Escape to the Movies: X-Men: Days of Future Past

[lebuteur]

Bob's reviews basically boil down to "I don't like this movie because it isn't Avengers" now. It's getting pretty sad. I know he loves Avengers but it was in essence, a dumb action movie with big budget CGI sequences and big names. A fun movie, but nothing amazing.

DOFP was a really good movie with loads of great acting and a great ensemble cast. Focusing on the trio of Mystique, Xavier and Magneto as main characters really made the movie work. Wolverine is more of a background character compared to those 3. Peter Dinklage was great, the visuals were spectacular and it was great to see the old cast and some new mutants turn up and partake in some great action sequences. Plus it was really emotional and character driven.

I always find myself disagreeing with people who call The Avengers a "Big Dumb action movie", because that diminishes how well it's made, and what it accomplishes, especially since half of what you used to praise DoFP could be said for the Avengers, since it still had great acting from a large cast, all the characters interacted well on-screen, the visuals were spectacular, with old and new heroes coming together for great action sequences. DoFP is pretty ambitious, but it's held back by key flaws. I can't say for sure whether one film is better than the other, each film has strengths and weaknesses. One thing I will say through, First Class, better than DoFP, and Avengers in my opinion. I also never got the "I don't like this movie because it isn't Avengers", vibe from this review at all. He never offers any sort of compare and contrast between this movie or that movie at any point, only briefly mentioning the fact that DoFP was made as Fox's Big Crisis Crossover answer to The Avengers, and..... yeah it pretty much was, especially when you consider that Fox had no real interest in expanding the X-men universe before The Avengers made big money, if so they would have immediately followed up on making strong sequels to First Class instead of basically going "Eh. Wolverine's the only X-men anyone really cares about, so let's give him a movie. Oh yeah, and Avengers, we need to make one of those, but with X-man." "But sir, doesn't something like that take time, genuine effort, money, and several movies worth of proper world-building in order to properly set up?" "No.", but perhaps I'm just being cynical. It's best to focus on the actual movie, rather than the business that goes into making the movie. So....
TL DR: Avengers or DoFP, I don't consider one better than the other, and First Class was better than both.

To clarify - I liked The Avengers and had a great time in the cinema watching it, but it is a dumb movie. It's there for the action sequences and one liners, and not any sort of character development. And comparing 2 ensemble superhero movies, DOFP gets it right in terms of character development because there actually is some, compared to Avengers where it is non-existent.

Wolverine isn't even the main character at all. He was pretty useless overall. You're being waaaay too cynical. Oh well, everyone on this website has an irrational hard-on for Marvel, especially Bob. The films are enjoyable yeah, but a lot of them are very flawed - for example both Thor films are incredibly average movies. But everyone on this website loves Marvel so much they just don't see the flaws at all.

Avengers worked because all of those characters had already HAD their development in their individual movies, and having some character development does not excuse having MASSIVE plot-riddled throughout the movie.

Not sure why anyone loves First Class so much tbh. I watched it again recently and it's super camp, and so much of the dialogue is painfully trite. I found myself predicting the next line or rest of the sentence most of the time. Plus the plot of that movie didn't do anything much for me. I liked the chemistry between Xavier and Magneto but that was about it.

DoFP, on the other hand, was really compelling. Waaaayyyy better script, clever, unpredictable plot, and the emotional scenes were far more convincing. I felt way more invested in this film than I have any other X-Men film, or indeed the Avengers, which was full of the kind of very slightly amusing Joss Whedon snark that makes me not so much laugh as exhale sharply.

 

[wswordsmen]

Wait, hang on, the X-Men movies are using Quicksilver? I assumed the reason he was able to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films was because he was licensed SEPERATELY from the rest of the X-Men characters, or something?

Actually it is because he is in 2 major franchises. The X-men because that is where he first appeared, and the Avengers where he spent most of his time. Black Panther might actually fall into the same niche if he ever gets a movie (FF not X-Men though).

 

[Silverspetz]

Avengers worked because all of those characters had already HAD their development in their individual movies, and having some character development does not excuse having MASSIVE plot-riddled throughout the movie.

If you're referring to the fact that Kitty now has a random power allowing her to send minds back in time as a plot hole - in X-Men lore you have secondary mutations, which give extra powers or characteristics. For example Wolverine has his healing factor and then his bone claws as his secondary mutation. Nightcrawler has teleportation and also fuzzy blueness. Rationalise it as Kitty having this secondary time travel mind thing as her secondary mutation instead of just calling it out as "PLOT HOLE PLOT HOLE".

See, that WOULD work, except the movie never once explained it that way. Hell, they never even hinted at it. It is one thing to try and rationalize something based on what we know FROM THE MOVIE, but if you have to dig deep into the X-men lore just to find something that COULD explain the premise that the entire story rests upon, then that is a plot-hole. So how about you learn something about basic storytelling before you call everyone who even DARES to point out some major flaws in a movie they ultimately like "irrational". The movie may have enough strengths to survive a few holes (even if they are BIG ones), but that doesn't mean said holes shouldn't be criticized.

It's not just the Kitty-thing either. Last time I checked Prof X was disintegrated in Last Stand (you know, that movie that this movie is definitely in-canon with) yet here he is, alive and kicking (figuratively speaking).

 

[KazeAizen]

Wait, hang on, the X-Men movies are using Quicksilver? I assumed the reason he was able to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films was because he was licensed SEPERATELY from the rest of the X-Men characters, or something?

Sort of. The thing about Quicksilver (and Scarlet Witch who is not in Days of Future Past as far as I know) Is that yes they are mutants, and yes they are X-Men characters, but since they are also fairly big parts of The Avengers as a team and as a series, there was basically a loophole that basically states they're just as much Avengers as they are X-Men.

So they can be used by both studios, but Marvel is not allowed to call them mutants or make any references to Magneto being their father. So I think they're just being addressed as super powered (which if you really think about it, we haven't had many naturally powered characters in the MCU yet) and Baron Strucker is taking over the role of their adoptive father...also I guess these twins will be replacing Strucker's actual twin children, Andrea and Andreas.

I'm not entirely sure how certain copyrights for certain characters work when it comes to securing movie rights. For instance, neither Wolverine nor Mystique made their debut appearances in X-Men related books of any kind. They first appeared in Hulk and Ms. Marvel respectively. So they appeared in stuff Marvel does own the movie rights to, but Fox gets them because they have X-Men. So I wonder how a character like Squirrel Girl would work. She is a mutant, but first appeared in Iron Man. I'm not sure where she falls film rights wise (Given that I don't think SG has ever really worked with the X-Men, I'm sure she falls under Avengers, but like the twins, I'm sure they couldn't call her a mutant)

On another side, Punisher first appeared in Spiderman. Yet Marvel has Punisher rights despite Sony refusing to let go of Spiderman.

So I'm not entirely sure how the whole copyright thing works. I guess it's not where the character first appeared, but where they tend to fall as far as comics go, which is why I get why Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch certainly fall on both sides.

...I'm mainly curious where Alpha Flight falls. They first appeared in X-Men, but c'mon...the Canadian Avengers. I totally want that to be a part of the MCU.

Its a very nebulous realm. Since new characters traditionally appear in another's book I could see why you would be confused. However since those comics have been going on since the 60s I think what really matters is how the character has changed or evolved publication wise. i.e. Wolverine and Mystique may not have originated in an X-men book but in the long term publication of them they were ingrained into the X-men and mutant side of the Marvel universe. Ergo they are part of the X-men/mutant movie rights that Fox bought a long time ago. Where as say The Punisher first showed up in Spider-man he has had his own long running series and doesn't come up as a super regular associate of Spider-man the way Black Cat does. So Black Cat is part of the Spidey verse but Punisher is not. It all boils down to a bunch of laws and paper work that us mere mortals can not possibly comprehend.

Hell since Marvel can't use mutants people are speculating that they'll use the Inhumans as the natural super power stand in for them. Which makes sense since Peter was apparently taken into space in the 80s meaning aliens could've been mucking about since then.

 

[Laughing Man]

and comparable to the Avengers, he should just accept there won't be x men and avengers together.

Sorry but no just no this is NOT comparable to The Avengers, it just isn't even in the same ball park, fuck it ain't even in the same league as The Avengers.

The problem with the X Men movies, and that's ALL the Xmen movies is that they all boil down to how can we make this about Wolverine. Which is fine except that Xmen is about exactly that the Xmen, the team as a whole and not just about the one guy who is able to grab the largest part of the commercial pie. Is it any shock that in this movie it just happens to be him that is the only one that can travel back and ergo be the only one of the pre First Class era to appear in the entire movie?

Avengers did the team dynamic thing spot on, yup it had a heavy Iron Man twist but the team stuff it pulled off and pulled off well none of the Xmen movies have managed that, like I said in the end it boils down to focusing on one or two main characters (one usually being Wolverine.)

Also this movie just plain doesn't even try to explain how Prof X has managed to come back from the dead, yeah everyone remember how Phoenix killed him in the third movie? Were we all expecting this movie to use some highly convoluted and really stupid 'reasons' to explain how he in fact did not die or was in fact brought back? Well it doesn't even try, he flies off the plane at the start and that's enough reasons.

It's were it falls over so hard, because I still can;t work out if the movie is trying to be part of the Xmen movie canon, it makes enough reference to the events of the previous movies but leaves a massive gapping hole in the presence of one of the main characters, oh and it doesn't end there. Didn't Wolverine have his metal claws broken off in his second movie, yeah, well they have some how grown back, again for 'reasons'.

Saying that Quicksliver was kinda fun and if anything comes from this very very average movie it will be to seeing how Marvel uses the same character.

Edit *Okay I literally just found this out, turns out that X3 had some bonus post credits scene that explains Prof X being alive, but on further thought it turns out that future Prof X is actually utterly pointless in this movie, he literally isn't needed at all* Oh well.

 

[petef201]

I think it's a little ironic how much he hates the new Spider-Man film, partially for being an unneeded reboot, then has a go at X-Men for not having been rebooted yet. As someone who loves the Avengers films I still think X2 holds up brilliantly and DoFP isn't far off that in quality! Loved it.

 

[petef201]

I think it's a little ironic how much he hates the new Spider-Man film, partially for being an unneeded reboot, then has a go at X-Men for not having been rebooted yet. As someone who loves the Avengers films I still think X2 holds up brilliantly and DoFP isn't far off that in quality! Loved it.

Yeah I was expecting at least a line to explain what happened to Prof X and Wolverine's claws. A line saying Magneto managed to reattach them would've been nice. I guess they assumed more folk will see that than saw The Wolverine, so decided to ignore it. Either way, despite that issue and the magic time-travelling, I loved it!

 

[Gerardo Vazquez]

Bob's reviews basically boil down to "I don't like this movie because it isn't Avengers" now. It's getting pretty sad. I know he loves Avengers but it was in essence, a dumb action movie with big budget CGI sequences and big names. A fun movie, but nothing amazing.

DOFP was a really good movie with loads of great acting and a great ensemble cast. Focusing on the trio of Mystique, Xavier and Magneto as main characters really made the movie work. Wolverine is more of a background character compared to those 3. Peter Dinklage was great, the visuals were spectacular and it was great to see the old cast and some new mutants turn up and partake in some great action sequences. Plus it was really emotional and character driven.

I always find myself disagreeing with people who call The Avengers a "Big Dumb action movie", because that diminishes how well it's made, and what it accomplishes, especially since half of what you used to praise DoFP could be said for the Avengers, since it still had great acting from a large cast, all the characters interacted well on-screen, the visuals were spectacular, with old and new heroes coming together for great action sequences. DoFP is pretty ambitious, but it's held back by key flaws. I can't say for sure whether one film is better than the other, each film has strengths and weaknesses. One thing I will say through, First Class, better than DoFP, and Avengers in my opinion. I also never got the "I don't like this movie because it isn't Avengers", vibe from this review at all. He never offers any sort of compare and contrast between this movie or that movie at any point, only briefly mentioning the fact that DoFP was made as Fox's Big Crisis Crossover answer to The Avengers, and..... yeah it pretty much was, especially when you consider that Fox had no real interest in expanding the X-men universe before The Avengers made big money, if so they would have immediately followed up on making strong sequels to First Class instead of basically going "Eh. Wolverine's the only X-men anyone really cares about, so let's give him a movie. Oh yeah, and Avengers, we need to make one of those, but with X-man." "But sir, doesn't something like that take time, genuine effort, money, and several movies worth of proper world-building in order to properly set up?" "No.", but perhaps I'm just being cynical. It's best to focus on the actual movie, rather than the business that goes into making the movie. So....
TL DR: Avengers or DoFP, I don't consider one better than the other, and First Class was better than both.

To clarify - I liked The Avengers and had a great time in the cinema watching it, but it is a dumb movie. It's there for the action sequences and one liners, and not any sort of character development. And comparing 2 ensemble superhero movies, DOFP gets it right in terms of character development because there actually is some, compared to Avengers where it is non-existent.

Wolverine isn't even the main character at all. He was pretty useless overall. You're being waaaay too cynical. Oh well, everyone on this website has an irrational hard-on for Marvel, especially Bob. The films are enjoyable yeah, but a lot of them are very flawed - for example both Thor films are incredibly average movies. But everyone on this website loves Marvel so much they just don't see the flaws at all.

I think you're misusing the phrase "dumb movie", The Avengers had a simple plot to be sure, but at no point did it insult anyone's intelligence. I also have to argue against the "no character development" line. Both Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and Thor have notable on screen arcs, and just because doesn't develop doesn't make them bad characters, because Avengers has a tight screen play, and great dialogue between each of the team members, and that more than makes up for a lack of character development. My cynicism has nothing to do with the fact that Wolverine has a role in DoFP, I've already been told he doesn't do much, my cynicism stems from the way Fox has been handling this whole "cinematic universe" business. Rather than actually make quality follow-ups to First Class, they decided to spend time and money to give Wolverine his own pointless sequel, then jumping straight into a "Super Crisis uber-retcon, plot holes up the butthole, cluster buster", because "we need to make our own Avengers movie now, and we don't want to put in the proper time and effort needed to properly set a film.". I can attest that tons of people like Marvel movies, and they most certainly aren't all good, but what sets apart the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the X-men cinematic universe is that Marvel has already put time and effort into creating a in depth plan for a muti-movie spanning narrative unlike any other company has done before. When I see a Marvel movie I don't just enjoy the film itself, I enjoy that's it a part of some bigger scheme years in the making, and that all these different films are going to tie back into the next big Avengers sequel. Meanwhile companies like Fox and DC are desperately to recreate this success with by bashing their one or two intellectual properties together trying blatantly trying to make Avengers level money by just bashing whatever characters and plot threads they still have lying around from whatever X-men movies they still have lying around. It feels like a soulless attempt to squeeze money out of my wallet by copying what's successful rather than a genuine attempt to make a rich film franchise I want to return to over and over again like Marvel is doing. Of course, the fact that I still consider DoFP a good film in spite of it's issues and my issues with it's creation is a testament to how good a film it is. Once again I still won't budge, and argue that it's better than the Avengers or that the Avengers is better than it. The two movies are too different in execution, and how they stick the landing. Ironically enough The Avengers looks on paper like a barebones dumb action movie with a simple plot, that becomes richer via good character writing, pacing, and a tight screenplay, whereas DoFP tries to be a rich deep drama, with a tangled time travel plot, and ends up tripping over itself so much that the most note worthy aspects are "hey look an action scene."

 

[StriderShinryu]

Just got home from seeing the movie and I have to say I generally enjoyed it. It did a good job of creating an interesting story that existed in both the First Class world as well as the original trilogy world. I just wish it didn't feel so hand wavey about a couple of things. First, how did Prof X come back to life after Last Stand? I wouldn't have been happy if it was just a simple one off explanation but at least it would have been better than totally ignoring it. Second, I just didn't buy the whole Prof X can walk now but can't use his powers because of Beasts drugs. I'm not really even sure why they felt they needed to have Prof X able to walk in the movie to begin with, but it just felt like a really pointless choice to do it as they did.

 

[jdarksun]

Hm, I disagree that Jennifer Lawrence was a weak spot. I think the entire "B" plot of "WHO WILL DIE IN THE FUTURE?!" was pretty poorly paced and totally unneeded. Magento has the entire White House bunker at gunpoint, and we cut to... guys who might die, but it doesn't make a lick of difference if they do? What? Go back to the scene that was important, you dipshit!

Loved the coda, though Doop clearly should have been manning the reception desk to the academy.

 

[nick2150]

I'm sorry, but complaining about mutants having 'powers they shouldn't have' is arse. Mutant powers are plot devices, and even if they aren't, who the fuck cares? What does diamond skin have to do with telepathy?

 

[Sanunes]

I think it's a little ironic how much he hates the new Spider-Man film, partially for being an unneeded reboot, then has a go at X-Men for not having been rebooted yet. As someone who loves the Avengers films I still think X2 holds up brilliantly and DoFP isn't far off that in quality! Loved it.

I never got the feeling he wanted a reboot, what he wanted was for the movie to make sense without him trying to use meta knowledge from outside the movie series to understand what is happening. Such as with Kitty Pride, in the comics mutants have evolved new powers over time (at least that is how I remember it), but in the movie its never mentioned until Kitty Pride can zap Wolverine to the past.

I just got back from seeing the movie today and its alright, but I can understand why he thinks Mystique looks bored, but I don't think its Jennifer Lawrence's fault, but the "costume" she wears.

 

[bdcjacko]

I have 2 major gripes with the movie.

1) The 70's sentinels don't look 70's enough.

2) Bishop is dumb.

I have one me personally gripe.

I kept expecting Trask to demand a trial by combat.

 

[faefrost]

I just saw it. Aside from a few overly slow talky points. Mainly so young Professor X could go all Peter Parker level whiny, I really really enjoyed it. It stands head and shoulders above most of the other X Men films, excepting X2. Which it honestly ties into pretty directly at either end. For the most part none of the mutants or X Men shown in this felt like throwaway cameo's (save those 4 in vietnam). We got some good time with all of them either in combat and action or as developed characters. I was surprised at how good a job they did with the future characters. Bishop was dead on right out of the comics. Blink was great. Ellen Paige got to flesh out Kitty nicely (even with the magical mystery timey whimey powers that were never explained), Thunderbird / Warpath was like he lept off the page, and we finally got a real honest to goodness classic Iceman.

Oddly my biggest complaint was also one of the movies greatest strengths. Quicksilver. Yeah they gave us "Quicksilver" but not really. But I'm not sure that that is a bad thing. Comic Quicksilver is oneof the most annoying whint and pretentious characters ever created. This kid is not that. In fact I get the impression that Singer actually stole a lot of him from DC. He has more of a Bart Allen Impulse feel than a Quicksilver or Northstar Marvel feel. Right down to his goggles. But damn some of the stuff they did with him was kind of cool. He enters and leaves the story kind of abruptly. But while he is there he is lots of fun.

It's not as good as the core Marvel MCU movies like Iron Man, Avengers of this summers Winter Soldier. But it is way way better than the Amazing Spiderman movies, or anything WB has put out since the Dark Knight. It has a few minor rough edges, but is probably about as good as the first Captain America movie or the second Thor.

 

[Evil Smurf]

I loved the film, especially the last part: What happens to Wolverine's claws? Jean Gray is back? Yay! An era of peace has happened for 50 years? Wonderful, utopian. The utopian last scene in X3 comes 50 years early!

I liked Days of Future Past for sentimental reasons, I've seen every X-Men film and want to see more.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

Just got back from a showing and I enjoyed it just fine. The X-Men series as it currently stands doesn't really gel quite so well with the current landscape of comic book movies. When the first flicks came out it was all about trying to explain away some of the more outlandish concepts in favor of an arguably more realistic stance.


Hence the insinuation that Jean Grey's Phoenix powers are a result of getting a face full of Magneto's Ellis Island Mutate-o-ray and not an all powerful alien cosmic force. Or that it was a powerful alternate personality locked away inside her mind if we're not pretending that X3 didn't happen.


I think X-Men First class and especially Days of Future past are an attempted course correction to bring themselves more in line with the current "comics are goofy, just own it" mentality shown in the Marvel/Disney films.


Quicksilver didn't bother me as much as I thought he would, and if I'm being honest, I thought the prison break scene was kinda fun. It didn't add much to the story and there's probably about a dozen other mutants they could have used instead but it is what it is.

For me the breakout scenes were the two big confrontation scenes at the Paris peace talks and again at the White House Sentinel unveiling they were tense action scenes and I was genuinely anticipating finding out how the plot points would be resolved.

My only real complaint about the movie is the scenes in the Future. The effects just look godawful and I kept getting Outland flashbacks from the old Mortal Kombat movies. also, was it really necessary to use Kitty as the wayback machine?
Wouldn't it have been just as effective to...I dunno...have the remaining Mutants being sent out of raids (like we see in the opening scene) to recover bits of tech so that Xavier and Magneto can rebuild a modified Cerebro? You still get the same "sending his consciousness back in time" gimmick, Wolverine still gets billed as the only mutant who can deal with the strain and you still get your ticking clock with the Sentinels being alerted to their presence by the use of Cerebro.

 

[vid87]

I felt more or less the same way walking out of this:

It had some clever fun moments and the major retcon that now shapes this universe is satisfying enough that I could almost overlook Kitty's time-warp abilities never being explained.

Spoiler

I know people don't care about him, but I'm honestly glad Cyclops is alive again. He (the character not the actor) got shafted and never had the big "losing my lover" moment that Wolverine stole. He still technically sucks as a bland "leader" but I was still happy for better or worse.

Thing is, the thought that stuck with me most and still terrifies me is that I'm going to paying $11,$12,$20 years down the line for this stuff and will be baited with promises of grand stories only to sit through an in-universe reboot every time somebody screws up.

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

Sorry but the number of plot holes in this movie almost destroyed whatever aspects I liked about it.

1) This movie DOES NOT EXPLAIN how Charles Xavier is alive in the Sentinel-infested future. In XMen: Last Stand he was disintegrated by Jean - I'm aware that there was an after-credits scene which showed some guy in a hospital who was apparently Charles's concious, but that scene was ~20 seconds long and was not explained at all. THEY ASSUME THAT PEOPLE WATCHED A SPECIFIC 20 SECOND AFTER-CREDIT SCENE IN A PREVIOUS INSTALMENT MULTIPLE SEQUELS AGO AND UNDERSTAND WTF EVEN HAPPENED THERE.
Absolutely zero attempts were made in this movie to explain how Charles was alive...I had to google it and then learned that it was apparently Charle's braindead twin brother (???) whom he transferred his concious to just before he died.
How the hell are people supposed to know that? I'm fairly certain that the majority of the audience in the cinema was thinking "ummm didn't the professor die?" (for the ones that do think about plot and consider previous movies).

2) Shadowcat having the power to transfer someone's concious back through time...WHAT??? So how many extra powers are people going to pull out of their asses now? Will we learn that Colossus can fart soap bubbles?

3) The entire future revolving entirely around Mystique killing Dr Trask and nothing else. MAGNETO DROPPED AN ENTIRE F**KING STADIUM AROUND THE WHITE HOUSE AND KILLED TONS OF PEOPLE IN FRONT OF TV CAMERAS. Even before that, all the world had seen so far about mutants was that they were dangerous....and Mystique not killing Dr Trask suddenly changed all that? So much emphasis was put on it it made no sense.
Also Magneto's actions near the end made absolutely no sense whatsoever and zero attempts were made to explain why he acted like such a colossal idiot. "Lets save mutants by teaching humans how just 1 of us can cause this much damage". Brilliant.
And yeah, despite all that it's implied that the future STILL hangs in the balance of Mystique shooting that 1 guy...and nothing else. I have seen a lot of time travel (or history alteration, same thing) movies and this one ranked pretty high on the bullshit-o-meter.

4) Xavier gaining the ability to walk while losing his mental powers, and vice versa. The man was SHOT IN THE SPINE and that can somehow be...turned on or off using Beast's mutant suppression serum? What do his mental powers have to do with physical spinal damage? Even using "XMen logic" that made no sense.

5) Charles refusing to simply shut-down Mystique. It was not explained at all why he didn't do this right off the bat or how Mystique was capable of blocking him. I think Charles only said "she's blocking me" (or "she's not letting me in") - sorry what? The only thing that can stop Charles getting into someone's mind is Magneto's helmet OR another telepath. Mystique had neither and the entire movie REVOLVED around stopping her, yet Charles didn't do it. Bullshit.

6) NOT ENOUGH QUICKSILVER. He was easily the most fun character to watch (besides Blink and her portals) and after the 5 minute Pentagon mission he was never heard from again. I was waiting for him to show up during the climax to do his part...how disappointing, considering how insanely good his powers are. What he can do almost equates to stopping time.

I have no clue how critics are rating this movie 91% on Rottentomatoes. Yes the movie had decent action but I didn't know such enormous plot holes could be shrugged-off so easily by critics. At least MovieBob caught on.

Please, someone explain to me if I am missing something big here. There is too much nonsense for me to accept. Or was I supposed to turn off my brain and just enjoy the action? Because this movie was constantly making attempts to come off as intellectual (especially with something like history-alteration).

 

[Sejborg]

Here is an answer for how Kitty acquired her power. She is a mutant, she mutated. How she got her power is not important for the movie at all.

And Quicksilver was all kinds of awesome and hilaroius. Overall very good performances from a very impressive cast. And some pretty compelling story arcs for Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique and especially James McAvoy's Charles Xavier. It was just a joy to watch this movie.

I guess Bob was just in a very bad mood, because the success of X-Men means no Wolverine in his beloved Avengers. Stop crying so much! It does not become you.

 

[gorfias]

Time travel always gives me a headache.

Just take Basil Exposition's advice from Goldmember. Just sit back and enjoy it.

But seriously, in Star Trek the original series, if they messed with time travel, it was to fix a change that shouldn't have happened.

Spoiler: 40 year old spoiler

They let Kirk's love interest die because she was meant to. Someone messed up the time stream saving her.

In the new series, I feel like people living in a present created through cheating, changing the time stream, is living a fake existence that can wink out if someone just fixes the time stream.

The new Xmen present makes little sense. I can't imagine what the next movie will look like. Yet, it (and another Wolverine movie) are coming.

As for Kitty's powers, a problem with time travel is that for you to travel to the past, whatever part of you is making the trip must pass through the part of you that existed a milisecond earlier. Kitty's power is to travel through things. This new ability may just be a learned extension to her existing abilities. One of the nice things about the Xmen franchise is that they shouldn't have to have a dull origin story/explanation of things. You can just do them.

That fake present, by itself, to me, is reason enough to reboot the franchise.

As for Jennifer Lawrence, I think Bob was transferring. She was fine in this. I loved Quick Silver too. Bob notes an excellent song track to his big action scene. Then give it its due: very well done and enjoyable. In a way, he's too powerful. They couldn't have him in the rest of the movie as he could potentially make it dull. But he was a hoot while he was in it.