Spoiler-Free Diet: X-Men: Days of Future Past

Solid cast, all around.

The most recent entry into the sometimes decent, sometimes awful X-men movie franchise is, fortunately, from the former category. I went with a group and most everyone liked it. The Wife fell asleep, but she ended work late and starts early, so that's understandable. Oh, and the movie doesn't try to engage folks not interested in the series already, which is a bit of a weakness.

Oh, and no spoilers below, so feel free to glut yourself on some nerdy review goodness.

The Good

Acting - The cast for this movie was pretty stellar, an

Future Sunspot, Kitty Pryde, Iceman, and Colossus

d no one dropped the ball. Moreover, everyone was somewhat interesting and had a place/purpose, even the folks set in the future, which we only see for a few scenes. This is in direct contrast to X-Men: Last Stand, which wasted talent, characters, storylines, and was just generally unwieldy. This was a decent sized cast, but it was handled well.

Story - Many movies that try, fail to make sense of time travel, or leave large plot holes. This movie didn't have any issues with it -- technically it was time travel lite, with simple rules and simple, well-defined consequences, but it helped in that it didn't detract from the story. I've read reviews online that say it were confusing -- they either watched a different movie than I did, or simply weren't paying attention.

This is a story about characters. Yes, there's obviously a big-bad event that causes the future to go awry, but the solution doesn't lie in stopping the event, rather in changing the players involved. It's a different take on a super hero movie and not done completely well -- without a major focus, the movie does seem to drift a bit from time to time and, scaled against super hero movies, even runs a bit on the boring side. It's never bad, and it ends well and with interesting results, it just wasn't quite as focused as it could have been.

Action - Early on, there are two amazing action scenes. The rest of the movie moves away from them and there isn't too much fighting until the very end, and it doesn't really compare to the beginning sets. Either way, it was worth it (and still had more fighting than Godzilla... heh).

Correcting wrongs - The X-Men movies have been full of plot holes and errors, especially since X-Men: First Class, which tried to set itself apart from having to correct the wrongs of Last Stand. This movie, using a bit of time travel, does fix some of these issues, which is nice. It also more-or-less gives Last Stand the middle finger, which is very good. There are still some issues, which I could go into but won't, but they're not quite as glaring as they had been. Sort of. Hey, at least they're making an effort. And, really, it's consistent with the X-Men comics in the '90s -- overly convoluted with too many writers and no real cohesion.

The Bad

Mystique - This is definitely a personal issue, but I hate Mystique. I've never liked the comic or movie character, and I think the movie version looks stupid. Jennifer Lawrence was fine, but the fact that the movie focuses on her so much (figuratively and literally, those close-ups, man) annoyed me. I'm very much on the side of "there are so many MORE interesting X-Men characters....", and it does sometimes impact my ability to see past things such as "movie rights" and silly things like that. The plot device she's used for makes some sort of sense (kind of, and was worked in from First Class), but there are several other mutants that would have made more sense and been much more interesting. The focus on Charles' relationship with her always annoys me, though conceptually I understand a need to tie characters together on a deeper emotional level.

But still, Mystique. Ugh.

First Class - The "back in time" portion takes place ten years after the events in First Class, but the intervening ten years are only briefly mentioned and hardly seem to fit. I didn't see a reason for that particular time jump (heh), and it grated for me whenever they mentioned it in passing.

Comics - The "future" portion was a mash-up of the comic arcs "Days of Future Past," the issues that introduced Bishop/Apocalypse's dark future, and the "Age of Apocalypse" (thanks to Blink's presence) arcs. This, to me, was a waste. Bishop's future, in the comics, was so much more interesting than the briefly touched upon "Days of Future Past," timeline. It was nice seeing him in the film, but I'm a bit bummed that, should he appear in the next one, it will lesson the normal impact of his character on the X-Men universe.

Also, the future wasn't used nearly enough. A couple snapshots of an apocalyptic wasteland are really all we see, then it focuses very closely on the Future group, never straying far from their hideout. I wanted to see more of why the future was rubbish -- it's my favorite setting.

Sentinels - The future ones look too similar the The Destroyer from Thor. The past ones don't do much. These are iconic X-Men enemies in the comics, but they were under-utilized in the extreme here.

Future sentinel. It's face opens in a familiar manner...

Focus - The story, lacking a major, stand out villain, loses focus. Is Trask the target? Is Magneto the true enemy? Can the future even be changed? Etc... This wasn't assisted by an unnecessary scene or two in the future, which dragged our attention further away, without adding the intended suspense.

The focus on characters wasn't exactly what I wanted it to be either. The most interesting character in the entire film was introduced and cast aside fairly early. And the comic arc had followed Kitty Pryde back to the past, not Wolverine. True, I think Wolverine worked in this aspect, but super hero movies in general need stronger female leads, and the writers of this missed a great opportunity to use a wonderful actress (Ellen Page) to her fullest extent.

Wasted opportunity, not having this shot somewhere in the film.

... Despite my constant gripes, I liked the movie. I also liked it a TON better than I expected. But I do have my gripes. Arbitrary rating of 7/10. I'm now fairly excited for the next movie (stay after the credits!).


... I hadn't bothered to post about it, but my rating for Godzilla is an 8/10 and am super excited to see what they do next with the series.

Extra! Extra! X-Men Edition

As promises, here's some suggested reading dealing with the X-Men!

X-Men: First Class This seems like a good place to start. As a comic series, First Class started as an 8 run mini-series that, as far as I can tell, got a regular series (and barely related movie title) due to popularity. The series follows the original X-Men (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Angel, Iceman, and Beast) through untold stories that happened during the early years of the comics. You don't need to have read the original series, but they will make a few references to other events that occurred. The writing, art, and story lines are all fantastic, and, while I haven't completed the entire series yet, I have found it very enjoyable. This is a 9/10 for me. Issues to Collect: Volume 1 #1-8 (that is a good sample to see if you want to keep reading, which I would suggest that you do).
The Amazing X-Men: Age of Apocalypse If you are surprised to find this on here, you don't know me or this blog very well! I love post apocalyptic setting and this just happens to be one ruled over by a guy names Apocalypse! This is the story of world if Charles Xavier had been killed before founding the X-Men. Apoc takes over and turns the world into a Mutant run hellhole, with the only safe place being Europe. Humans are a race on the way to extinction and the nastiest mutants around rule in their stead. The protagonists, then, are teams of X-Men founded by none other than Magneto himself, who doesn't agree with Apoc's extreme (and murderous) views. The team feaured in this book is made up of Quicksilver and Storm (the leaders), Dazzler, Banshee, Iceman, and Exodus. They're tasked with helping evacuate humans through Maine to Europe, but things get more complicated every step of the way. The original AoA event was pretty interesting -- ever X-book that was out at the time suddenly became set in this bleak timeline and featured completely different versions of the most recognizable faces (Cyclops is actually on of Apoc's top lieutenants, for example). The story lines converged eventually, leading to the end of the event and the Age of Apocalypse... except we've been shown since then that the universe of AoA is alive and kicking, with all new heroes and problems. This run, specifically, gets an 8/10 from me. Issues to Collect: #1-4, and the other X-books set during this time would be good additions too (especially issues Alpha and Omega, which tied the series together).
X-Men: World War Hulk The world should have known better than to make Hulk mad! The "Illuminati", of which Charles Xavier was part, decided that the Hulk was too big a threat to remain on Earth. When Hulk eventually got back, he was none too pleased. This mini-series has Hulk planning to take his vengeance on Xavier, by killing him and anyone that gets in his way. It's mostly an action packed run, but that can be good from time to time. It also has one of my favorite versus match ups: Wolverine vs. Hulk. The way the fight ends is pretty damn decisive for once, too. This short series is an 8/10 for me. Issues to Collect: #1-3, and the main World War Hulk line would be pretty good to get too.
Fatal Attractions This specific item is a cross-over story line that hit all the major X-books out at the time. The story is that Magneto, along with his Acolytes, return and the confrontation with the X-Men begins anew. As a series, it is best known for the issue in which Magneto forcefully rips the adamantium from Wolverine's bones. Unfortunately, I can't comment on more than that or give it an official rating -- I'm missing one issue and refuse to read the others until I have it. It's on here because it is one of my most anticipated story lines to read. I'll edit this with a scoring when I finally find the last title (ironically, the Wolverine issue). If it helps, all the covers have are wrap-around and have a hologram component. Issues to Collect: X-Factor #92, X-Force #25, Uncanny X-Men #304, X-Men (Volume 2) #25, Wolverine (Volume 2) #75, Excalibur #71.
House of M Similar to AoA, this Marvel Event features an alternate timeline in which Mutants have become the dominant species and "pure" humans are second class citizens. Unlike AoA, this reality is ruled over by the "House of M", which is to say Magneto and his family. It is created by the Scarlet Witch's powers when she goes a bit nuts. Her reasons for going crazy are a bit complicated, so I'll leave it there. The major Marvel characters are all given different origins and supposedly given versions of their lives that they'd have wished for (IE, Spidey is a movie star married to Gwen Stacy and has his Uncle Ben as an agent). Mutants have great lives and humans, while second class citizens, are able to function and rise in society (Tony Stark being the major example). The main House of M story line starts with Wolverine realizing that reality has been changed -- due to the mess his mind has become through past manipulations, he alone retained all his original memories (I think that's the explanation given). His mission is to gather the heroes, make them remember, and then force Scarlet Witch to turn things back to normal. This, of course, happens, but with catastrophic results -- a whispered phrase, "No more Mutants." The event gets a solid 8/10 from me. Issues to Collect: #1-8, and I also enjoyed the Spider-Man (#1-5) and Iron Man (#1-3) tie ins.

You may notice I'm missing some great X-Men events/story lines. That's because I probably haven't read them, to be completely honest. If you can, please suggest some! I'm already collecting Ultimate X-Men, but any other suggestions would be welcome.

Next week: I will due Spider-Man suggestions, based on my top 5 favorite costumes. This is due to the fact that I will be taking "50 Shades of Spidey" post down for maintenance while I try to work some issues out. Swing by Wednesday for some Video Game updates!

Movie Breakdown: The Amazing Spider-Man

I'm going to take a more detailed look at The Amazing Spider-Man than in my last, quick post. There will be SPOILERS mixed in, so if you're looking for an opinion piece sans spoilers, check out the post just before this one.

-------------------Potentially Major Spoilers Live Here-------------------

First, the movie as a reboot of a previous series. This is always a difficult thing to do for a comic book series -- generally, the previous set of movies were working off of the same source material the new movie should be. X-Men First Class decided to do an original story and suffered for it (a decent superhero movie, a bad Marvel movie that will have the same issues the first series did with expanding into sequels).

The first (Toby) Spider-Man film took a lot of things from the comics for Spidey's origin story and added a few twists. It also did some things that really screwed with the comic book timeline, and the later movies suffered for it.

(Toby) Spider-Man:
-Peter developed a costume to wrestle for money. In the comics, he did this for money and fame and did it more than once.
-Peter let a burglar go that ended up killing Uncle Ben. In the comics, the burglar ended up breaking in to the Parker residence and killing Ben in their home.
-Mary Jane is Peter's first (and only) love. In the comics, Gwen Stacy is the first serious relationship. MJ is actually friends with the both of them, and Peter, Gwen, and MJ date other characters before ever getting serious.
-The bridge scene, also known as the "Sadistic Choice" is done in such a way that Spidey saves everyone. This really is a flaw in the character development dept. -- this scene is actually where Gwen Stacy died, forever changing Spidey.

The Amazing Spider-Man:
-Peter gets the idea for his first mask after falling into an old wrestling ring. This is a nice twist on the old theme. It also comes AFTER Ben's death -- Peter doesn't have a reason to become a vigilante until then.
-The burglar interaction in this film is much different than Toby's and the comics. That being said, it is a fresher, less Deus Ex Machina version -- Peter leaves the house angry, Ben follows him. Peter goes into a convenience store and is not allowed to purchase chocolate milk because he is two cents short. The cashier is very rude. Peter is leaving when the burglar distracts the cashier, steals the money from the register, and throws Peter the milk. Burglar flees, cashier gives chase and asks Peter to help, Peter using the line "not my policy" in homage to earlier versions. Burglar runs into Ben across the street, drops his gun, and then struggles with Ben for the gun, which goes off, killing Ben where Peter can see it.
-The line "With great power comes with great responsibility" isn't given verbatim in the film, which is accurate to the comics. It is paraphrased, but not painfully so.
-Gwen Stacy story is changed up a bit. In the comics, they meet in college. Also, she does not know who Spidey is. Finally, the death of her father, in the comics, was as a result of a Spidey vs. Doc Ock fight. In the movie, they switched it up by having him play a more active role in a Lizard fight before being killed.


(Amazing) paid a lot more attention to the actual origin story of Spider-Man. They changed a lot of things, but they didn't do anything that would deter them seriously from doing any major comic storyline. They will have the interesting struggle with the death of Gwen Stacy -- will they be ballsy enough to do so, or will they try to find some way to keep her alive (similar to the Ultimate comics) and, once again, ruin that plot? I couldn't say.

Something else new to this film would be Spidey's costume. It's not my favorite, but I respect that they did something different and new. At the end of the day, it is at least interesting looking and fits the darker theme of this film. (Toby) Spider-Man was a camp fest of epic proportions; (Amazing) wasn't having it.

That, for me, is the best improvement. Watching the original trilogy recently gave me a lot of cringe-worthy moments. It was super-campy, from costume designs (seriously Green Goblin?) to dialogue to the fight scenes. (Amazing) had some flaws, but it took itself very seriously. The costume(s) looked realistic enough, the writing was good (other than when they made Peter SUPER AWKWARD), and the fight scenes were top notch (when they happened).

Runner up to the best improvement was that (Amazing) actually featured a new and learning Spider-Man. (Toby) seems to jump into the red and blues and already be fully capable as a hero. Garfield has to work at it throughout the entire movie, and it is done very well. Also, the Lizard character is treated as more than just a brutish animal, and this is another example of better character development than I'd have expected.

Sequel speculation: I expect to see either Norman Osborn or Morbius in the next film. As the main villains, I couldn't say, but they are hinted enough in the film/game to warrant an appearance.

For now I'm going to wrap up this post with a list of (Amazing) flaws, I may edit with some more thoughts in the future.

Amazing Spider-Man Flaws (and yet, I still loved this movie):
-Peter Parker had some awkward interactions, specifically with Gwen Stacy. Awkwardness CAN be done well -- it wasn't here. I'm sure future viewings will make these moments even more painful.
-This was a Peter Parker movie more than it was a Spider-Man movie. This isn't so much as a flaw as a skewed expectation. A better movie over-all, but not much super heroics occur in relation to other films.
-Several loose ends were either left for the next films or just ignored. This include what happened to Peter's parents, the burglar who killed Ben, the Oscorp representative on the bridge, and the mid-credits scene (which is only here because it was too vague).
-The last scene of Captain Stacy just seemed so... poorly acted compared to the rest of the movie. And I did NOT like Gwen 'guessing' what her father told Peter. My wife disagrees with me on this point, however.
-There may be a few things I'm missing, I'll add them if I think about it!