"X-men: Days of Future Past" (2014)

This movie was released in Taiwan two days ago, but I didn't see it until today.  If you haven't seen it yet, you might want to avoid reading what follows.

For more context on this film, you are welcome to read my Review of Every Marvel and DC Superhero Movie from 1951 to the Present


1. The Story

The remaining X-men face a bleak future, as a non-mutant elite uses a robotic corps of Sentinels to hunt down any mutants not already confined to concentration camps.  Kitty Pryde, able to use her powers to send minds back into the past, sends Wolverine back to 1973, in the hope that he can alter the past and thus save the future.  With the X-men of 1973 at his side, Wolverine tries to prevent Mystique from assassinating Bolivar Trask and uwittingingly becoming the catalyst for a mutant apocalypse.  Magneto aids the X-men at first, but he later develops his own agenda after failing to kill Mystique.  They track Mystique to the White House, where she plans on killing Trask, only to have Magneto reappear and attempt to frighten humanity into submission.  Mystique then subdues Magneto, saves the lives of both Trask and Richard Nixon, and the grim future that awaits them all is thereby averted.

2. How It Compares to the Other X-Men Films

This is by far the best entry in the series.  The direction reminded me why Bryan Singer was famous in the first place, and the performances are excellent.  The script for this film is miles ahead of anything seen previously, and displays an attention to detail only glimpsed in X-men: First Class.  What's better: this movie doesn't just feel like Wolverine and the other X-men.  Everyone involved with this movie outdid themselves.

3. How It Compares to Other Marvel Films

Before seeing this film, I would have laughed at the suggestion that any X-men film could compete with ANY Marvel Studios film, or even any of the Sony Spider-man films.  After seeing it, however, the entire series of X-men films has risen in my estimation.  As superhero movies go, I would rank this up there with the best of them.

4. Trivia

There are so many X-men films that connections to previous films in this series are only par for the course.  And while corrections to flawed continuity might be an interesting topic to explore, the number of X-men films (seven now, and counting...) does not make this an easy task.

A post-credits scene features Apocalypse, who will feature in the upcoming sequel, X-men: Apocalypse.

5. What's Coming Next

The above-mentioned X-men: Apocalypse is now in active development.  There is also another Wolverine sequel in the works.  There are always rumors about a Deadpool or X-Force movie, and with the success of this film these projects seem more likely to happen.