IMDb Top 250 Journey: X-Men Days Of Future Past

Hi folks, it's Friday night, which means it's time to catch up with the IMDb Top 250 Journey. This time I have not one but two reviews of movies from IMDb's Top 250 list; X-Men: Days of Future past (spot #247 and a score of 8.0) which follows, and The Grand Budapest Hotel, which you can find here.

Immediate thoughts?

Good Story. Neat Acting. Mostly UNDERWHELMING.

Go on...

I'm not gonna hold back here, Days of Future Past (DoFP from now on) was terribly disappointing - Not sure where all the praise came from. It was just your standard fare blockbuster, with an admittedly good story. But not good enough to leave me impressed.

Bryan Singer returned to the directors chair (he directed the first two X-men movies), along with the cast from both First Class and the original trilogy, along with a few new additions. But it was a virtually seamless blend between both casts, and that perhaps, had a role to play in why people thought this movie was so good. In any case, we spend more time in the past with the 'First Class' group, and of course, Wolverine, who is sent back in time to save their world; I should say, Wolverine is perfectly suited for the time period he's in - the 70's for those of you wondering - looking more badass than ever. 

In addition to the above, there are three other good things about DoFP: the story, the actors, and Quicksilver. James McAvoy, Micheal Fassbender, and Jennifer Lawrence as a young professor X, magneto, and mystique respectively, are simply a pleasure to watch; They have this tangible chemistry in their scenes together that uplifts the entire movie. I'd rather not think about how much worse the movie would've been without them. 

Then there's Quicksilver - he has this one, extremely hyped scene that more or less lives up to the billing. But he thrives in all his other scenes as well, making him fun to watch. And that's it right there: The only aspect of the movie I was interested in was seeing these actors in their various scenes together. 

I wasn't hooked by the plot, or the characters; Wolverine might as well not have been there - actually I think they only chose him because he was the only one who could survive the trip back. And I was only mildly impressed by the action sequences in the movie. They seemed to lack any energy, as though the filmmakers and actors were only doing it because it had to be there. Except that quicksilver sequence - I believe they enjoyed that one very much. Also while the story was great, I don't think anyone was concerned for the X-Men in the future - I mean, nobody at Fox would have allowed Wolverine's mission to fail. The implication of this was that there was no tension. Can you believe that? A blockbuster action movie, invovling people with superpowers, having no tension. No high stakes. What?!

But was it well-made?

I have to go with no here specifically because of the action scenes - they looked really poor. And it all falls back to one underlying point: It did not feel like they were concerned about the entire movie, just portions of it. Their creativity seemed to be limited to the ones they enjoyed, and they just kept giving us filler action scenes to keep the story going. The score too was underwhelming, even though I believe they were going for a subtle effect. It's not bad per se, but in addition to the very low stakes, lack of tension, and uninspired action, DoFP ended up being... drab.  

Final thoughts

In th end, I will readily admit that Days of Future Past is still a rather entertaining movie, with solid acting and a well put-together story, however, majority of the movie was half-heartedly done, and unexciting; Can't have a action adventure without excitement. Sorry. Needless to say, I don't think DoFP deserves a spot on the list. X-men: First Class (the prequel), was a much better movie, and should probably take DoFP's  place on the list.

My Score: 6 -

Once again check out the Grand Budapest Hotel review here, after you've let us know what you thought of Days Of Future Past in the comments below.