I liked it. Didn't blow my hair back, and there was some serious fridge logic I had a hard time getting over. But overall I thought it was pretty good.

I liked it too, fridge logic didn't bother me, I must have not been paying attention. Although Kitty had a new power that she didn't have in previous films, that annoyed me.

Hasn't Faldor just broken the rule of the reviews section with just a 'Was good, now go' post?

I hated it. I hated it so much. I wanted to set myself on fire when it was over. I did write a review, if you're curious. But it's not likely to change any of your minds. I think these are mainly me-problems. I'm jealous of all of you for enjoying it as much as you did. Wish I had the same experience.

Last edited by Doctor Submarine (2014-05-26 20:34:19)

Here's the thing. In general, I really really like superhero movies. What I'm starting to really really HATE is superhero franchises. I'm sick of sitting through movies that are more interested in setting things up for some OTHER movie than, you know, telling an interesting story.

And that would actually be okay if the 1970s storyline was even a little bit interesting, which it isn't. Characters decide to do things because the story demands it, and Wolverine keeps getting kept away from the action so that he doesn't change things too much. What's the point of sending him back if you're not going to do anything with him? And don't even get me started on the insulting idea that Kitty Pryde's phasing ability also means that she can send people's minds back in time. Do they think we're all idiots or something? Just introduce a new mutant if that's how you want to do it. Also, Bryan Singer is a shitty, boring filmmaker. Oh for the days of Matthew Vaughn, who made a period X-Men movie with actual period style, instead of boring, flat, digital ugliness. This is an awful movie.

Last edited by Doctor Submarine (2014-05-27 04:18:44)

Well, I'm just trying to understand the hatred of the film and translating to giving up on a franchise. I get not liking a film or however you want to describe it, but comic book movies have been a franchise, as immortalized by Trey's comment, "I will go see the Avengers. Will you let my family go now."

X-Men certainly has had its ups and downs, but not to the point would I give up on the franchise. Even Origins didn't do that for me, though X3 came close. Actually, funny now that I think about it, X3 was the one film in a franchise that I sighed in relief and thought, "At least they won't make any more..." Famous last words.

But, then I look at "Amazing Spiderman" franchise or Avengers, and despite being a bit overblown, are still franchises with some interest and life in it. I would argue that Spiderman right now has a bit more life, but that's just me.

So, is it the franchise being dragged out too much? In other words, are they pulling an Avengers with Captain America (the movie!), Thor (the movie!) Iron Man and we will fill in the rest, with X-Men: First Class being the Iron Man in that group? Each film is a piece to a larger film that hasn't come out yet, in essence, a commercial for The Next Big Thing (coming soon!).

Maybe I just don't get it or I am not as burned out as you guys are. Either is possible

I think the fact that we're un-ironically talking about the merit and "life" of franchises, instead of talking about stories and characters, speaks volumes about the tragic state of big-budget filmmaking today.

Last edited by bullet3 (2014-05-27 05:44:51)

On the other hand, I liked how this ended the franchise. I don't feel as though they really set up anything in particular save for the credits stinger I didn't see. I'd be happy to just leave it there, I don't really want to see the next installment, I'd rather have another (but good) Wolverine solo film. Although, apparently the next one is still the First class cast and they will deal with Raven from the end of this one so if they are doing a First Class trilogy, they probably should have left this one to last.

I have problems with the film, Kitty's unexplained new powers, new characters we have never seen before get zero back-story and less lines,  Wolverine has metal claws when he had bone ones at the end of The Wolverine, Beast is pretty pointless to the story and given his relationship with Raven in First Class doesn't get any time with her etc. It's not a perfect film and I probably didn't love it as much as some (I give it half a star less than, say, Faldor on Letterboxd) and I felt The Winter Soldier was the better film but I had fun. I like it when I have fun with a film, doesn't happen as often any more.

I don't get this place sometimes, man. Here is a big budget blockbuster that the majority of us like so far and yet there are still one or two telling us we are wrong. Usually, it is split evenly or the majority of us dislike the film but I think it's a fricking miracle that there is one that gets us this excited, it is so rare. Why can't we just like the bloody film, why does it always have to be this way every time part of a franchise is released? I'm not saying those who disagree can't have an opinion, of course you can but the use of language against this film is astonishing.  Nobody is forcing you to watch the next film, if you want to end the franchise here, then do it, I know I am.

There are so many wonderful strong willed and opinionated people on these forums but  let us have one for feck's sake

Last edited by Jimmy B (2014-05-27 07:19:02)

I dunno... I really enjoyed it....

I'll happily talk about characters from any movie. Which one would you like to talk about? I mean, I have talked about Peter Parker in AS 2 being a bit of an "everyman" cipher, but has such an interesting personal conflict that I thoroughly enjoy. I have argued for Kirk being a fascinating character in Into Darkness and how well his arc plays out. I mean, I'm always up for characters talk. I don't get the technical side of things, so that is really my only thing here.

Well said. I pretty much feel the same way. I get people want to talk about the movie and characters and things, but I find it odd that there is this rant and rave against franchises, especially comic book film ones, when that has been the staple for many years. But, I missed the part where that was a bad thing. Like I mentioned before, well, it was done before with the Avengers, and certainly has been attempted more and more now that comic book movies have more traction as big budget films.

Actually, it's funny, because, like I said, I walked back my opinion of "Captain America" simply by virtue of viewing it from within the framework of the Avengers. So, while franchises may be a rough because they set up the next film and the next film, I find them enjoyable because they set up a context with which to see the characters.

But, hey, I'm just a nerd from Idaho (which, according to Cinema Sins, isn't a real place ).

"I am sick to death of superhero franchises. We need to put a stop to them, and quickly."

Well, I can't accept the premise of your review, so... 

***Spoilers***

It did feel flat, I'll give you that. The future prologue just jumps in and exists only as a reason for Wolverine to exist in the past. In the comics, Kitty 'phases' her mind back, which kind of made sense with her powers in the way that people shooting kinetic energy from their eyes makes sense, but they didn't really explain that here, or how she does it to others. From the trailer, I thought it was going to be work from Prof. X and a machine, or in conjunction with someone else's powers. Kitty just learning how to do it is pretty weak.
However, with her being able to do this, nothing in the future bore any suspense. I knew how this film was going to end back when I saw the first trailer, and that nothing that happened to anyone in the future would be permanent. Storm's death wasn't shocking, nor upsetting. It's Storm. They weren't going to let that stick, even though they didn't see fit to give her anything to do except use her powers.
The other X-Men did get some pretty gruesome deaths at the hands of the Sentinels that were a little tough to watch, but none of them carried any weight and I didn't buy into the tension the finale was trying to build. In that regard, I was disappointed.
The only difference is I assumed Wolverine would get trapped in his younger mind and he would be the reason the events of the trilogy get changed, rather than them simply playing out differently because of the events of this film. Him 'snapping to' when he reaches the future seems kind of lazy, it'd have been far more interesting if he had gotten to consciously relive his life. I am happy they un-killed Jean and Cyclops, for what it's worth, but it's a shame that this so suddenly rewrites whatever canon the previous films had. This ending just turned First Class into a reboot rather than a prequel.

However, in terms of adapting "Days of Future Past", the film did a great job. The major details are still there. As a stand-alone, this is pretty cool. It plays out much like one of the recent Marvel/DC straight-to-video animated features would. As a sequel to X3, it makes very little sense. There is a huge leap it makes from X3's ending to DofP's beginning. If you shove The Wolverine in there and kind of accept that the world started ending while Logan was in exile, it helps, but eh. You can tell there wasn't a plan.
As a sequel to First Class, it works a little better, but with all the time used explaining why Wolverine is here, we don't get the same focus on some of the characters that we did. Aside from Xavier, Magneto, Mystique and Beast, everyone else was killed off between films. Well, Havok was a cameo, which was disappointing. It's neat that he learned to control his powers and all, but showing him (and Quicksilver, for that matter) and then dumping him once his scene is over is the main problem X3 and Origins: Wolverine had.
The end of First Class shows Magneto and the Hellfire Club ready to go kick some less-evolved ass, and we get to see none of that. Skip to Magneto in jail and they're all dead? Come on. Fassbender's Magneto is still amazing, and I was left feeling like we got to see him in full form, but his actions in the past really didn't do anything that made us relate him more with McKellan's version.
"So, you were always an asshole." Pretty much.
However, I did really enjoy Xavier and Mystique's arcs. The allusion to drug addiction rocked my world, and giving Raven a time-travelling revenge intervention was pretty interesting. Her moment of discovering that Trask was responsible for the experimentation, torture and death of her friends(?) is exactly the kind of moment we needed to explain how we get from Lawrence's Mystique to Romijn's. Killing Trask was the moment that made her "evil", and seeing her standing on the edge before they pulled her back was great. Hopefully we will see some ramifications of that in Apocalypse.

Anyway, if you haven't read X-Men comics and you thought it was difficult to make room for all the characters in the films, oh boy. Outside of major events, you can have multiple plots running for issues that only peek in on what someone is doing until the one or two-parter comes where their plot is finally resolved. Even some main characters can be absent for long periods of time. Outside of the core roster, there are so many characters and most of them are boiled down to 'this guy has that powers so he can do this for them'. There's no time to flesh everyone out, but they do try to give most of them a decent story or scene when they can.
I'm amazed the films managed to show us as many characters as they did, even if the bulk of them are glorified cameos.

But hey, we got to see a proper Iceman, finally. So that was pretty cool.

X-Men needs to be a series. It's too big for this formula.
"Heroes" actually did a better X-Men than X-Men, in some ways.

Last edited by Vapes (2014-05-28 17:22:03)

Heh. Colon.

Disclaimer: if you dislike the tone of a post I make, re-read it in a North/East London accent until it sounds sufficiently playful

Something something mutant powers.