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[KFC]

[One-Word...]
- FINALLY... see this one...
- After so many false starts and average spin-offs this franchise delivers

[Plot]
- MASSIVE SPOILER

Spoiler: Show

While the plot to stop Mystique is true, the plot devices here actually serve to all-but erase the previous films from existence, and set up any to come. So thank fuck for that.

- We join the movie in a dystopian future following the activation of the Sentinel programme, and the subsequent enslavement of mutants and those who helped them
- Mystique (operating alone after Magneto's imprisonment after the previous film

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for his role in the JFK assassination

) had previously killed Dr. Bolivar Trask (a scientist responsible for the Sentinel idea and the experimentation on / deaths of many mutants) at the 1973 Paris Peace Accord, thereby setting off a chain reaction of events that leads to the Sentinels being activated to protect humanity against the mutant threat
- Mystique herself is then captured and tortured to give the Sentinels the ability to adjust to any mutant they face
- Some humans work with the mutants, but the resulting war involves catastrophic losses
- Still in the future, a group of mutants (led by Professor X and Magneto) realise the only hope is to stop this initial event, and to do so one of them must travel back
- Wolverine is the only mutant that can withstand the process, and must convince Charles to re-unite with Magneto to stop Mystique before she can carry out her plans
- And other stuff that will just be one massive spoiler tag so I'll leave you to find out...

[Pros]
- Resolves so many of the gripes from previous films

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Magneto is a bad guy again... the old cast are back (even the imho miscast Anna Paquin as Rogue)... hopefully they keep Cyclops from being a monumental pussy this time

and can't wait for the next installment
- Sentinels are pretty kickass in this movie, in the future and

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when Magneto goes feral and takes them over in the past

- Some nice uses of 3D and humour, especially when Quicksilver does his thing at the Pentagon (which is, imo, arguably one of the best sequences in an X-Men / action movie in general tbh)... can see why he wasn't in the movie much after that though... pretty OP...
- Has a major case of the feels later in the movie when

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all the mutants in the future are being systematically killed, with Raven / Mystique coming to the conclusion of her arc and having to decide whether or not she can carry it out with Charles in her face, and when Wolverine wakes up and realises things have changed in the future... and sees Jean

- Hang around for the scene after the credits

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why? Because Apocalypse and the Four Horsemen, that's why... even though I knew that Apocalypse was the name of the next movie I was concerned they might just refer to some random Apocalypse... nope... it's him

[Cons]
- Some of the time travel theories were a bit flakey / cliche

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especially around how Kitty can now send people back in time... the future still existing until Wolverine died / woke up... and how certainly things were always going to happen

but ultimately served the purpose of progressing the plot... really didn't care about that tbh and was only a very minor gripe for me
- Can be argued that the more important / bankable stars were used in this movie... but to be honest the others that weren't in it very much had been pretty poorly utilised in other movies so again a rather minor gripe
- The reveal that

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JFK was apparently a mutant...

was a bit cringe...

[Rating]
4.5 KFC buckets out of 5, really enjoyed this, and if you are an X-Men fan that has felt disappointed walking out of previous movies you really shouldn't with this one...

[Deepjay]

What'd you think of the previous one out of interest? With the new cast of the characters a la their younger versions?

I really quite liked it. It wasn't perfect, the last part was a bit naff, but i quite liked the way they did it.

With this current movie, did make me smile to see the Sentinel's finally making an appearance.

[KFC]

First Class?

Yeah I enjoyed that too, it was good to take some of the emphasis away from the originals because the X-Men in that series had been really bastardised...

This one built on the successful formula of that and was even better though imo. It successfully merged the two worlds.

[Funks]

some brutal death scenes

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metal man getting ripped in half

[KFC]

Yeah true.

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The Sentinels really did a number on Colossus...

Violence was a lot more visceral in this one... Bishop being overloaded with energy and exploding... Storm and others getting impaled... mutants being burned to death by the Sentinel beams... which added to the tension really. You could see they were being fucked up.

[LoliLoveFart]

I enjoyed the movie but I just couldn't like how they sent wolverine back not Kitty. #purist

[KFC]

Kitty wouldn't have been born yet? So going into her younger self wasn't possible?

Plus the stresses etc etc.

[LoliLoveFart]

In the comics she is a teenager of unspecified age when she has her concsious sent back from 30 years in the future. The mind tearing thing was a plot device to justify sending wolverine back instead.

[KFC]

Well.

In the comics Kitty was able to phase herself / others short distances for a small amount of time, not 50-odd years. It was Marvel Girl who transported her back into her younger body.

If you can suspend disbelief that actually Kitty can do this herself in the first place then having Wolverine as the character instead isn't that much of a stretch. Sure, it was a plot device to allow the timelines to coincide (especially given Wolverine and Charles had far more history together), but if you're a #purist that should be the least of your concerns. It really had to be another mutant.

[LoliLoveFart]

A lot was wrong with the movie if you are going from the comics. Not confined to: the fact that the sentinel program was rolled out in just America and the rest of the world was threatening to nuke america which was the major drive not the extinction of mutants (muh selflessness), also when kitty is sent back, the X mansion is in full swing not run down and falling apart. Also IIRC the only reason they send kitty back is because she is the only one of the X Men in the older timeline not to have mental blocks prepared by Proffesor X; so he can read her future mind and confirm her intent and validity. The film was fairly enjoyable and yeah it did make those car crashes null and void but it was a different days of future past to the one I knew and that is probably my only major gripe, a fairly toothless argument against the film all things considered with the comic book film.

[KFC]

Yeah, and killing off Senator Kelly in the first X-Men movie meant it was always going to be different anyway...

Good to hear it didn't really affect your enjoyment of the film... hopefully other purists feel the same but you can't please everyone.

[TOMbombadill]

"all-but erase the previous films from existence, and set up any to come. So thank f**k for that. "

YES YES YEEEEEES THANK FUKING GOD.

now i might get excited for a xmen movie. one where cyclops isnt a pussy. i stoped reading xmen in the late 90s

[KFC]

Interesting write-up on some of the aspects of this movie that have already been raised:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jacelacob/x-men ... rg-answers

[Sotha]

Wasn't that impressed with this.

Felt forced in so many parts. Haven't really seen many if any of the previous x-men mind you so maybe that helps.

Old xavier saying early xavier needs convincing, having old and early xavier reunite to convince him to do good blah blah I don't even know what the deal with this was. Good guy is a bad guy whos a good guy but really they don't understand eachother but they do and I've fucked up wolverine for some reason.

Maybe you need to be into x-men to like it I dunno. Felt clunky but overall a decent watch.

My review is disjointed because I didn't hate it enough or really follow it enough to remember what it was I didn't like specifically. I just left the theatre with that feeling of 'Eh.'. You know, that feeling where you think of the other things you could've been doing with that time. I think I need stories to be tighter these days, or something really awesome to make up for it being loosey goosey.

3/5

Edit: gets the extra 0.5 for quicksilver scenes being several grades of awesome.

[KFC]

Yeah for me the more important part was how it finished and resolved may of the outstanding niggles from previous films. That was why I rated it so highly and ignored some of the shortcomings.

I can see how not being an X-Men fan might affect your enjoyment... but that's to be expected tbh...

[ColonelBlair]

Just saw this on Friday. Enjoyed it.

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Not exactly sure why they needed to free Magneto though... maybe I forget the reasoning. It didn't seem to be turn out that well for them doing it. And I don't know why Charles didn't mind rape him into going back to his plastic prison.

There's a lot of things you can point at and say they could've done differently...

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why not send Wolverine back in time just a bit further when they were all friends and perhaps a bit more open to chit-chat?

But obviously you need to make decisions which will make for a more entertaining movie so I don't care about that stuff too much.

Interested to see where they go next.

[Tobias]

"all-but erase the previous films from existence, and set up any to come. So thank f**k for that. "

YES YES YEEEEEES THANK FUKING GOD.

now i might get excited for a xmen movie. one where cyclops isnt a pussy. i stoped reading xmen in the late 90s

First two x-men movies were great though, and remain in the top tier of good comic book movies, directed by the same guy who did DoFP. Was only the third movie and onwards that things went downhill.

Cyclops will always be a whiny bitch.

[KFC]

That's a pretty bold statement.

Especially considering in the comics he was widely accepted as a great leader of the X-Men. Even though Wolverine didn't like him he knew not to fuck with him otherwise he'd be blasted through a wall.

In the movies he was this pussy-whipped little bitch who then ended up jumping franchises.

And the point about the previous movies was exactly that, they'd gone off the rails and needed to be reset. Introducing Apocalypse is a great idea, someone who should have been more involved earlier tbh. Looking forward to see where they take this now.

[Monk]

The first X-Men film gets paid so much lip service for being "a great comic book movie" but try watching it now, seriously. It's aged beyond belief, not to mention the weird class imagery.*

The second X-Men film, though, United, was and still is good.

*I know it ushered in the modern comic book movie blockbuster. Well, it and BLADE!!