Trailer Trashin’: Eras Collide in X-Men Days of Future Past
This Friday, we at last get to see the next part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as Thor: The Dark World finally hits theaters stateside. And fittingly, this week’s new installment of Trailer Trashin’ examines another upcoming Marvel Comics movie, next summer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Premise: The X-Men ensemble fights a war for the survival of their species across two different time periods. Ten years after the events of X-Men: First Class, Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) has disbanded the X-Men, and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) is continuing his war against humanity. In the dystopian future, Xavier (Patrick Stewart), Magneto (Ian McKellen), and the surviving members of the modern-day X-Men decide to change the past by sending Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back through time to inhabit his younger body in 1973. He will have to join forces with Xavier and Magneto’s younger selves in a desperate battle to save their future.
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My take: For me, The Wolverine was one of the pleasant surprises of the 2013 summer movie season. Other than X-Men: First Class (2011), I had been feeling kind of down on the X-Men movie franchise, and the first trailers didn’t convince me that yet another film focused on Wolverine was needed. But when I did see the film, I enjoyed it much more than I had expected. It brought some of the much-needed edge back to the Wolverine character, and it ended in a way that left me very excited for what would happen next. And fortunately, we don’t have to wait long, because the next installment of the series is coming our way next summer. The first trailer for X-Men: Days of Future Past is now online, and I’m quite excited by what I’ve seen so far.
The cast is a nice mix of people from First Class, the original trilogy, and some new faces. Obviously, Hugh Jackman is back as Wolverine, and I’m sure he’ll be great to watch in the role, as usual. Back from First Class are James McAvoy as Professor X, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, Nicholas Hoult as Beast, and Lucas Till as Havok. The great cast was a big part of why First Class worked so well, and I’m very happy that many of those actors are back. Besides Jackman, the other returning cast members from the original trilogy are Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Halle Berry as Storm, Anna Paquin as Rogue, Ellen Page as Shadowcat, Shawn Ashmore as Iceman, and Daniel Cudmore as Colossus. I’m especially looking forward to seeing Stewart and McKellen back, because their story was easily my favorite part of the original trilogy. In terms of the new characters, the most significant is Peter Dinklage as Bolivar Trask, the military scientist responsible for creating the mutant-hunting robots called Sentinels. Dinklage is a great actor, as anyone who’s seen him on HBO’s Game of Thrones can tell you, and I’m really looking forward to seeing him as a villain. We only catch brief glimpses of some of the other new characters, mostly in the future scenes early in the trailer, including Omar Sy as Bishop, Booboo Stewart as Warpath, Fan Bingbing as Blink, and Adan Canto as Sunspot.
I also like the hints of story we’re getting here. For those who aren’t familiar with the X-Men comic books, “Days of Future Past” is the title of a popular and acclaimed storyline which was published from January to February of 1981. It deals with a dystopian alternate future where the mutants are hunted down and put in internment camps. X-Men member Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat transfers her mind back in time into the body of her younger self, and she must convince the X-Men to prevent the assassination which will trigger the anti-mutant hysteria. It seems like the movie is using the same basic set-up, with the obvious exception of Wolverine being the one who is sent back in time. While this change is kind of frustrating, it makes sense from a business perspective, because Wolverine is definitely the most popular and well-known X-Men character and Jackman is arguably the face of the franchise. Regardless of how I feel about the use of Wolverine here, I am still looking forward to seeing how the story plays out.
Sentinels are capable of mobilizing in response to international turmoil at a moment’s notice in “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” © 2013 – Marvel/Twentieth Century Fox.
The thing that surprised me the most about this trailer is how quiet and contemplative it seems. There’s surprisingly little action shown here, and the trailer is instead concerned more with selling a mood and tone. The editing and music, which I believe is from Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack for The Thin Red Line (1998), does a great job creating a feeling of desperation and a sense of apocalyptic events drawing near. I was surprised that we didn’t see even a hint of the Sentinels here, and I have to assume that’s because the big effects scenes are still being worked on.
I’ve sometimes given the X-Men film series a hard time in the past, although a lot of that had to do with Fox as a studio, rather than any fault in the franchise itself. But after loving X-Men: First Class and really liking The Wolverine, I’m ready to get fully on-board with Marvel’s mutants again. With a great ensemble cast, solid behind-the-camera talent, and some excellent source material to work from, this is the biggest X-Men film yet, and if it lives up to its potential, it could be one of the best. For the moment, it’s definitely a safe bet that I’ll be checking out X-Men: Days of Future Past when it opens next May.
Release Date: May 23rd, 2014
Starring: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Patrick Stewart, Michael Fassbender, Ian McKellen, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Peter Dinklage, Nicholas Hoult, Shawn Ashmore, Omar Sy, Daniel Cudmore, Booboo Stewart, Fan Bingbing, Adan Canto, Evan Peters, Josh Helman, and Lucas Till
Director: Bryan Singer
Writers: Simon Kinberg, Matthew Vaughn, and Jane Goldman, based on “Days of Future Past” by Chris Claremont and John Byrne
Timothy Monforton
