler

It is revealed that the future Sentinels use biotechnology extracted from Zmystique when she was originally captured in 1973. After the failed assassination attempt, Magneto tries to kill Mystique to stop Bolivar Trask from obtaining tissue samples needed to upgrade the Sentinels.

This is a call-back to the first-film. In that film, Magneto was willing to sacrifice a mutant (in that case, Rogue) to achieve what he believed to be a greater good.

[CaptainChewbacca]

It will be interesting to see how many of the mutants we saw at the end of Future Past will be appearing in Age of Apocalypse.

[mr friendly guy]

Since its a confrontation with Apocalypse it wouldn't be right without getting the "core team" and a few others.

In fact the mutants I think we can forego are Bishop (no time travel ), Warpath (we got Colossus damn it) and yeah Kitty Pryde (unless they do some type of love triangle shit with Iceman and Colossus, although they will most probably revisit that Jean/Scott/Logan dynamic).

I want to see more of Iceman (let see him cut loose by freezing every water molecule in someone's body and turning himself into some ice which reconstitutes himself after being damaged), Blink (a teleporter and you don't have her use portals to rip people in half) and Colossus (because I like the big Russian brawler). Now if they also show Rogue with Ms Marvel powers and that would be awesome.

[J Ryan]

It will be interesting to see how many of the mutants we saw at the end of Future Past will be appearing in Age of Apocalypse.

The way they've set it up though Age of Apocolypse could happen anytime after 1972 (different timeline and all) and could be framed as Xavier telling Logan about the differences in the two timelines.

I hope they do go down this route as I want to see more McAvoy and Fassbender

[Gaidin]

The first movie appears to happen with McAvoy and Fassbender, and has Gambit cast with Logan in it as well. Though at the same time given the nature of Apocolypse, they can easily go back and forth between the two years given I don't think they just want to just forget the 2023 mutants. I mean, even if you don't really keep Warpath and Sunspot around, there's still the ones like Iceman, Rogue, and Kitty Pryde that have made names for themselves and it'd be cool to see what results of for that movie besides that 5 minute blurb at the end.

[Gaidin]

Ghetto Edit: That is, now that I think of it, Days of Future Past was not only the most well done Reset Button I've ever seen, but also a passing of the torch from the older Xavier/Magneto duo to the younger Xavier/Magneto duo and they just intend to take it from here, and go forward.

[Nari]

Also immensely enjoyed it and had the same thoughts about Singer and X3. And that's how you reboot your timeline without starting over again with new actors! Fassbender & McAvoy for the win. It's pretty hard to overshadow Captain Picard and Gandalf!

I did also have similar thoughts about the lack of co-ordination of the X-Men against the Sentinels; I mean, has no-one played Dragon Age where one character freezes and opponent and another shatters it?

However it's a little less clear to me how the events at the end would somehow be less motivating to the humans to go and develop the Sentinels than the events of the original timeline. I mean sure, they can lock Trask away, but is no-one thinking "man, they just dropped a *stadium* around the *White House* and it was a very near thing that the President wasn't killed and we have no defence against them at all other than hoping that some good ones are around at the time. Perhaps we should go and pick up Trask's idea anyway? You know, on the QT?"

However that's Singer's gift; keep in on the edge of absurd but enjoyable anyway. Other than the need for X-men in the single bullet theory, building the pyramids (if you stayed until the end of the credits) mutter grumble.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Just saw the film, and that Quicksilver set piece in the kitchen was both awesome and hilarious!

Anyone else notice that "Trask" is a very obvious anagram of "Stark"?

[Gaidin]

However it's a little less clear to me how the events at the end would somehow be less motivating to the humans to go and develop the Sentinels than the events of the original timeline. I mean sure, they can lock Trask away, but is no-one thinking "man, they just dropped a *stadium* around the *White House* and it was a very near thing that the President wasn't killed and we have no defence against them at all other than hoping that some good ones are around at the time. Perhaps we should go and pick up Trask's idea anyway? You know, on the QT?"

Well see, that's the interesting thing. Bad mutant drops a stadium on the White House and attempts to kill the President, another theoretically bad mutant saves the President because she was looking like the President at the time, and then another mutant talked her down from what she wanted to actually do. Surely it's occurred to them now. As someone's stated in this thread, it's been pointed out that it's not such a simple matter of 'they're mutants, they're evil'. There's the idea of recruiting mutants into the agencies, be they law enforcement or military or intelligence or whatever. I mean, if they're willing. That might be one of the changes that occurred that we just didn't see in the 3-5 minute blurb at the end. Since, not all mutants are bad anymore. It may just now be about passing a background check now. Who knows.

[amigocabal]

However it's a little less clear to me how the events at the end would somehow be less motivating to the humans to go and develop the Sentinels than the events of the original timeline. I mean sure, they can lock Trask away, but is no-one thinking "man, they just dropped a *stadium* around the *White House* and it was a very near thing that the President wasn't killed and we have no defence against them at all other than hoping that some good ones are around at the time. Perhaps we should go and pick up Trask's idea anyway? You know, on the QT?"

Well see, that's the interesting thing. Bad mutant drops a stadium on the White House and attempts to kill the President, another theoretically bad mutant saves the President because she was looking like the President at the time, and then another mutant talked her down from what she wanted to actually do. Surely it's occurred to them now. As someone's stated in this thread, it's been pointed out that it's not such a simple matter of 'they're mutants, they're evil'. There's the idea of recruiting mutants into the agencies, be they law enforcement or military or intelligence or whatever. I mean, if they're willing. That might be one of the changes that occurred that we just didn't see in the 3-5 minute blurb at the end. Since, not all mutants are bad anymore. It may just now be about passing a background check now. Who knows.

Recruiting mutants into agencies and deploying Sentinels are not mutually exclusive. Admittedly, Sentinels seem to be hellishly expensive to operate, let alone build and maintain, so maybe they would not be used as often as mutants in law enforcement. (This would also explain why Sentinels were originally limited to capturing mutants, as they were the only targets worthy of the expense.)

Which goes into the core of the very issue the entire film series is about- how do you deal with mutants accused of crimes? Or a mutant version of Hitler or Bin Laden? Apprehension and incarceration have somewhat unique challenges. (Recall the plastic prison for Magneto in X2, and that secret prison underneath the Pentagon in DOFP) This would require specialized LEO units merely to arrest mutants. Many states in the U.S. would not be able to afford to finance even one such unit. And then of course they would need specialized prisons (such as special housing units in the Colorado SUPERMAX facility or California's Pelican Bay prison) , even for a mutant convicted of small-time crimes.

[Gaidin]

Well yea, they're not mutually exclusive. But half the point of DOFP's storyline is that Mystique's assassination of Trask is that it drove the relationship between human and mutant apart so much that it literally left a "Mutants are evil" taste in the humans mouth. Whereas the choices made at the DOFP movie in front of the leaders literally shows that it's not such a simple dilemma as Trask was trying to say it was and she had driven them to for the war in the future. So now, that brings up the question, what can a background check show for the good characters like Iceman or Colossus where he to apply for XYZ agency after the timeline of DOFP is changed in ways it's not so blatantly shown in that five minutes we see?