2) A Refreshing And Ambitious Narrative
Comic book adaptations are admittedly entertaining as hell to watch, but if we are being honest with ourselves, outside of a handful of films – Nolan’s Batman trilogy and Watchmen to name a few – they don’t exactly provide the most stimulating narrative available. Generally, you’re going to see one overtly good character that believes in a noble cause, against your typical comic book villain that is stereotypically out to take control of the world. Movies, especially comic book adaptations, are escapism at their core though, so it’s completely acceptable.
It’s always wonderful when one that does want to challenge the mind comes along though, and X-Men: Days of Future Past definitely joins the aforementioned class of thought-provoking superhero films. It’s layered with concepts regarding fate, changing the past for a better future, and most intriguingly, a cast without a central villain. The film is entirely composed of characters with admirable intentions in mind, with their actions to achieve their goals all differing and falling into different areas of the moral spectrum.
The fantastic direction from Bryan Singer also capitalizes on the time travel element with some truly unique scenes, such as a young Xavier entering the mind of the past version of Wolverine, who then projects the conscience to the future Xavier. In other words, the film takes the elements of time travel and continuously puts an X-Men twist on things to keep audiences guessing and engaged.
Ignoring the fact that over time, the film will be nitpicked to death due to its time travel nature – a plot device that rarely ever is pulled off without some minor aspect being scrutinized – it’s the theme and message of the film that stands out. Narratively, there isn’t another comic book adaptation out there like X-Men: Days of Future Past.