X-Men: Days of Future Past

XM: DOFP is quite possibly the oddest X-Men film so far. It is without question the best X-Men film yet, but it absolutely could not exist without those preceding it…which is really ironic in retrospect.

Significant Spoilers follow:

Anyone familiar with the original two-part comic story (X-Men #141-#142) upon which this was based will be right on top of it. In the original, Kitty Pryde winds up going back to her teen self in order to prevent the assassination of Robert Kelly which will in turn bring about an anti-mutant dystopia in the then far-off year of 2013. The film proposes the same concept as a way of joining up the X-Men prequel of “First Class” with the previous films. This obviously precludes using Kitty since she wasn’t born yet, and so Logan naturally becomes the go-to guy to make the voyage. Which makes sense since Wolverine is more or less the franchise character.

Some have complained that the script is difficult to follow, which is absurd. Hell, next to “Back to the Future II,” it’s a cakewalk. The future sequences all occur during a sort of permanent nighttime while the past sequences, set in 1973, are bright and daylight, so you never get confused as to where you are.

Bryan Singer has apparently a good deal to make amends for, including abandoning the franchise in order to do “Superman Returns.” The result was two films that fans deplored: not only “Superman Returns” but also “X-Men 3.” He makes up for it in spades. I’ve been to multiple showings and at every one I’ve heard fans saying, “So X3 never happened! Fantastic!”

Granted, most of the cast members of “First Class” got shafted: I haven’t seen this many characters die between films since “Alien 3″ knocked off Newt and Hicks. But the ones that are left make the most of it. Favorite scenes: Double Chuck as James McAvoy winds up face to face with Patrick Stewart, giving himself a pep talk across half a century, and an action sequence shot from Quicksilver’s POV in which the speedster (Evan Peters from “Kick-Ass,” not to be confused with Kick-Ass himself who is also playing Quicksilver next year) takes out an entire room of cops to the tune of “Time in a Bottle.”

And those are just the stand out moments in a film that is filled with them. Reviewers have been bitching about Jennifer Lawrence’s acting for some reason. It’s nonsense. She is the lynchpin of the entire film and her waffling between being Raven and the evil Mystique is beautifully played right through to the end.

Special mention should also be made of Mark Camacho, who between superb make-up and a fantastic vocal performance has put forward THE best Richard Nixon in film history.

Don’t expect all your questions to be answered. Remember how stunned Logan was to see Charles at the end of “The Wolverine?” How did Charles survive, you may ask. Good question: No clue. No explanation is offered. Where did Kitty acquire the power to project people back in time? That has nothing to do with her power set. Good question: No clue. So if that’s going to be a problem for you, consider yourself warned.

Is it as good as “Avengers,” the gold standard of superhero films? I would have to say so. The emotional power and the story it’s telling are deep and layered. Plus, hey: No Stan Lee appearance, but extended cameos by Chris Claremont and Len Wein! What’s not to love?

PAD