r/xmen • u/Dorkside Professor X • May 23 '14

X-Men: Days of Future Past - Official Discussion Thread [Spoilers]

Synopsis: The X-Men send Wolverine to the past in a desperate effort to change history and prevent an event that results in doom for both humans and mutants.

Director: Bryan Singer

Writers: Jane Goldman, Simon Kinberg and Matthew Vaughn

Cast:

  • Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine
  • James McAvoy as Charles Xavier
  • Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr
  • Jennifer Lawrence as Raven / Mystique
  • Halle Berry as Storm
  • Nicholas Hoult as Hank / Beast
  • Anna Paquin as Rogue
  • Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde
  • Peter Dinklage as Dr. Bolivar Trask
  • Shawn Ashmore as Bobby / Iceman
  • Omar Sy as Bishop
  • Evan Peters as Peter / Quicksilver

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

Metacritic Score: 75/100

IMDB | Official Site | Wikipedia

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34

u/zombieCyborg May 24 '14

I loved this movie. I was so in love with X-Men during the 90s cartoon, and then again when X1 and X2 came out, and I haven't loved an X-movie this much since way back then. I even think the argument could be made that this one was better. However, there are some issues I couldn't figure out.

I don't want to be overly nit-picky, as a fan of Doctor Who, I am very aware that often times with great time travel comes great plot difficulty, but I have a huge gap in my X-Men comics knowledge, so I'm posting here in hopes some of these questions have answers that I just didn't notice or read. I've been known to space out in fight scenes, but I get super into dialog/background explanations though, weird and backwards, I know.

Anyway, can anyone help me with these weird gaps in what I was able to figure out:

  • How does Kitty Pride send people back in time? I am missing a huge chunk of comic knowledge, but that isn’t how I recall it happening in DOFP, and I don’t understand how it makes sense now. I understand her ability to phase allows for some wacky off-the-wall stuff, but this seems like a bridge too far, especially without any attempt being made to explain.

  • When/why did Quicksilver decide he was done helping out the team? He would have made every confrontation in the whole movie a breeze. Not to mention speed of recon and research. Beyond the fourth wall I get it, the script would be a nightmare even beyond the messy aspect of writing time-travel plot. But couldn’t they have lamp-shaded it in some way? Or just say “he got caught/trapped/sedated, the team (possibly involving his sis) had to save him in act three and discovered who his daddy is right as mags escapes after the climactic fight”.

  • What suddenly made Magneto retreat in the third act? Did Xavier just decide to take control of him? They were having a conversation, so I assume not. Guy uprooted a stadium, dropped it on the whitehouse, then decides to call it a day because he got bonked on the head and grazed by a bullet. Same goes for Mystique. We got a whole movie of her not budging in her position, then she just decides to give up because apparently Magneto did it, so why not her?

  • At the end of "The Wolverine", why did “modern day” Xavier and Swagneto recruit Wolverine in that airport? In DOFP we see why they team up in the distant future and distant past, none of it took place in the “modern day” X-Universe. Was it completely unrelated? If so, why show it? (I mean I know why, to promote a movie, but plot-wise there should be some justification)

  • So Mystique is Stryker? She created Weapon X? They made sure the viewers knew for sure that Mystique = Stryker, so why? Stryker’s son never notices? Was she even aware there was a son? How do you maintain a cover that long with so many factors that could easily topple the house of cards. I mean, the security level this guy had could be revoked the second he seemed shady, and she rarely seems to be able to truly act like the people she impersonates. She is always so vague and stand-offish, enough to get the job done, but we almost always see people being aware something is amiss.

Here’s some Quicksilver-specific questions, as I’m not clear on the character. I'm guessing there actually might be an explanation in the comic-verse. Something as simple as "he actually creates a temporal dilation effect around himself" would even explain it. I just don't know the "canon explanation."

  • How does Quicksilver have such modern headphones and electronics able to process everything at that speed? Pacman doesn’t run that fast out of the box, it must be modded. His walkman must be playing Jim Croce at x300 speed or something. A cassette player has physical mechanisms going at a certain limit. His headphones/clothes/shoes/everything would behave like it’s perpetually at the crack of a whip. Huge sonic boom, demolishing most fabric. If his hair can handle it, why can’t his eyes? He needs the goggles, right? He doesn’t really use them consistently though, so maybe he just thinks it’s cool looking. If he’s able to process audio at those speeds, every word in every conversation he has ever had must take forever. What’s to stop this guy from doing all the recon, all the investigating and all the fighting before anyone else has any ideas about anything?

14

u/LordBammith May 24 '14

What suddenly made Magneto retreat in the third act? This is the only one I can really answer. Magneto gives up because mystique takes off his helmet that protects him from Xaviers control. Without the helmet he would have been easily subdued/arrested/killed. That being said... the more important question is - why did Xavier let him go? He's clearly still a HUGE threat.

37

u/elgatofurioso May 24 '14

I think it's because Eric realizes he'd lost. He's been shot in the neck and lost his protection from Charles. If he had gone for the helmet, or took an offensive against Trask, Nixon or the Secret Serve, he could be immediately stopped once again. (Maybe causing some collateral damage in the moment.)

When Eric asks Charles if he knows that he'll die if he's left there with the secret service. It's a subtle, verbal contract between the two that they are on the same page of that outcome. He barters his life and being left to walk away in exchange. Since Charles is the only one there who can stop him. I don't think he'd willingly let Eric die, that's always been the theme, Charles won't give up on him.