10 Things X-Men: Days of Future Past Does Right

Not only does Charles Xavier get his hope back, but fans do as well for the future of X-Men movies thanks to X-Men: Days of Future Past. It’s easily my favorite movie of the summer thus far thanks to the return of director Bryan Singer, who directed X-Men and X2. In the latest x-outing, Wolverine goes back in time to find a very young and lost Charles Xavier, hoping to work with him to fix the effed-up future left behind by the equally effed-up X-Men: The Last Stand. Days of Future Past is based on a classic X-Men storyline of the same name, one that’s both beloved and, if mishandled, ripe for continuity errors and general terribleness. Fortunately, Days of Future Past handles itself with dignity and intelligence, sending a blue shell to destroy any worries we had that they’d screw this up. Here are but a few of the many ways this film does things right. (Vague, could-possibly-be-spoilery spoilers ahead!)

1. Their treatment of time travel makes sense. In so many films time travel is performed in a way that stretches the imagination beyond feasible, but this is, after all, a world where people get genetically-induced superpowers, so it allowed the writers to create a feasible method of time travel, and, with a bit of thought behind it, mechanics that make sense. It’s not Wolverine physically traveling in time, it’s his consciousness being sent back into his own past psyche, so no worries about the same matter occupying the same space a la Timecop or any such nonsense.
2. Despite the cast being huge, the core story focuses on a few key individuals. This keeps the film from becoming overloaded with too many story lines going in different directions, tiring and frustrating the audience while cheating the characters of proper screen time and purpose (cough, The Amazing Spider-man 2, cough). Mystique, Charles, and Erik are the main drivers of the story, occasionally pulling over to let someone else drive for a minute while they rest in the passenger seat. Yeah, that’s right, Wolverine’s a key player in this, but it’s definitely not his story.
3. The casting. Now this started a long time ago, but Jesus! They’ve accumulated a cast so talented it almost makes your head explode!
4. Quicksilver. The addition of the always-awesome Evan Peters as Quicksilver is a small detail, but he brought such an unfettered sense of fun to the film that it helped keep things from going all DC Comics and getting way too broody.
5. The strong story focus (and lack of sexual focus) on Mystique. Jennifer Lawrence is Hollywood’s golden girl at the moment, and part of that is because she’s a damn fine actress— a fact put to good use by Bryan Singer by making sure she has a meaty part, not to exploit her meaty parts.
6. The Sentinels are probably the most terrifyingly powerful foes ever put to film. They can shapeshift, copy mutant powers, and are so scary I should probably stop talking about them lest they find me.
7. Great attention to small details. Days of Future Past is jam-packed with fun little nods to fans of the franchise, like Wolverine’s annoyance (and subsequent amusement) when he thinks he’s going to set off a metal detector, or Quicksilver mentioning that his mom dated a guy who could bend metal, and, for the comics fans, that enigmatic after-credits scene.
8. It was the perfect send off for the stars of the original x-trilogy.
9. The ending is so satisfying, I don’t have to eat for a year. I’m okay with an unambiguously happy ending. We freaking deserve this— we’ve been watching these x-movies for almost fifteen years now, and it’s okay to see a happy ending for the original cast.
10. It wraps everything up nicely, but still leaves some room to wonder what’s going to happen later (or, more accurately, what already happened). Sure, we know that the future ends up with everything okay for our X-heroes, but we’ve got a good forty-year-gap between ’73 and now for lots of adventures to take place.

This is the Action Flick Chick, and you’ve just been kicked in the ass!