X-Men: Days of Future Past

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Synopsis: Read on IMDB

Should you watch this movie? YES, YES, YES! It’s pretty awesome.

In a desperate attempt to change the grim future that threatens the lives of mutants and humans alike, Wolverine goes back in time to the 1970s to stop the events that unfold this future. A team of mutants led by Professor X and Magneto, and using the ability of Kitty Pride, Wolverine needs to convince their past selves to work together to prevent the catastophe that will unfold.

20140603-200526-72326605.jpgI’m not going to lie: I have a small bias towards superhero movies, especially some of the most recent franchises. What’s not to love? Great characters, unbelievably cool special effects, witty one-liners, hot guys and girls. What’s not to love? That said, though, most superhero movies are an easy formula for success, however; when done wrong, they, well, suck, big time. Luckily, this new X-Men installment is not in that category.

If you were wondering “didn’t the older Professor X (played by Patrick Stewart) die in the X-Men: The Last Stand?”, then you probably left the theater or turned of the T.V. as soon as the credits started rolling! Never do that again when watching movies of the Marvel universe. Never. If you would’ve have, you’d know he lived and that’s why you see him in this new installment. Now, back to the movie…..

The general pace of the movie is, in one word, exciting. The movie will treat you with pretty much action-packed scenes from beginning to end. There are probably 5 calm scenes in total, out of which 3 are probably built with so much anticipation and suspense, they don’t qualify as calm anymore. The special effects are, as you’d expect when dealing with mutant abilities and high-tech of the future, are pretty good and enhance the movie consideraly. But the real key selling point of the movie is the ensemble cast.

To give you an idea of the epicness of the cast, Days includes: the original cast of X-Men (including the fabulous Stewart/McKellen bromance) + the guys playing the younger versions of the original cast (including the hotness trifecta that is McAvoy/Lawrence/Fassbender) + Peter Dinklage (Tyrion, my man!) = PURE AWESOMENESS! I lose all eloquence when I think about it and instead my inner 13 year old nerd boy takes over. Ensemble casts are not a guarantee of a good movie (like this example, or this one), but in this case they all worked well together, there was a synergy in performances that just worked.

I totally recommend to watch. And again, and let me emphasize this well, stay all the way through the credits. Yes, there is a post-credits scene, which unless you are a massive fan of the X-Men comics, you’d probably won’t get. It’s still a pretty cool preview of things to come. If you want to know what was that all about, google “ancient mutant from X-Men universe”.

Bechdel Test: Fail
1. It has to have at least two [named] women in it Yes, although the one with most time on camera is Raven / Mystique played by Jennifer Lawrence. Other women include Kitty Pryde (played by Ellen Page), Storm (played by Halle Berry), and there are cameos by Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), and Rogue (Anna Paquin).
2. Who talk to each other The interaction between women is pretty nil. The only instance that would count is when Blink (played by Bingbing Fan) tells Kitty Pryde “they’re coming” to which Kitty answers “get ready”. Not a whole conversation going on here. The rest of female interactions (other than fighting together) are between Mystique and a bunch of unnamed women.
3. About something besides a man To busy fighting it appears to talk at all.

Does it matter? Yes, it kind of does and it pains me to say so because I reeeeeeally liked this movie. I love it that we can see all sorts of cool ladies kicking ass and taking names. And yes I would’ve loved to see more verbal interactions between the female heros, even if just a tiny bit, but I can live without these because I don’t know how much value they would add to the plot (especially since the future scenes are too hectic for conversation and the 1970s were actually a big boy’s club still). What I would have loved to have seen more was Raven / Mystique’s journey. Throughout the movie we have a small glimpse of her struggle to find her true self. Most of the movie focuses on the struggle of Professor X and the seething rage within Magneto, I feel this could have been better balanced with more of Mystique’s own inner struggle. That could’ve added a valuable feminist voice to the story.

Paola’s mood after watching this movie:

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