I guess because I had absolutely zero hype for this movie, I walked away entertained. My wife, who is a diehard X-Men comic book fan, has been underwhelmed by every single one of the X-Men movies save the very first one. She even hates X-2, which many people list as their favorites.
I was pretty convinced she wasn't going to like DoFP, but she loved it. She actually applauded when it was over, and I don't think I've seen her do that for a movie in a while. I don't even think she did it for Godzilla, and she loved that one too. She was more relieved that it wasn't a big steaming pile of shit like The Last Stand, she said.
I felt it was a solid, entertaining movie with more humor than I was expecting given its grim premise, and I felt the characters and acting were great. I loved Mystique having a bigger, more fleshed out presence, and the winks and nods to various plotlines/characters from both comics and movies were nice as well. The standout scene for me was the Quicksilver scene, which had the audience, myself included, rolling and cheering. When I first saw the pictures of him and his outfit, I thought he was going to be the worst thing in the movie, and he ended up being my favorite. I felt the time travel story was straight forward, and uncomplicated. No crazy twisty, timey-wimey convoluted stuff we often get with time travel. It's like Back to the Future in that regard, which also had a pretty straight forward take on time travel (although, ironically more complicated than DoFP, for a comedy).
My criticisms of the film are very few, for the most part:
The opening was the weakest part, for me. It was visually well done, but very exposition heavy that felt sloppy. It felt like we were missing a movie in between The Wolverine and Days of Future Past. It seemed like we should have gotten another movie in between those two, set in the future, that kind of established that setting, and why it was so important to change it. With that said, it still does a good job of setting the tone of the film, but it felt under-utilized. I am a fan of starting stories en medias res, however, so I don't know.
Fassbender was pretty dialed down in this one, I felt. Granted, I don't feel he had much screentime or meat to work with, but I think his performance in First Class was stronger. He does have some excellent stuff once the story gets going full swing, however.
Hank McCoy. I love Beast, but his makeup was pretty bad, and the actor who plays him is...boring? I guess is the word. He felt kind of useless for the direct plot of saving the future, but he was important to Xavier's story in between First Class and 1973. We just don't get to see much of that. He was just kind of there.
The future mutants were really cool, but we didn't get to know them very well, so when shit starts hitting the fan, we feel something. That's where I felt a movie that took place in the future would have been nice to have, starring Blink, Bishop, Warpath, Kitty, etc, etc. I felt they had some interesting dynamics to them that we missed out on.
Some of the special effects, in particular a night time scene looked pretty weak. Mostly just that one scene, but for a $250 million movie, I was surprised.Overall, though, the movie looked great.
Jennifer Lawrence's duck face in that one scene they show in the trailers (and at the end of Amazing Spider-Man 2, if I recall). I love Jennifer Lawrence, but I hate the duck face. I know her lips are kind of full and pouty, but man, it looked really stupid.
I don't give movies scores, but I definitely recommend it as a "Watch" for people that may have been turned off of the franchise after The Last Stand, and never gave First Class or The Wolverine a shot. These last three X-Men movies have been incredibly solid and enjoyable, even if they aren't perfect and have some dodgy elements.
EDIT: Also, let me know if anything above should be in spoiler tags. I tried to be as spoiler free as possible, but I may have missed some stuff.
I was pretty convinced she wasn't going to like DoFP, but she loved it. She actually applauded when it was over, and I don't think I've seen her do that for a movie in a while. I don't even think she did it for Godzilla, and she loved that one too. She was more relieved that it wasn't a big steaming pile of shit like The Last Stand, she said.
I felt it was a solid, entertaining movie with more humor than I was expecting given its grim premise, and I felt the characters and acting were great. I loved Mystique having a bigger, more fleshed out presence, and the winks and nods to various plotlines/characters from both comics and movies were nice as well. The standout scene for me was the Quicksilver scene, which had the audience, myself included, rolling and cheering. When I first saw the pictures of him and his outfit, I thought he was going to be the worst thing in the movie, and he ended up being my favorite. I felt the time travel story was straight forward, and uncomplicated. No crazy twisty, timey-wimey convoluted stuff we often get with time travel. It's like Back to the Future in that regard, which also had a pretty straight forward take on time travel (although, ironically more complicated than DoFP, for a comedy).
My criticisms of the film are very few, for the most part:
The opening was the weakest part, for me. It was visually well done, but very exposition heavy that felt sloppy. It felt like we were missing a movie in between The Wolverine and Days of Future Past. It seemed like we should have gotten another movie in between those two, set in the future, that kind of established that setting, and why it was so important to change it. With that said, it still does a good job of setting the tone of the film, but it felt under-utilized. I am a fan of starting stories en medias res, however, so I don't know.
Fassbender was pretty dialed down in this one, I felt. Granted, I don't feel he had much screentime or meat to work with, but I think his performance in First Class was stronger. He does have some excellent stuff once the story gets going full swing, however.
Hank McCoy. I love Beast, but his makeup was pretty bad, and the actor who plays him is...boring? I guess is the word. He felt kind of useless for the direct plot of saving the future, but he was important to Xavier's story in between First Class and 1973. We just don't get to see much of that. He was just kind of there.
The future mutants were really cool, but we didn't get to know them very well, so when shit starts hitting the fan, we feel something. That's where I felt a movie that took place in the future would have been nice to have, starring Blink, Bishop, Warpath, Kitty, etc, etc. I felt they had some interesting dynamics to them that we missed out on.
Some of the special effects, in particular a night time scene looked pretty weak. Mostly just that one scene, but for a $250 million movie, I was surprised.Overall, though, the movie looked great.
Jennifer Lawrence's duck face in that one scene they show in the trailers (and at the end of Amazing Spider-Man 2, if I recall). I love Jennifer Lawrence, but I hate the duck face. I know her lips are kind of full and pouty, but man, it looked really stupid.
I don't give movies scores, but I definitely recommend it as a "Watch" for people that may have been turned off of the franchise after The Last Stand, and never gave First Class or The Wolverine a shot. These last three X-Men movies have been incredibly solid and enjoyable, even if they aren't perfect and have some dodgy elements.
EDIT: Also, let me know if anything above should be in spoiler tags. I tried to be as spoiler free as possible, but I may have missed some stuff.
