By the time that The Wolverine released in 2013 the X-Men film franchise had garnered a reputation for its confusing timeline. With 2009’s Origins: Wolverine having been effectively retconned, 2011’s First Class rebooting the franchise entirely, and then The Wolverine acting as a sequel to 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, it’s understandable why people were slightly confused with what was happening.
With the great success that First Class attracted the plans for the envisioned trilogy of reboot films went ahead, though First Class director Matthew Vaughn was unable to return due to other projects. But with the knowledge that The Wolverine was in production and acted as a sequel to The Last Stand, X-Men 1&2 director Bryan Singer expressed interest in returning to the franchise to direct the next entry to the reboot saga…however what he pitched wasn’t quite what Fox had in mind. Despite this Singer was granted the ability to adapt the much beloved Days of Future Past storyline to film and attempt to bridge First Class and its younger cast with his original films to create a new and cohesive continuity for the franchise moving forward.
In a dystopian future set after the events of The Wolverine, Trask Industries has managed to kill the majority of the mutant population as well as mutant sympathisers with their Sentinel program. The X-Men consisting of Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), Colossus (Daniel Cudmore), Blink (Fan Bingbing), Sunspot (Aidan Canto), Warpath (Booboo Stewart), Bishop (Omar Sy) & Kitty Pryde (Elliot Page) have managed to avoid detection by manipulating time. They reunite with Storm (Halle Berry), Magneto (Ian McKellen), Professor X (Patrick Stewart), and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and plan to send Wolverine back in time to prevent the assassination of Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) by Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence).
Once he arrives in 1973, Wolverine tracks down the young Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) with the help of Quicksilver (Evan Peters) and Beast (Nicholas Hoult) in an attempt to change the future into one where mutants are not persecuted by Trask’s genocidal machines.
With the great success that First Class attracted the plans for the envisioned trilogy of reboot films went ahead, though First Class director Matthew Vaughn was unable to return due to other projects. But with the knowledge that The Wolverine was in production and acted as a sequel to The Last Stand, X-Men 1&2 director Bryan Singer expressed interest in returning to the franchise to direct the next entry to the reboot saga…however what he pitched wasn’t quite what Fox had in mind. Despite this Singer was granted the ability to adapt the much beloved Days of Future Past storyline to film and attempt to bridge First Class and its younger cast with his original films to create a new and cohesive continuity for the franchise moving forward.
In a dystopian future set after the events of The Wolverine, Trask Industries has managed to kill the majority of the mutant population as well as mutant sympathisers with their Sentinel program. The X-Men consisting of Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), Colossus (Daniel Cudmore), Blink (Fan Bingbing), Sunspot (Aidan Canto), Warpath (Booboo Stewart), Bishop (Omar Sy) & Kitty Pryde (Elliot Page) have managed to avoid detection by manipulating time. They reunite with Storm (Halle Berry), Magneto (Ian McKellen), Professor X (Patrick Stewart), and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and plan to send Wolverine back in time to prevent the assassination of Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) by Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence).
Once he arrives in 1973, Wolverine tracks down the young Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) with the help of Quicksilver (Evan Peters) and Beast (Nicholas Hoult) in an attempt to change the future into one where mutants are not persecuted by Trask’s genocidal machines.
It’s not a story synopsis that’s particularly easy to wrap your head around, but believe me, Days of Future Past works and it works excellently. It takes the best elements of the original X-Men films and follows up on the brilliant post-credits sequence of The Wolverine, whilst also acting as a direct sequel to First Class and the reboot universe set up by Vaughn.
The majority of the film takes place in 1973 with the reboot cast, as well as Jackman, but the film does semi-frequently cut back to the original trilogy characters in the far future to give us updates on what’s happening on their end. The finale of the film also gives long time X-Men fans a massive treat when it does return to the original trilogy timeline…or I suppose the new timeline moving forward.
It’s really interesting putting a character like Wolverine in the position he is in for Days of Future Past because being diplomatic is completely the opposite of what his character normally does. His job is to help repair the psychological damage Xavier has suffered in the time since First Class, and try to help Magneto see that working with his old nemesis will benefit mutant-kind in the long run.
By now we’ve seen enough of Jackman as Wolverine to know just how incredible he is in the role, but to now perform alongside a different cast who are playing earlier versions of his friends is phenomenal. As I said in my review of First Class, McAvoy and Fassbender feel as though they were born to play Xavier and Lehnsherr, and that rings doubly true here when you can see the performances of old and new actors’ side by side. There’s even an incredible scene where McAvoy and Stewart have a conversation, old Xavier to young Xavier, and it’s among the best moments in the entire franchise.
The majority of the film takes place in 1973 with the reboot cast, as well as Jackman, but the film does semi-frequently cut back to the original trilogy characters in the far future to give us updates on what’s happening on their end. The finale of the film also gives long time X-Men fans a massive treat when it does return to the original trilogy timeline…or I suppose the new timeline moving forward.
It’s really interesting putting a character like Wolverine in the position he is in for Days of Future Past because being diplomatic is completely the opposite of what his character normally does. His job is to help repair the psychological damage Xavier has suffered in the time since First Class, and try to help Magneto see that working with his old nemesis will benefit mutant-kind in the long run.
By now we’ve seen enough of Jackman as Wolverine to know just how incredible he is in the role, but to now perform alongside a different cast who are playing earlier versions of his friends is phenomenal. As I said in my review of First Class, McAvoy and Fassbender feel as though they were born to play Xavier and Lehnsherr, and that rings doubly true here when you can see the performances of old and new actors’ side by side. There’s even an incredible scene where McAvoy and Stewart have a conversation, old Xavier to young Xavier, and it’s among the best moments in the entire franchise.
Despite all the awesomeness of Days of Future Past, there is something that gets on my nerves whenever I watch it and it’s the shoddy CGI in the final battle. Trasks Sentinel prototypes, the White House lawn, and everything that populates it looks incredibly fake. I’m sure some of it must be real, but it appears as though it could have been pulled from a mid 2000’s TV show rather than a big budget blockbuster film.
Days of Future Past is the ultimate X-Men film, whilst there is arguably one film in the franchise that betters it, out of all the films that wear the X-Men title Days of Future Past is undoubtably the best. It caters for old and new fans alike whilst setting up the events of future X-Men films containing the original trilogy cast perfectly. On top of this, it leaves the events in between Logan’s return to the future a mystery so future prequel films can fill those gaps.
All of the cast delivers outstanding performances, regardless of whether they’re returning from The Last Stand or continuing from First Class. Bryan Singer has masterfully united the two timelines into a cohesive whole, and whilst there are conflicts between the two Days of Future Past makes them work with the magnificent ending it provides.
Whilst this may be a golden moment for the X-Men franchise, unfortunately the series proved to be divisive once again in the near future.
Days of Future Past is the ultimate X-Men film, whilst there is arguably one film in the franchise that betters it, out of all the films that wear the X-Men title Days of Future Past is undoubtably the best. It caters for old and new fans alike whilst setting up the events of future X-Men films containing the original trilogy cast perfectly. On top of this, it leaves the events in between Logan’s return to the future a mystery so future prequel films can fill those gaps.
All of the cast delivers outstanding performances, regardless of whether they’re returning from The Last Stand or continuing from First Class. Bryan Singer has masterfully united the two timelines into a cohesive whole, and whilst there are conflicts between the two Days of Future Past makes them work with the magnificent ending it provides.
Whilst this may be a golden moment for the X-Men franchise, unfortunately the series proved to be divisive once again in the near future.