Bryan Singer owns X-Men, again

I stopped watching "X-Men" after the very first one, helmed by "The Usual Suspects'" Bryan Singer. And this was a little over than a decade ago! In fact, I'm not really a big fan of comic-book superhero movie adaptation of any kind - be it from Marvel or DC or whatever syndicated publishing company. Whether it's because of "high-brow" snobbery or lack of fanboy "genes", I'm not just into it. Thus, I have no pretension whatsoever of being a comic-book superhero geek when I write about "X-Men:Days of Future Past", the latest (but certainly not the last) installment in a long-standing film franchise and Bryan Singer's comeback to a movie that he undeniably "originated". But with all the unfettered enthusiasm of a restless cinephile, I declare that the film is one heck of a fun ride. Awesome and thrilling, this is a truly entertaining summer blockbuster fare. It was like the director is saying "Hey, I was the guy who started "X-Men" on film and I'm back with a vengeance. Let's bring back the fun!" And boy how he did it. 

Perhaps, it's because of (if not in spite of) my utter lack of previous knowledge of or interest in any comic-book character, or in this case any X-Men comic character, that I was able to immensely enjoy "X-Men:Days of Future Past". It was like I was viewing the thing from a clean slate, devoid of any fanboy "prejudice". Contrary to what it may initially suggest, the film's basic plot is not really that complex or convoluted. It seems to be that the Day of Judgment has already come for our embattled mutants as a horde of sentinels has already been unleashed in full force to annihilate each and every one of them. Not too late yet, though. For it turns out that, based on Prof. X's wisdom, such a doomed fate can still be forestalled by preventing a fateful event in the past from happening, which was then triggered by one of the mutants, the blue-skinned and persona-shifting Raven (or Mystique). Significantly tied to this event is the unlikely alliance between Charles (or Prof. X) and Eric (or Magneto) who, since then, had become strong and bitter rivals. To this end, Prof. X (in the present) sends the brusque and volatile Logan (or Wolverine), in whose hands the accomplishment of such a risky and life-altering mission surely rests. 

Thus, there's an element of time-travel here. And if you think that such a narrative element, at least in the context of the X-Men, sounds serious and heavy, then you're dead wrong (as I was proven to be upon seeing the film). Through the director's visual flair and efficiently cool handling of the material, and the writers' playful and imaginative screenplay, the film's travel-back-in-time - its delving in the "past" - is where all the fun begins, which thankfully comprises about three-fourths of the film's more-than-two-hour running time (this is not to say though that the film is not as awesome when it goes back to the "present" - on the contrary!). 

The mutants utilize their powers in thrilling ways, the action setpieces are a marvel to behold (those few bits involving Quicksilver definitely provide an added vigor and hip), the actors playing the X-Men (Hugh Jackman, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, among others) exhibit great comfort and bravado in their parts and thus are able to register an indelible impression onscreen, none of which can be neatly classified as either good or bad while not resorting to forced psycho-babble, and the introduction of "Game of Thrones'" Peter Dinklage as a duplicitous scientist-entrepreneur is a pleasant narrative arc, for the film's villainy becomes crucially rooted in just one person. The screenwriters even provoke "controversy" in situating the X-Men's mission and dilemma within the context of JFK's assassination and the American involvement in the Vietnam War, but not so dead serious as to turn the matter into a heavy-handed socio-political discourse. Whether in good faith or otherwise, the filmmakers steer away by all possible means from such direction to once and for all deliver to us all the incredibly awesome goods coming from this particular comic-based superhero adventure. What's actually daring is the film's occasional treading along campy lines, whether in terms of dialogue or of action. 

One may feel the film's concluding minutes, where things are being punctuated one after another, to be a bit muddled, more likely to induce a few head-scratching than a collective sigh of relief. It feels like there are questions that are deliberately left hanging, in regards the actual fate of Prof. X and company, of Wolverine, of the "future past" itself. But if these are threads that Bryan Singer and his team would further unspool in an equally high-powered next chapter, then we may have all the reason to be contented for a while. 

The marvelous trio in ''X-Men:Days of Future Past'', Bryan Singer's fun and fantastic return to a comic-book film franchise he originated