X-Men: Days of Future Past

I managed to see the newest X-Men film, Days of Future Past just before the World Cup kicked off. And if my memory serves me correctly, this is my third favourite, after X-Men and X-Men: First Class. It starts with a nice showcasing of some new mutants - Blink takes the gold here - being torn new ones by robotty fellas called Sentinels.

The overall pace is fairly sprightly and blends the typical three act structure of super-hero films better than most. Much has been made of the lack of a smashy-smashy finale but I liked the more thoughtful climax. The cheeky decision to all but remove Wolverine from many of the action scenes shows massive brass balls, as he is pretty much the main draw in these films, especially when he gets to slice some muthas.

There's quite a lot of Mystique in this film. This works well enough as a MacGuffin of sorts, but I couldn't help thinking this may have been more due to the fact that the writers and director needed to give Jennifer Lawrence more to do. Her stock has risen dramatically since the last X-Men film. It doesn't look forced though, as her mutant powers are top drawer.

A few mores thoughts before I start watching the Belgium vs Algeria match.

The scenes with Quicksilver are lots of fun, especially where his extreme speed meets Professor X's near time freeze is displayed (just watched the film again - Oct. 2014 - and I've realised the Prof didn't have his powers at the time those scenes took place. Fnar). Very well done. In fact, his scene in the Pentagon may be the best set piece in the whole film.

Peter Dinklage is quite good as the somewhat sympathetic but slimy villain, Bolivar Trask, but he can't quite shake his Imp for me.

My main reservation would be that there are perhaps too many new (or minor) mutants while the old geezers - Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, etc - don't get enough to do. And the music occasionally put me in mind of Shutter Island or a wonky air conditioner.

I won't go too far into the denouement, suffice to say I had never heard the word 'retconned' before listening to discussions about this film. But then I'm not a comic magi/warlock/goblin geek.

Right then - to the football!