World Enough and Time - 'X-Men: Days of Future Past'

Bryan Singer knows “X-Men” movies.

If you can take away just one thing from near-on fifteen years of mutants on celluloid, that seems a safe and solid observation. There's conservation of movement in the way Singer directs, a Bruce Lee sort of approach that is precise, efficient, and beautiful without being showy. Best of all, he can take a Jenga tower of a subject like the X-Men and trim its gangly, teetering, awkwardly complex universe down to two hours of red meat without ruining it. And he's had practice. After all, it was Singer who started us on this road in the first place; we've come so far down the now-illustrious superhero cinema trail people tend forget that fact. Fully two years before Sam Raimi's Spider-Man made it okay for normals to like comic book movies, Fox took a gamble on a cast of second-string actors, a pair of aging British thespians and one Australian soap opera hunk and plopped an afterthought of an X-Men film in the hands of the young director who many considered to be unblooded (though his trophy wall already boasted The Usual Suspects and Apt Pupil). By today's standards the first 'X' film must seem a spit varnish affair – short, structurally basic, heavily reliant on old-school stunts and utterly standalone, free of franchise considerations, tie-ins or long-term contracts. I remember opening night well; it was a tense couple of hours, myself and my closest friends in the world waiting to see if our faith in the inherent awesomeness of comics on the big screen would be validated or if our hopes would be dashed in a farcical showcase of cheese, ineptitude and apathy to the source material.

Things turned out pretty well, with Singer largely to thank for it. With X2: X-Men United he proved his slick, stylized approach wasn't a fluke, making an altogether better film that improved on every aspect of his freshman effort and enriching the mutant mythology a hundredfold. Now with X-Men: Days of Future Past Singer's back, a decade older and with at least one stinging failure under his belt. But did the turgid 5-bean burrito dump that was Superman Returns teach Singer some valuable lessons, or did it merely embitter him and tempter his exuberance with an excess of caution?

As to the latter, the answer is no. DOFP is vintage Singer: a smart, taut, compulsively watchable flick that is a winner both as a comic book film and as a top-notch addition to the X saga. It stands as at least as good an effort as X2 and oftentimes even flirts with being the superior film. It's a familiar-looking effort, no question – Singer finds his old groove and sticks to it – but it reminds us of all the things that made his vision of the X-Men so damn enjoyable in the first place (and lays bare how boorish and facile a job the other X-directors did in his absence).

We come into this film from a damnably strange place, the last few X installments having been bandied hither and thither by studio jockeys who – gosh, brace yourselves – seemed more concerned with pumping out money-makers rather than actual stories. Wolverine got two sub-par efforts in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (bad) and The Wolverine (meh), both star vehicles for Hugh Jackman that did nothing to enhance the subtle, complex Logan character and hopelessly muddied the myth/chronology of the X-world. The much better X-Men: First Class had loftier goals story-wise and the added challenge of carrying itself without the likeable Mr. Jackman (save for a blisteringly funny cameo), but it suffered from the syndrome so effectively described by comedian Patton Oswalt as 'Jon Voight's ballsack' – that is, do we honestly care where the story started, why Xavier and Magneto are enemies, how they came to be at loggerheads? Like the beautiful Angelina Jolie, do we really need know where it all came from? Point is, thanks to X-overload the average viewer at this point probably doesn't know a Morlock from an Ewok from a Deathlok.

With DOFP Singer attempts to sweep the table clear of narrative clutter and knock the franchise back into alignment, ignoring or outright eliminating many of the most egregious evils wrought by his understudies (killing Cyclops, anyone?) and putting the timeline back on True North. And to do it he delved into one of the most iconic and beloved X-stories of all time.

Days of Future Past was originally the brainchild of “X-Men” co-writers Chris Claremont and John Byrne, as potent a comic-making duo as ever there was (sadly, disagreements over the story contributed heavily to their eventual schism). It postulated an early 21^st century in which Xavier's dream of human-mutant coexistence ended in spectacular failure due to the assassination of a prominent anti-mutant senator by the shapeshifting terrorist Mystique. Instead of cowing humanity into accepting mutant rule, the brazen murder only validated humanity's worst fears of mutants as a threat to their species. Cue the arrival of the Sentinels, automated killing machines designed to hunt and execute all mutants everywhere. In the comics the Sentinel's broad mission parameters caused them to go all SkyNet, expanding their pogrom first to all super-powered individuals and then finally to the humans who built them. The Sentinels take over the whole show, obliterate Earth's governments and infrastructure, and turn our world into a giant prison camp. Fortunately the mutant phaser Kitty Pryde hatched a plan that allowed her to warn the disco-era X-Men and stop the assassination from ever happening, saving the world. The film largely mirrors this story, albeit with some franchise-sensitive adjustments, and weaves a parallel narrative in which future and present actions occur simultaneously. The result, thanks to an intelligent script and a no-egos ensemble cast, is a damn good yarn that keeps the pressure up and the action at full blast.

Wolverine takes center stage yet again, assuming the time-traveling role originally meant for Pryde. This would be one of the franchise considerations I mentioned, as the X-films live and die by their star, Jackman, and the need to cram as much of ol' Canucklehead onto the screen as possible. No argument here – this is Jackman's best effort since X2. The plot device used to explain why Logan is needed for the time-jaunt is clever enough, although the writers play it fast and loose with other considerations, such as how Pryde (Ellen Page) can utilize her power to manipulate time in the first place (hint: they don't bother explaining). Suffice to say after a brief, violent introduction to the nigh-unbeatable Sentinels of tomorrow (and a fight/massacre scene that will NOT please the young 'uns) Logan is blasted back to the days of bellbottoms and promiscuous sex faster than you can say “Austin Powers joke!”. Any number of amusing Wolverine-as-a-clueless-time-traveler moments follow.

The would-be victim of Mystique's murderous intent this time is weapons scientist Bolivar Trask (a scene-stealing Peter Dinklage), inventor of the Sentinels and occasional mutterer of an anti-mutant slur. Trask mongers fear amongst the Washington elite, salting the wounds of the recently ended Vietnam war by comparing the South East Asian debacle with the coming race war between humans and mutants. This war, Trask insists, is winnable...if only the top brass has the balls to greenlight his controversial giant robot program (and when have giant robots ever NOT worked out great for all concerned?). Wolverine is tasked with reuniting the morose-but-mobile Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and a younger Magneto (Michael Fassbender), a chore made even chore-ier by the fact that Xavier has been (conveniently) denuded of his psychic powers and Magneto remains a violent ideologue who has a hard time seeing the problem with Mystique's methods. The majority of the middle act is devoted to the patient build-up to the crucial moment when Mystique (the always enrapturing Jennifer Lawrence in all her body-painted glory) takes her fateful shot, but prior to that we are treated to two stellar sequences that are extreme crowd pleasers: the introduction of mutant speedster Quicksilver and the liberation of Magneto from his Pentagon holding cell courtesy of the most improbable – and hilarious – prison break ever.

But nothing is ever as it seems, nor should it be. Instead of stringing the audience along toward a single climax that might fall flat after two hours of anticipation, Singer and crew complicate Logan's mission in unexpected ways and turn what seemed like a cut-and-dried time travel joint into 'whoooa' territory worthy of Keanu Reeves. A classic destiny paradox intervenes – Mystique's initial effort is stopped, but the hero's actions only precipitate the course of their disastrous future rather than prevent it, setting up an infinitely more satisfying third act at the President's doorstep where Trask's “classic” Sentinels – the ones we geeks all know and secretly love – make their debut. Young Xavier, who spends most of the film moping, must ultimately sacrifice his legs and reclaim his mental powers in order to change the fate of the world. 

As with EVERY other X-film, the writers are forced to scramble for ways to alternately stymie, forestall or outright remove Xavier's vast telepathic powers from the mix because they are a story-killer: the man can literally do anything with his brain, prompting thousands of “why can't he just...?” scenarios that would bring a swift end to any conflict. But it's handled better here than before by giving Xavier an ethical quandary: though he has the power to simply “shut down” Mystique he doesn't want to, as he has a long and loving history with the misguided metamorph whom he still believes is capable of doing the right thing. Therein lies the heart of the matter: the dream of peaceful coexistence can't be won with superpowers; it has to come from the heart of every ordinary person. The conflict between universal acceptance versus forcing everyone to simply “see it your way” is revisited many times with many characters, heroes and villains, each time giving us a glimpse into the other guy's worldview but never plating up a simple black-and-white answer. Add to the brew the idea that “time is a river” as Hank 'Beast' McCoy suggests and that the Sentinel's rise might indeed be unalterable and you've got a film that has weight as well as muscle.

Fortunately Singer uses the future narrative to keep things extra-lively. The post-Sentinel apocalypse is indeed a bleak thing to behold, but it's rife with X-cameos and doesn't let up the tension for an instant. The handful of mutants still free are a hunted bunch, constantly running from the next-gen Sentinels who have chameleon-like adaptive abilities that cannot be overcome (a tribute to the 'Nimrod'-class machines from the comics). Old Xavier and Old Magneto have long since buried the hatchet and now lead these stragglers from New York to Moscow to China while desperately trying to keep Logan tethered like a balloon spider between present and past. But the Sentinels are always hunting, always running them down, and that the heros will be overcome yet again is inevitable. There's ample hand-wringing to go around.

I can imagine comics purists balking at some of the future stuff. The script leaves a yawning gulf between the assassination of Trask and how all of Earth – or at least two of its most important cities – became a desiccated wasteland. A few snippets of dialogue fudge the explanation as best as possible, trying, I assume, to avoid too many comparisons to Terminator (i.e. the Sentinels became self-aware) or delving too far into comic book mythology (wherein the Sentinels become foot soldiers for the over-the-top harpoon-wielding villain Ahab and things get very Claremont very fast). There is also a great deal of fast-and-loose play with mutant powers, chemical serums, and the general capabilities of many of characters in order to shove the plot along; many times we're asked to just accept the fact that certain people can do certain things without any context or rationale – it's simply “Well, they're mutants. Go with it.” But by the time you raise your hand in protest the action has moved on and you have to keep up or get left behind, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

So does Singer ultimately succeed? Largely, yes. The climax is thrilling and the wrap-up, while guilty of some wonky time-generalities, does indeed scrub away much of the cloudy continuity, eliminating the misguided developments of X3: The Last Stand and bridging the ten-year gap in Singer's contributions. The 'future' to which Logan returns is altogether different, if a tad confusing, but leaves us in a place where the franchise can essentially launch anew in an entirely different and (mostly) logical direction. Stick around for the end credits to see where that direction is mostly likely to go. Or just read it on the Internet.

Speaking of clean-up, some X-tra observations:

• Days of Future Past is probably one of the most fan-friendly comic book films ever. The movie is loaded with tiny tributes and extraneous flairs only longtime readers could love or appreciate, from the inclusion of mutant merc Bishop to the iconic “M”s carved over the eyes of interred victims to Xavier's hover chair. Also on the “didn't need it, but it's there anyway” list are Logan's gray sideburn streaks, something an ageless man in excess of two centuries old isn't likely to have...but he had 'em in the original comic, so there they were. Nice touch.
• I would kill to know how much Halle Berry was paid for her part, as she has about three minutes of screen time and approximately two lines.
• I would kill again to know how long Kelsey Grammar had to sit in a makeup chair to become the Beast, as he is onscreen for less than five seconds and the camera never actually focuses on him.
• Anna Paquin has no lines and even less time than Grammar, proving there is a God and He doesn't like Anna Paquin either.
• Lawrence deserves all her hype. The girl just knows how to work it. Though speaking of Paquin, I maintain that in a fair and just universe Lawrence would have been cast years ago as a much more assertive and much better Rogue.
• Though there was ample temptation to shoehorn in some line about mutations and deformities in Dinklage's role, the writers avoided the obvious and elected not to do so. That Dinklage happens to be a dwarf is never once mentioned, nor should it have been. The guy's just a damn fine actor.
• Poor Daniel Cudmore. He's appeared as Colossus – one of the most beloved X-Men of all time – thrice now and the guy's gotten to talk a grand total of twice. He's the Maggie Simpson of X-Men.
• Iceman's 'ice-form' looks way cooler when he's got a beard.
• It's amazing how as Logan's leadership role in the X-Men has increased his use in a fight has decreased. Jackman hardly throws a punch in this one but you don't really care; he has more lines in the first twenty minutes of DOFP than he did in ALL of The Wolverine and it works really well. Strong and silent has always been the character's modus operandi, but as his face time increases so too should his contribution to the dialogue. For better or worse he's a worldly character now with wisdom to share. Jackman probably agrees, as he seems to enjoy himself more when he's talking and scowling instead of just scowling.
• I remain very Switzerland about Michael Fassbender, as I've never seen him off his “INTENSE” setting and can't rightly judge whether I like him or not. And don't give me this “Oh, but he was so good in Prometheus!” crap. There was NOTHING good about Prometheus.
• Singer's decision to show key snippets of the Paris Peace Accord action through the lens of 70's era news cameras was truly inspired. One wonders if the grainy, out-of-focus footage was actually shot using period hardware or if the digital wizards had to 'age' the material artificially. I could look it up, but frankly I don't care to know – the effect was perfect regardless.