"X-Men: Days of Future Past" Review

I don't worry much about film adaptations staying loyal to their literary origins. Resemblance is one thing, but too literal translations strike me as boring and somewhat pointless. However, I do have a strange obsession with internal continuity.

Last November I reacted to a Days of Future Past announcement by listing ten (or X -- get it?) X-Men film franchise continuity problems and how they might try to fix them. My anticipation continued to build until the movie's release, and all the positive reviews that came out last week led me to believe my expectations would be fulfilled. Was I right? See the updated tables below (which contain spoilers).

But in the spirit of not obsessing over little things like continuity, here are the things I really liked about Days of Future Past (again, beware of spoilers):

1. Singer's signature style (opening and closing monologues, Magneto prison break, Mystique being awesome, etc.).
2. Quicksilver.
3. The joke implying Magneto is Quicksilver's father (per the comics).
4. The homage to Magneto ripping out Wolverine's adamantium in the comics.
5. The futuristic frame story as a "ticking clock" device for conflict and tension.
6. Blink. Well, pretty much all the future team members who die twice. But especially Blink.
7. The fact that Anna Paquin's Rogue has only a very small cameo. (She was my favorite character as a kid but the movie version doesn't do her justice.)
8. The return of James Marsden's Cyclops! (I'll admit I like the actor more than the character.)

A few things I didn't like:

1. No return of Moira from First Class.
2. We wait seven films for an actual fight with the Sentinels (the homage in Last Stand doesn't count) and Wolverine is stuck with lousy bone claws!
3. The strange ending with Mystique as Stryker. What in the world was that about?
4. The disappointingly cryptic post-credits Apocalypse teaser.
5. And, of course, the continuity stuff...

Can't Let it Go

I did a good job holding this in until yesterday, when I unloaded it on some hapless students almost without provocation. Now, with even less provocation, I'm subjecting you to it, too. And before you tell me I'm over-analyzing, let me firstly agree, and secondly, point out that analyzing writing is sort of my job.

So Elsa. Elsa from that computer-animated musical Disney film called Frozen. Loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen. Voiced by Broadway actress Idina Menzel, who also appears in another Disney musical, Enchanted, but for some reason doesn't sing in it. Amy Adams does, and on screen boyfriend Patrick Dempsey does, but not the Broadway singer. She does sing for Elsa, though." Let it Go," now up for an Academy Award, is probably stuck in your head right now. Yes, that Elsa.

She bugs me.

No, I think she's a great character and all. Really, I do. In fact, I wish her role in the film was a bit more pronounced; that, after creating her ice castle, she had more to do than "sashay around 'cause I'm sexy now and then promptly chill out." (Get it?)

I know, creating that ice castle was pretty cool. In fact, Elsa's powers are undeniably awesome. Let's review:

Days of Future Past

Yesterday Bryan Singer, known to be directing the X-Men: First Class sequel Days of Future Past, tweeted to confirm that Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart would be reprising their roles as Magneto and Professor X, respectively, implying that the film will indeed adhere to its comic origin as a time-travel narrative. As a fan of the franchise I couldn't help but geek out over this...to the extent that I tried to see if I could retcon the series' otherwise messy continuity. Tell me if I missed anything...