X-Men: Days of Future Past - The Rogue Cut [Blu-ray] [2014]

The X-Men series needed this movie big time after messing up the series after X2. You can tell Fox didn't care too much about the series until Marvel's success and decided to redo the series to match up closer to the comics and make up for their mistakes, which Days of Future Past does. Building upon the success and foundation laid by First Class, Days of Future Past combines the First Class universe with the previous X-Men movies into one somewhat understable universe. Really you're not supposed to focus on all this and that's fine as the ending undoes almost every mistake Fox made especially from X-Men the Last Stand. It's all about the journey, not the destination. Time travel stories rarely make sense and Days of Future Past uses this to its advantage by not focusing at all on rules and effects and more about the mission: saving mutantkind from extinction. The plot follows Wolverine being sent back to the 70's to stop Mystique from assassinating a scientist which will cause an apocalypic future where indestructible killing machines called Sentinels wipe out most mutants and humans alike. The future is bleaker than most post apocalypic lands and the last remaining X-Men are betting everything on Wolverine to stop Mystique and reunite both Professor X and Magneto together; without them the dream of peaceful cohabitation between humans and mutants will be a pipe dream. One of the biggest problems with X-Men movies is they have overstuffed casts and Days of Future Past has so many that most are cameos at best and don't serve any purpose beyond fan service or use in action sequences. Don't bother to remember any of the mutants in the future as they're only used in set pieces and the one whose scene is easily the best, Quicksilver, is here and gone before you notice eh was even there in the first place. Halle Berry continues her useless streak as Storm by doing her usual routine of doing nothing or calling lightning out of the sky. Hugh Jackman continues to get better as Wolverine with each movie and Patrick Stewart and Ian Mckellan are their usual best, but the real treat is their younger selves with James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender giving them a run for their money as which pair are the better frienemies. The only weak spot is Jennifer Lawrence whose Mystique isn't that threatening or dark enough like her comic counterpart; it's not that believable. Days of Future Past is the successful redo the X-Men series desperately needed while setting seeds for the future that will next be seen in X-Men: Apocalypse. If you got turned off by the previous mediocre entries, then Days of Future Past will make you like the X-Men once again.

The Best Buy exclusive edition of X-Men: Days of Future Past 3D is beautiful. The little extra packet of information cards are nothing really, but I like how the whole case is designed. Worth it! The movie itself is undoubtedly among the best X-Men outings yet. The all-star cast and the ways they are utilized are powerful and elegant. Many of the characters have all developed in different ways since we've last seen them, and then you get to watch them evolve as the movie goes on. Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) has reached full flailing a**-kicking mode with some great action sequences that have that particular Mystique style to them. The disparity between Professor X's past and future selves is very interesting, and we get to experience him in such vulnerability and struggle as we have never previously seen. It's also great to see the shades emerge of Magneto's dark personality that Ian McKellen has so wonderfully portrayed. Who better to live up to the expectation than the incomparable Michael Fassbender. Some of the most stunning and memorable sequences in the movie were brought to life by the carefree charm of Evan Peters' Quicksilver. Surprisingly, I was a little disappointed in James McAvoy's performance. He is still a great actor; I just thought a few of his choices of delivery for certain lines were odd and could have been better, but overall, he was still a great Professor X. I'm definitely starting to split hairs here so I'll stop myself from getting into every actor and character. Or, maybe one more. I have to mention Hugh Jackman as Logan, the beloved Wolverine. He still has that same smirking, dismissive wit as always, but he has also matured with the guidance of Patrick Stewart's Professor X. Then when he goes back in time, everything is backwards; he is the mature one, and he must guide the young and troubled mutants. I absolutely loved the way they presented Wolverine in this movie. The main takeaway from this review should be that I could go on and on about how many things there are to enjoy in this movie. I hope I didn't spoil anything for you that you would have liked to discern on your own, but I tried to keep it general with my comments which I think I've done. Either way, I can't have spoiled too much as it is bursting at the seams with all the things that we've come to love in the X-Men franchise. The scope of this movie was truly a very difficult undertaking, but somehow, they managed to make a thoroughly enjoyable and unique movie out of it (And make sure you stay 'till the credits end because you are in for a massively enticing post-credits teaser). I cannot wait for the next one. And all the powers! Ahh, the powers!

What a great movie with astounding extras! This edition comes with wonderful art cards that are just wonderful to look at. The box is really cool, too. As a matter of fact, as soon as I bought this movie, I instantly threw out the Blu-Rays (I had already seen it in theatres, anyway, and I couldn't bear to watch it again without the near-constant seat-kicking, crunching of popcorn, not-so-whispery whispers of "Oh no he di-n't!", and the almost-baby the girl three rows behind me must've been having), and kept the art. Oh! And by "art," dear reader, what I mean is the *two* collectable booklets of art it comes with. One is a Trask file - well, kind of a mini-one, which kind of made me uncomfortable, as I didn't know if that was meant to be a dig at Peter Dinklage - that contains photo dossiers on all of the X-Crew, really well-posed, as if they knew that, someday, they'd make their way into some supervillain's dossier, and they'd better look good. The other booklet contains fan art, which is great because how often do you get to see the fan's artistic expression of the movie's artistic expression of the comic book's artistic expression? I doubt you'll catch *DC* letting its fans come within a 10-mile radius of *its* art. Roland Barthes once said, "Each of us has his own rhythm of suffering." He must've been talking about *DC Comics* when he said that, because this recent Marvel release indicates a studio that is without suffering, and wishes its fans to be similarly-situated. I also cannot express enough how essential it is that you buy this movie from BestBuy, like I did. Other stores sell this Blu-Ray - or, if your some kind of cave-dwelling cretin, "DVD" - but only BestBuy gives fans the art they so deserve, or, in some cases, created. By including this much art in its Blu-Ray Special Edition, BestBuy is effectively showing the world that if the Met starts charging an actual entrance fee (not like that "suggested" one they have now - I always pay a quarter! HA!), we're still okay. We will still have access to quality art that's on quality paper that comes with a quality movie for when that art gets boring. I really hope BestBuy puts art with more movies, but be careful BigGuy! Let's not let this get out of hand! I don't want to buy a Chagal with my *Think Like a Man, Too*. Some nice, tasteful fan art will quench my thirst just fine, BestBuy, much like the assortment that comes with *X-Men: Days of Future Past*. Thank you, BestBuy, for another fine product that comes with pretty smashing art. I'll definitely come back and see what you have in the Special Edition (Now with More Art!) section soon!

Bryan Singer returns to steer this excellent sequel to the X-Men saga. In reality the title should probably be expanded to include X-Women as the ladies take on some major roles this time around. Certainly with Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence available, it makes sense to expand her role as Raven/Mystique who is the catalyst for the film’s plot. She doesn’t disappoint…and looks great in blue. Unlike many of the super-hero films, “Future Past” doesn’t rely on dramatic city destruction to hold its audience. This film has an actual story, if to a large extent fantastical. Set sometime in the near future, the X-Men as well as much of humanity is being exterminated by powerful giant robot-like Sentinels. The have adaptive powers and both mutants and humans are fighting for survival. Prof. X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen), now working together, decide to try to go back in time and change history. Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) uses her time bending skills to return Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to 1973 in order to stop Dr. Trask (Peter Dinklage) from selling the Sentinel idea to the U. S. government. The key element is Raven whose capture by Trask is the key to the Sentinel’s adaptive ability. Her subsequent killing of Trask, leads Nixon’s (Mark Camacho) government to give the go ahead for the Sentinel acquisition. So the goal is to stop Raven so that there is no sympathy to destroy the mutants. Logan must find Prof. X’s younger Xavier (James McAvoy) and his then enemy Erik/Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and bring them together for the mission. It isn’t all that easy however. A character new to the movie franchise is perhaps the most memorable in his short screen appearance. Quicksilver (Evan Peters) is recruited to help break into the Pentagon prison cell that holds Erik who has allegedly assassinated President Kennedy. Bending those fatal bullets, don’t you know. In a brilliant display of special effects, we see Quicksilver’s ability to move at light speed by slowing down everything around him. It is amazing to watch and hilarious to boot. Alone, it is worth the price of admission. Singer and screenwriter, Simon Kinberg have done a nice job integrating the old with the new. And with a successful mission we see some old friends return, albeit briefly. The film may be a little talky for some, but the action sequences are well done and plentiful enough. This is a terrific movie.

After years of shaky uncertainty, the X-Men film franchise has taken solid step back on track, proving to be one of the great comic book film properties around. Matthew Vaughn helped get us started in the right direction with First Class, but then the production team came up with a brilliant idea to tie the new films in with the old, by adapting one of the most iconic and famous X-Men storylines of all time, Days of Future Past. Bryan Singer returns to the directors chair, once again showing that he's the man to bring the X-Men to the screen. Don't get me wrong, Vaughn did a fine job with the previous film, but I felt like his own personal stamp was kind of missing. And here, Singer has the benefit of two incredible casts, joined together by the common thread that is Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. Now, some people like complain about how Wolverine has become too much of a central character. First off, Jackman is outstanding in the role, and has come into it much as, dare I say, Sean Connery embodied the role of James Bond back in the 1960s (and this is coming from a massive James Bond fan). Secondly, yes, Jackman is front and center for the beginning of the movie, but the story quickly shifts focus to the broken Charles Xavier of the '70s, wonderfully played by James McAvoy. Just as it should be, this X-Men outing provides plenty of visual effects and action, but much plenty of wonderful character and emotional moments as well, making these characters ones to care about. And of course, there's the stand-out scene with Quicksilver, wonderfully played by Evan Peters. The story overall is very enthralling and engaging, but my biggest criticism is that it starts to drag a little bit towards the end and lose its momentum just a smidge. I'm not going to delve too much more into the film, as there are thousands and thousands of others out there, and I would also like to get to the specifics of this Blu-ray. The picture and audio quality are outstanding, and some of the best I've seen. I had partially bought this on Black Friday for me to test out on my new home theatre set-up, and it's a blast to watch (and listen to). I haven't had a chance to dive into the extras, but even without them, this is a great disc to own.

An absolute blast from beginning to end! This is a redemption for the X-Men franchise. Showing that you truly can fix things, even after severe damage has been done to it (X-Men 3 and the first Wolverine film). In a bold attempt to bring together what seemed like two separate franchises, DOFP brings two timelines together seamlessly. The writers do a great JOB balancing, and making sense of he time travel, which is a very hard thing to do. I also love how they coincide with, and effect real world occurrences, much like First Class did with the Bay of Pigs. We get another situation in this with a mutant involved in one of the biggest events in out culture's history. There are some incredible performances that are at the root of this film. Hugh Jackman, as usual, excels as Wolverine in his seventh try at the hero. Jennifer Lawrence is used much more that she was in First Class and plays her very pivotal role with a great vulnerability and strength as she is torn between two worlds. Evan Peters as Quicksilver was the biggest surprise of the cast. After the initial pictures of him leaked, I was very worried because he looked like an idiot and his costume design was laughable. After seeing him in action, I can say how totally wrong I was! He is involved in a scene that has the best use of SLOWmotion I've ever seen in a movie! The true star, for me is the incredible Michael Fassbender as Magneto. I can't believe I can say this with confidence, but, Fassbender's Magneto has surpassed Ian McKellen's take on the character. He shows such a great range, and his conflict with Xavier is exploited beautifully this time around. The quality action scenes had me wanting to jump out of my seat from excitement at times. There were several goosebump inducing moments that had me in awe of the scope and magnitude of the film. Bryan Singer has slid back into the role of director as if he never left and he has washed away the bad taste that previous X-Men INSTALLMENTS had left in fans mouths. This is a new beginning for the franchise and I can't wait to go for the next ride that they take us on. If they can keep up the momentum, I can see this franchise being just as successful and even on par with the quality of the Avengers universe!

This movie works on so many levels and yet never forgets to have fun. It takes a trip in seeing characters from before in the franchise and integrates them with the newer, younger cast from X-Men First Class and does so brilliantly. Most of all, this movie has a different trajectory and flavor to the other X-Men films, and really any other comic book film. It is about attempting to travel into the past to provide a new, if slightly different, but more peaceful outcome. Wolverine, usually the resident gruff action hero has a mere few scenes to display his ferocity; Charles Xavier is nearly retreated to being unrecognizable; Mystique again drives the plot depending on which side she sides with but isn't the central character. Of all the X-Men, Xavier is rarely the focus; we as an audience assume he is in control and the fixed point for everyone else. But here, we see a Charles that has lost all hope, and barely a glimmer of what we know he'll become. If First Class was about a friendship torn with slight emphasis on Magneto, Days of Future Past is Xavier's arc. The movie has a few logic and plot holes that are there but can be enjoyed if not thinking of them up. The antagonist is well-intentioned but leaves a little unexplained of his motivation to do what he does; though at the current running time of the movie it'd be difficult to be too much longer. The score is lush and bombastic and the special effects don't disappoint. The editing is deft and clean, leaving not a single excessive glance or mistimed jumble of action. Best of all, this Rogue Cut includes not only the alternate and original version of the film but also the theatrical, and both with commentaries. It is interesting to see what was cut and why, but also the realization of how different certain scenes mean under a different context. There is enough levity and quiet yet powerful dramatic moments that seal Charles into become Xavier. There is hope brought out in the story and hope for a new for the future of the X-Men series itself.

I consider myself a pretty advanced comic book fan, so I was well aware of the original storyline, as well as the development of the film and the many changes made between the original source material and this film adaptation. As someone who works in the field, I am also aware of how much has to change in order for the adaptation to be as effective on film as the original was in 4 color print. All that being said, I was very pleased with the film, as both an avid movie-goer and as a comic book fan. This is definitely one of the better X-Men francise movies and I would actually place it as one of the top 3 (alongside X2: X-Men United and X-Men: First Class) X-Men films. It's a solid feature film that continues building the world established in First Class, while paying homage to the original trilogy of films. Humor, action, a strong story, VFX spectacle and solid performances make this a worthwhile film, though new viewers may not find it as enjoyable unless they've viewed the other entries into the series. I highly suggest watching X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand and most definitely X-Men: First Class prior to watching this film. X-Men Origins Wolverine and The Wolverine are optional, though I highly recommend avoiding X-Men Origins. Bryan Singer's return to the franchise felt surprisingly stale, after the fresh and unique spin applied by Matthew Vaughan in X-Men: First Class, though the usage of the "younger cast" helps considerably in keeping the franchise from feeling as long in the tooth as it actually is. Of course, the stand out cast members are hard pressed to compete with the scene-stealing Evan Peters as Quicksilver and his action sequence definitely stands among the top in the franchise, right up next to the Nightcrawler sequence from X2. The inventive use of camera work and VFX makes for a humorous and lively jailbreak sequence. All in all, I highly recommend this film for fellow film viewers and general audience members alike.