Director Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past is a curious beast. A sequel to both 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand and 2011’s X-Men: First Class—which was itself a prequel to 2000’s X-Men—Days unfolds concurrently in the early 1970s and a dystopian future. The latter period finds the remnants of the mutant race dodging Sentinels, human-designed constructs that exterminate the genetically aberrant. In a last-ditch gambit to avert their species’ extinction, the X-Men use Shadowcat’s (Ellen Page) phasing power to (somehow) project the mind of the ageless Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back into his 1973 self. He then brings together mutant rivals Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) to prevent the murder of Sentinel inventor Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage). The man's assassin is wildcard mutant Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), whose choices prove pivotal in determining her species’ fate.
That’s a lot of plot even for 131 minutes. Accordingly, Singer and Days’ three co-writers end up privileging action sequences and limp melodrama over narrative coherence. (Hoping to learn how future-Xavier is alive after his molecular annihilation in Last Stand? Too bad.) As an emotion-tugging character piece, Days is weak tea. Xavier and Mystique have the most significant arcs, but both McAvoy and Lawrence are on autopilot, and the film’s ethos (“Hope Is Important”) is mush-headed at best. Still, Days is undeniably witty, thrilling, and even frightening in spots. As in X-Men and X-2, Singer uses the mutants’ powers to enliven the otherwise conventional blockbuster action. Witness how Blink (Bingbing Fan) uses space-bending portals as a weapon, or a scene where the lightning-fast Quicksilver (Evan Peters) breaks Magneto out of the Pentagon. In a quintessential Marvel move, Days also serves as a satisfying table-clear for the franchise, making way for a multitude of future stories in different timelines.
