7) Well-balanced Ensemble Cast
You only have to look back earlier in the summer to see how a big cast can make or break a film. Yes, we’re looking at you, The Amazing Spider-Man 2. That film is a prime example of a convoluted cast list becoming a hindrance rather than a help. In fact, you can probably put Spider-Man 3 alongside it – both tried to shoe-horn in as many villains as they could – which only worked to the films’ detriment.
What X-Men: Days of Future Past does so well is it allows each member of its expansive band of heroes their moment to shine, while still gelling them together as a cohesive whole. Nobody feels like they were thrown in to appease fans; new additions like Quicksilver and Bishop serve a logical purpose to the plot and franchise mainstays like Rogue and Storm take a backseat – because that is what the narrative demands. Compare this to X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, both of which threw up lesser known (and less cared about) characters as well as butchering fan favorites like Gambit and Deadpool, and you start to see the vast gulf in quality.
Now we have characters we can get behind. For example, Mystique has a story we can relate to – her strife and struggle for acceptance is something we become invested in, simply because the film dwells on it long enough for us to make that connection. This in turn gives X-Men: Days of Future Past a greater sense of depth; it raises the stakes and takes us on a much more fulfilling journey.
That’s the key here, all the characters have a point and it imbues the bigger picture with a great deal of accountability.