X-Men: Days of Future's Past

TAKE 1: One Man’s Opinion

…because film is largely subjective

by Frederick William Springer III

 

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Release Date:  23 May 2014                                                                Runtime:  131 Minutes              

Review Date:  31 August 2014                                                            Rating:  4.5 (of 6)

     Days of Future Past is another film I'm not jumping on the bandwagon for.  Yes, it was good, but not as great as it's been heralded as.  In that arena, it pales in comparison to First Class.  In other words, not as first class as First Class.

     The trouble here really is the originators set in the future.  The scenery is dark and grey, which is an attempt to set the mood for the dystopia transpiring--I get that--but at the same time seems naturally off.  Fake.  Perhaps fabricated too much in the realm of the computer than in reality.

     And some of the originators serve no purpose.  In contrast to Kelsey Grammar's fun 2 second cameo, Halle Berry just seemed out of place.  Sure, there are a lot of people that would argue that her performance was always such, especially in the first film, but here, though given a decent amount of screen time in comparison with the others of the original trilogy, she only had like 2 lines (of no significance or poignancy at that), had little physical movement and when she did it was either wooden or unintentionally comical.

     They say the inclusion of the original cast skyrocketed the budget and name that as a factor of why there will never be another movie centering on the original cast (scheduling also an issue).  This blows my mind.  While I get that they can all command higher salaries now on the whole, they were in so little of this movie that I don't see how or why a big chunk of any budget would be heading their way.