With Matthew Vaughan having left for duties on Kingsman: The Secret Service, Bryan Singer returned once again to the X-Men franchise to deliver the already written follow up to First Class. Having enjoyed success and a favourable critical response from their previous X-Men movie, and with the MCU gathering pace as a formidable entity in its own right, Fox was keen to get an epic comic-book story on the screen. But could they maintain the momentum built by Vaughan’s movie?

As mutants are hunted to the brink of extinction in a nightmare future, the alliance of Magneto and Professor Xavier come up with one desperate, last ditch plan to alter a significant event in the past and make a better world as a consequence.

 

It’s been starting to feel, as I write this series, a little like kicking a puppy. The X-Men films have played a distant second to the MCU ever since Tony Stark built his first suit in a cave with scraps. But they also laid the groundwork for the wealth of comic book adaptations we see now, and many of the faults the earlier efforts have represent the era in which they were made. When I first saw Days of Future Past, I put it down as an average slice of action. On a second viewing, it positively bored me. Imagine the pleasance of my surprise then, to report that on this latest viewing what I found was not just good for the series, but decent by the standards of the genre as a whole.

To temper that optimism before I get into this, it’s not a movie without some of those old flaws. It still struggles to do much with most of its female cast beyond having them act as passive plot objects. It plays fast and loose with the power set of one character in particular and waves its hand to try to make you ignore it. It also (sort of) places the fate of the whole mutant world in the hands of Wolverine for what feels like the millionth time – seriously, Fox, there are other characters.

However, these are minor quibbles in what is otherwise a very well-put together movie. Opening in a dystopian future in which the Sentinel Program has produced the deadliest iteration of the machines yet, the film hits the ground running and doesn’t let up. The scenes in that future are beautifully (and cleverly) shot. One issue the series has suffered from in the past is a lack of any sense of scale. Even Magneto’s pulling up of the Golden Gate Bridge in Last Stand felt somehow lacking in real spectacle (perhaps because only about six X-Men faced him). Here, it makes sense for our protagonists to be isolated in a small group in the middle of nowhere, running as they are from a whole world that’s hunting them. There’s more than a whiff of the opening to any Terminator movie with the piles of bodies and robots hunting down anything that moves, but it works. It never feels as derivative as it could, which is surprising given both that opening aesthetic and the bent of the actual plot.

What the future scenes also deliver is action in spades. It’s actually genuinely glorious to see the various mutants get to show off their powers in full-on running battles against the sentinels, and so inventively too. The use of Blink’s portals in particular really shows that when he puts his mind to it, Singer (or at least his second unit) can really craft a clever, unique action sequence.

It also helps that it’s a future in which Magneto and Xavier have buried their differences and are working together. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen were always two of the franchise’s MVPs, and the movies always worked best when they were on screen together. Here, they share almost every scene in which they appear, and that calm, weighty gravitas they project serves to lend real heft to the events around them. Fair play to writers Simon Kinberg, Jane Goldman and Mathew Vaughan for having realised this and incorporated it into the screenplay so well.

But if the future scenes are great, the scenes in 1973 are every bit their equal. The story runs the risk of throwing a bit too much at us, but wisely it parses out the various bits of exposition needed in such a way that one never feels overwhelmed by plot details. The concept of Hank’s serum allowing Charles to walk at the expense of his powers has the slight whiff of narrative convenience, but also works extremely well in giving the character an interesting arc and James McAvoy a real chance to make the part his own. As he struggles with what is essentially a drug (and drink) dependency problem, it gives us a chance to see a darker, weaker side of the character but also gives a genuine redemption arc as well. Arguably, at the end of First Class, it’s hard to sympathise with the character. Most of his problems can be said to have been the result of his own actions or conceit. Here, the film allows him to hit rock bottom, which gives McAvoy the chance to build him back up and ends with a character with whom the audience can truly sympathise.

Michael Fassbender too, gets the opportunity to really explore the character of Magneto. McKellen’s version always felt a little unpredictable, ready to do whatever he needed to in order to advance his own agenda. Having seen the origin of his ruthlessness in First Class, here we get to see more nuance. Magneto is in prison for having assassinated JFK (how else could the bullet have bent, asks a script whose writers are clearly Oliver Stone fans). But he claims to have been trying to save the president. The cleverness of the script (and Fassbender’s performance) is that they never seek to clarify this point. Charles scoffs at it, Erik simply says no more. Like everything else about the character, it’s an enigma – is he lying? If so, why? If not, then who exactly are the shadowy ‘they’ who sought to pin the blame on him? That ruthlessness is still there too – exhibited first in the callous way he attempts to murder Mystique and then in his third act attempt to murder most of the top echelons of government. But crucially, there is a genuine sense this time of love and respect between young Xavier and Lehnsherr, even if they are separated in both their goals and the way in which they seek to achieve them. Combined with the future relationship of Stewart and McKellen, it really works as a powerful element in holding the film together.

If there’s a star though, it’s Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique. Finally, after four previous appearances in which the character was inexplicably competent and almost totally ignored, we get the Mystique we deserve. Globe-hopping as she works to free her mutant brothers and sisters from suffering under the yoke of humanity, she’s a woman on a mission. Lawrence brings the character to life brilliantly, showing us her pain, her rage, her competence but also her fragility and idealism. Mystique at this point isn’t looking to kill all of humanity but rather the one man she sees as the biggest threat to her kind. The irony for the audience of course is that we know that one kill will lead to the very destruction against which she’s fighting. Seeing her realise this slowly over the course of the film, and realising that the mission to stop her is – if anything – pushing her closer to her goal and worse, is a real joy. It’s a swiss watch of a plot, so many cogs turning and gears meshing together in perfect synchronicity to deliver its narrative. And Lawrence is one of the most important moving parts. Getting to see the character actually save the day is the piece de resistance.

The action in 1973 is every bit as well-filmed too. The third act climax, where Magneto rips up an entire baseball stadium to form an impenetrable ring around the White House, is a real spectacle to behold. Still, the action is limited geographically, but by choosing that building and having the device of the world’s cameras be present for Trask’s presentation, the sense of scope is increased many fold. What’s perhaps most interesting is that when you compare the scene to almost any MCU or DCEU third act denouement, it really doesn’t follow the template. Our heroes don’t ride in like the cavalry and punch all the bad guys to death. The disposable robot horde is actually eight machines which the antagonist himself disposes of the moment they don’t prove useful. And the whole fight ends with a single gunshot.

Even the final payoff of Mystique and Erik each going their separate ways and leaving Charles and Hank to pick up the pieces feels right. This has never been a franchise that was supposed to be about black and white, good and evil. Magneto was never supposed to be an evil man, more a damaged individual seeking to protect others from the sort of pain he himself had suffered. If his methods were extreme, that was because he faced extreme enemies. It feels right to the character and the franchise that Xavier allow him to walk away once he ceases to be an immediate threat, and moreover that Erik would take that chance when offered. Mystique walking away also feels like a redemption for a character who spent too much of this franchise dancing to the tune of others. In setting her free, Charles achieves the final part of his own redemption, and is on the road to being the character we know and love.

As to Wolverine, it’s delightful that the film makes him seem so vital and ends up with him being so incidental to its final confrontation. The only part of the first scenes more hand-wavy than the justification for sending Logan back is the aforementioned fudging of Kitty Pryde’s powers. That said, the script earnestly goes along with the idea that Wolverine is a pivotal cog in the machine, but gratifyingly none of that importance comes from his already over-exposed healing factor and fighting prowess. Hugh Jackman here gets to have some real fun with the character. Both literally, in terms of time-travel related quips to those around him, and also dramatically. For the first time in the X-Men franchise, Wolverine isn’t just a walking slab of testosterone. He has to dig deep to find a way to connect with young Xavier, and to get him and Hank to join him on what they perceive as a fool’s errand. Later, in the second act, he must dig deep again to help Charles overcome his own crippling self-doubt and unlock his full powers. It feels deliberate that in the third act, just as it looks like we are about to get the running, jumping, punching Wolverine of old, Magneto almost casually disposes of him, allowing events to reach their conclusion in a more intelligent way.

And it’s also nice to see an X-Men movie finally get a happy ending. After so much misery for various characters through the previous four main franchise instalments, Logan’s waking in the school feels perfect. His final conversation with Xavier, as the latter finally catches onto exactly what moment the former is experiencing, is such a fitting ending that you can’t help but grin.

It’s undeniably nice to see the franchise get an instalment like this, and to be able to appreciate it with fresh eyes. It’s a screenplay that crams in an awful lot without ever feeling too busy. A film that takes its time without ever feeling slow. Or if you prefer, an action spectacle that never feels like its in a rush. It still exhibits some of the same old issues, sure – will someone please let Storm do something and as nice as the ending is, I still feel like James Marsden got a bum deal when he signed on to play the leader of the X-Men.

But Days of Future Past does far more right than it ever does wrong, and it feels as close in the franchise to that point as we had got in seeing an actual X-Men comic book story properly on the big screen. It doesn’t hold the viewer’s hand, and anyone who isn’t a fan or hasn’t seen the other movies will be utterly lost, but then the same is true of Avengers: Endgame, and look at how that’s done.